House minority leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Right, and Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, and conduct a press conference at the Capitol Visitors Center after a meeting with the House Republican Conference in Wednesday, September 23, 2020.
Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
The Republican caucus leader in the House of Representatives told colleagues on Monday that President Donald Trump has some responsibility for Wednesday’s Capitol riot, two sources told NBC News.
Minority leader Kevin McCarthy of California also did not rule out support for a motion to censor Trump for his actions, according to the report.
Prior to his Monday conference call with House Republicans, McCarthy did not say that Trump was in any way to blame for the riot, which left five people dead, including a Capitol police officer killed by the president’s crowd of supporters.
His comments were reported at a time when Democrats, who have a majority of House members, advanced on Trump’s impeachment process for inciting the riot. Vice President Mike Pence has so far resisted invoking the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, removing Trump from office.
Democrats say Trump, and several of his allies, are to blame for the invasion, which came after he asked supporters at a rally outside the White House to “fight” him to block Congressional confirmation of Joe Biden’s election. as president.
McCarthy still opposes Trump’s impeachment, saying in a letter sent to colleagues in the Republican Party on Monday that “it would have the opposite effect of uniting our country”.
But the letter, obtained by NBC News, presents four potential actions to face the riot, none of which mentions Trump.
The four options detailed by McCarthy are supposed to ensure that what happened is “correctly reported and prevented from happening in the future”.
They include: “A Censorship Resolution under House Rules”, “A Bipartisan Commission to Investigate Circumstances Surrounding the Attack”, “1887 Electoral Counting Law Reform” and “Legislation to Promote Voter Confidence in the Future Federal Elections. “
The latter item reflects the fact that many Republican voters and Republican members of the House believe that Trump was tricked into an election victory by widespread electoral fraud.
However, no court has concluded that there has been such a fraud, despite the numerous lawsuits filed by the Trump campaign and its substitutes since election day.
William Barr, before resigning as US Attorney General after the election, said there was no evidence of the type of fraud alleged by Trump that would have invalidated Biden’s victory.