Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) on Sunday took aim at House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) days after audio leaked of his remarks to fellow GOP leaders about his plans to ask then-President Trump to resign after Jan. 6, which McCarthy previously denied.
During an interview on CNN, Warren was asked about her reaction to McCarthy getting caught red-handed after he initially insisted that the Times’ report on what he told House GOP leaders about pushing for Trump’s resignation was “totally false and wrong.”
Warren swiped at McCarthy by characterizing the House minority leader as a “liar and a traitor,” while arguing that McCarthy’s actions demonstrate an “illness” among GOP leadership.
“This is outrageous, and that is really the illness that pervades the Republican leadership right now,” Warren said. “They say one thing to the American public and something else in private.”
Warren added that GOP leadership understands that the election steal scheme was “wrong” yet members of the caucus continue to push the Big Lie.
“They understand that it is wrong what happened, an attempt to overthrow our government,” Warren said. “And that the Republicans instead want to continue to try to figure out how to make 2020 election different instead of spending their energy on how it is that we go forward in order to build an economy, in order to make this country work better for the people who sent us to Washington.”
“Shame on Kevin McCarthy,” Warren said, concluding the interview.
Following the release of the audio of McCarthy’s call, there had been little public criticism from other House Republicans, nor congressional Democrats.
McCarthy appears to remain in Trump’s good graces after the recording of the call was released. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Friday evening, Trump said although he “didn’t like the call” McCarthy made with his GOP colleagues, they are still on good terms because McCarthy quickly went back to doing Trump’s bidding weeks after saying on the House floor that Trump “bears responsibility” for the Capitol.
McCarthy also told reporters on Friday that he had spoken to Trump twice that day and had a “good conversation” about the audio recording. McCarthy stressed that he “never asked President Trump to resign” and “never thought he should resign.”
Watch Warren’s remarks below:
