House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-California) said days after the U.S. Capitol riot that then-President Donald Trump admitted to him that he bore some responsibility in the violence that unfolded among his supporters on January 6 last year.
“I say he has a responsibility. He told me personally that he had some responsibility. I think a lot of people do,” McCarthy said in a Jan. 12 interview with Bakersfield, Calif., radio station KERN, which CNN’s “K-File” unearthed and released on Friday.
Listen to the audio here:
McCarthy reportedly made a similar claim about Trump taking responsibility for the riot during a Jan. 11 call to Republican lawmakers, according to Reuters.
“I asked him personally today if he is responsible for what happened, if he feels bad about what happened. He told me he had a share of responsibility for what happened,” the top House Republican reportedly said, although he has since claimed he does not recall saying it.
The reappearance of KERN’s interview audio is remarkable, given that Trump never publicly admitted his role in instigating the Capitol storming (for which he was later impeached) and that McCarthy reaffirmed himself as a key Trump ally and refused to cooperate with the House Select Committee’s investigation into the riot.
Listen to McCarthy’s full interview on KERN Radio here:
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