Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Expressed “concerns” about Rep. Liz Cheney’s role in the leadership and said the Wyoming Republican needed to respond to her Republican colleagues by voting for the impeachment of former President Trump .
In a new interview with Greta Van Susteren scheduled to air on Sunday, McCarthy said Cheney, the House’s third-largest Republican, did not give him information about his vote for Trump’s impeachment.
“Look, I support her, but I also have concerns,” McCarthy told Gray Television’s “Full Court Press with Greta Van Susteren”. “She took the number 3 position at the conference, but she never told me that ahead of time.”
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Cheney was one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for “inciting insurrection” for his role in inciting the Capitol riot on January 6. But Cheney’s rebuke of Trump was most moving because of his leadership position. Since then, she has designed a major challenger in Wyoming.
House minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-California) arrives for the 59th presidential inauguration at the US Capitol for President-elect Joe Biden in Washington, Wednesday, January 20, 2021. (Win McNamee / Photo by pool via AP)
“We know that this will become difficult,” McCarthy said of Cheney’s decision. “She may have a different opinion, but the only thing if we are going to lead within the conference, we must work together on this as a whole conference, because we are representatives of that conference. So, I support her, but I think she has many questions to answer at the conference. “
Cheney took a decisive stand after the January 6 riot that left five people dead, including a Capitol police officer, that the attack could not have happened without Trump. She resisted any resignation request and called the impeachment a vote of conscience.
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“The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob and lit the flame for this attack,” said Cheney when explaining his vote at the time. “Everything that followed was his work.”
McCarthy took a different approach. On the day of the impeachment vote, McCarthy made a speech on the floor saying he would support the president’s censorship.
“The president is responsible for Wednesday’s attack on Congress by mafia rebels,” said McCarthy. “He should have immediately denounced the crowd when he saw what was going on. These facts demand immediate action from President Trump.”
ARCHIVE: Congresswoman Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., Was one of 10 Republicans to vote for President Trump’s second impeachment. (Photo by: William B. Plowman / NBC / NBC NewsWire via Getty Images)
At a press conference on Thursday, however, McCarthy appeared to make a distinction when asked whether Trump provoked the attack, as Republican Party leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, said.
“I don’t believe he provoked you if you heard what he said at the rally,” McCarthy told a news conference.
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During the interview with Van Susteren, she asked why McCarthy changed her position on Trump’s responsibility. McCarthy denied any flip-flop.
“No, I haven’t changed that,” said McCarthy.
“I thought the president had some responsibility for the response. If you hear what the president said at the rally, he said, ‘demonstrate peacefully’. And then I had a question later about whether he incited them. I also think that everyone in this country has some responsibility. “
McCarthy’s comments about “everyone” with some responsibility for the riot were quickly posted on social media, including California deputy Adam Schiff, who said, “McCarthy has no principles except ambition.”
McCarthy went on to talk about how to lower the temperature of political speech in the country as a whole and call on the left’s resistance movement against Trump.
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“[A] entire nation, we should take this time to find out how we can correct ourselves, “McCarthy said.” But President Trump said ‘peacefully’. What I said in use was that President Trump could have responded faster when the disturbances started. I found his video, the second video, a very good video. I wish it were the first. “
McCarthy said he was also taken aback by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., Filing impeachment articles against Biden during his early days in office. He said he disagrees with her decision.
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“She told the audience before she told me,” said McCarthy of the new freshman.
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 12: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) yells at journalists after firing the metal detector outside the doors of the House of Representatives Chamber on January 12, 2021 in Washington, DC. Today, the House of Representatives plans to vote on Rep. Jamie Raskin’s (D-MD) resolution asking Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment, removing President Trump from office. On Wednesday, House Democrats plan to vote on impeachment articles. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)
“I think it’s better, especially with what we’ve been through with the Democrats, we’re not going to go down to their level,” said McCarthy. “We are going to believe in the rule of law. And if President Biden does something that goes up to the level of impeachment, that’s when we offer impeachment articles.”