Sounds Like Kevin McCarthy Really Wanted Trump Out After Jan. 6, But He Was Worried That Using The 25th Amendment Would Take ‘Too Long’

Kevin McCarthy should be in deep doo-doo. Audio recordings keeps getting made public featuring the House minority leader saying frank and unflattering things after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, about not only Donald Trump but MAGA lawmakers like Matt Gaetz and Mo Brooks, too. Now there’s more, this one revealing that he sounded like he was in an awful hurry to get the former president out of office STAT.

The new recording, obtained by CNN, finds McCarthy on yet another call with GOP leadership in the days after the violent attack. Previous audio clips revealed him talking about asking Trump to resign. In this one, he straight-up says, “What the President did is atrocious and totally wrong.” He also talks about reaching out to the winner of the 2020 presidential election, Joe Biden, in hopes of enacting a “smooth transition,” which didn’t quite happen.

At one point, an aide discusses some Democratic lawmaker’s idea of invoking the 25th amendment (also reportedly briefly embraced by Lindsey Graham), which would remove Trump from power, though the aide claimed it was”not exactly an elegant solution here.”

“That takes too long, too,” McCarthy interjected. “It could go back to the House, right?”

“Correct,” the aide responded. “If the President were to submit a letter overruling the Cabinet and the vice president, two-thirds vote in the House and the Senate to overrule the President. So it’s kind of an armful.”

When it was first reported that McCarthy floated the idea of getting Trump to resign, which he admitted wasn’t likely, he denied the allegations. Then The New York Times produced audio, proving him a liar. Trump, however, seems to have forgiven McCarthy, claiming that he effectively changed his mind not long after. Others, however, don’t see it more like McCarthy briefly flirting with doing the right thing, only to abruptly change his mind.

(Via CNN)