‘They’re trying to f*ck kill me’: How Kevin McCarthy attacked Trump for saying Jan. 6 rioters were ‘more upset about the election than you are’ as they stormed the Capitol, according to new book
- About the tense phone call with then-President Donald Trump on June 6
- Just a few weeks later, McCarthy Trump paid a visit to his Florida home
- The report is based on an excerpt from journalist Robert Draper’s forthcoming book, Weapons of Mass Delusion: When the Republican Party Lost Its Mind
- A separate forthcoming book details McCarthy’s anger at another House Republican who has confirmed to the press some details of his call with Trump
- ‘After all the work I’ve done for you?’ He reportedly yelled at moderate Washington Republican Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, who had voted to impeach
- Herrera Beutler, who is close to McCarthy, was reportedly moved to tears
New revelations were unveiled Tuesday morning about the dramatic Jan. 6 call between GOP House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Donald Trump.
It was previously reported that the pair had a fiery exchange of blows as the former president’s supporters stormed the US Capitol last year.
But a new book excerpt shared in Politico suggests that McCarthy – who remains a close Trump ally – was angry enough to berate his party’s leader while blasting the attack on McCarthy and his colleagues twitched.
In a conversation previously corroborated by other lawmakers, Trump told him after the mob had already breached the Capitol, “Well, Kevin, I think these people are more upset about the election than you are.”
‘More upset?’ the California Republican is said to have shouted back. ‘They’re gonna fucking kill me!’
The excerpt is from journalist Robert Draper’s forthcoming book, Weapons of Mass Delusion: When the Republican Party Lost Its Mind.
McCarthy had vigorously denounced Trump immediately after the riot, but later made a public about-face when he visited the former president at his home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, later that month.
New details emerged Tuesday about the explosive conversation that GOP House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reportedly had with Donald Trump
That trip was one of the catalysts for Trump’s political revival as his future hung in the balance for the first few weeks after Jan. 6.
Details of the call were first reported by CNN last year and confirmed by Republican Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler. The moderate Republican from Washington was among just 10 members of her faction who voted to impeach Trump.
McCarthy also reportedly brought another GOP congressman to tears when he yelled at her for confirming details of his conversation with Trump to the press in January 2021
McCarthy, who was still shunned by Trump at the time, is said to have angered Herrera Beutler for confirming her call to the press, according to The Washington Post, which brought the congresswoman to tears.
The bombastic report comes from another upcoming book about the former president and the GOP, Unchecked: The Untold Story Behind Congress’s Botched Impeachments of Donald Trump, by Washington Post reporter Karoun Demirjian and Politico reporter Rachael Bade.
‘After all the work I’ve done for you!’ McCarthy reportedly screamed. “I alone take on all the heat to protect people from Trump!”
He reportedly shouted that he was the only one “keeping the party together.”
“I worked with Trump to stop him from going after Republicans like you, blowing up the party, and destroying all of our work!” The leader fumed, according to the Post book excerpt.
“You should have come to me! Why did you go to the press? That’s not thanks!’
Trump reportedly told McCarthy as his supporters broke into the US Capitol, “Well, Kevin, I think these people are more upset about the election than you are.” McCarthy reportedly fired back: “More upset? ‘They’re gonna fucking kill me!’
Herrera Beutler, who reportedly had a close relationship with McCarthy, began crying, according to the Post.
She reportedly told McCarthy that she did what she “thought was right.”
“What did you want me to do? Lie?’ asked the legislature, according to the book.
Both lawmakers denied the dusting in a statement to the book’s authors.
“Aside from numerous inaccuracies, it is dramatized to fit into a screen adaptation, not to serve as a document. We know it’s wrong because we were the only two in the room when we had that conversation,” said McCarthy and Herrera Beutler.
Herrera Beutler lost her primary in August to Trump-backed challenger Joe Kent.