not holding back

Elizabeth Warren slams Kevin McCarthy over leaked audio, calling him 'a liar and traitor'

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Sunday called House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) a "liar and traitor," criticizing him for saying "one thing to the American public and something else in private."

Last week, The New York Times reported on a phone call McCarthy had with House GOP leadership after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, during which McCarthy said he intended to urge former President Donald Trump to resign. McCarthy's spokesman denied the report, claiming the lawmaker "never said he'd call Trump to say he should resign." Audio of the call was later leaked to The Rachel Maddow Show, and McCarthy is clearly heard discussing how he intended to speak with Trump about resigning.

When asked about the matter during an interview Sunday on CNN's State of the Union, Warren said McCarthy is "a liar and a traitor. That is really the illness that pervades the Republican leadership right now, that they say one thing to the American public and something else in private."

GOP lawmakers "understand that it is wrong what happened, an attempt to overthrow our government, and the Republicans instead want to continue to try to figure out how to make the 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," Warren continued. "Shame on Kevin McCarthy."