“I’ve had it with this guy,” the California Republican told a group of Republican leaders on January 10, 2021, as reported by the New York Times in an adaption of This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden and the Battle for America’s Future, a book by two reporters with the newspaper set to be released next month.
McCarthy’s team shot back at the report. “McCarthy never said he’d call Trump to say he should resign,” said Mark Bednar, a spokesman for the Republican leader.
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In the days following the riot on January 6, 2021, McCarthy joined other Republicans in publicly criticizing Trump for not doing more to suppress the attack on the Capitol.
“The President bears responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on Congress by mob rioters,” McCarthy said on the House floor. “He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding. These facts require immediate action by President Trump.”
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However, that position moved shortly afterward. McCarthy traveled to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort roughly a week after Trump left office on January 20, after which they struck a deal to help Republicans win back the majority in the House. McCarthy is now preparing to become House speaker next year, with Republicans expected to retake control of the chamber.
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Trump’s claims of a stolen election in 2020 have loomed large. He left the White House under the shadow of a historic second impeachment. Ten Republicans joined Democrats in voting to impeach him on a charge of incitement of insurrection in relation to the January 6 Capitol riot. Trump was acquitted by a then-GOP-controlled Senate.
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On a phone call with several other top House Republicans on January 8, Mr. McCarthy said Mr. Trump’s behavior on January 6 had been “atrocious and totally wrong.” He criticized the President for “inciting people” to attack the Capitol, saying that Mr. Trump’s remarks at a rally on the National Mall that day were “not right by any shape or any form.”
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During that conversation, Mr. McCarthy inquired about the mechanism for invoking the 25th Amendment — the process whereby the Vice President and cabinet members can remove a President from office — before concluding that it was not a viable alternative. Mr. McCarthy, who was among those who opposed the election results, was uncertain and indecisive, fretting that the Democratic drive to impeach Mr. Trump would “put more fuel on the fire” of the country’s divisions.
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