Liz Cheney says she was 'stunned' by Kevin McCarthy's post-Jan. 6 visit to Trump at Mar-a-Lago
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) was "stunned" that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) flew down to visit former President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago just a few weeks after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, the congresswoman said during an episode of David Axelrod's podcast The Axe Files, which was released Monday morning. "I could not imagine any justification for doing that," she added.
The two GOP lawmakers are no longer in league with each other — McCarthy has aligned with Trump, while Cheney is trying to carve out an anti-Trump contingent among congressional Republicans — so Cheney's comments weren't surprising. But she did reveal that McCarthy's trip was when she realized House Republicans wouldn't "be able to move forward and focus on substance and policy because we had leaders who were embracing the president who had just been impeached," adding that the idea that McCarthy, who had previously said Trump bore responsibility for the riot, was "essentially pleading" with the former president to "somehow come back into the fold or whatever it was he was doing ... was inexcusable." Listen to a clip from the interview below.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Is Andrew’s arrest the end for the monarchy?Today's Big Question The King has distanced the Royal Family from his disgraced brother but a ‘fit of revolutionary disgust’ could still wipe them out
-
Quiz of The Week: 14 – 20 FebruaryQuiz Have you been paying attention to The Week’s news?
-
The Week Unwrapped: Do the Freemasons have too much sway in the police force?Podcast Plus, what does the growing popularity of prediction markets mean for the future? And why are UK film and TV workers struggling?
-
NIH director Bhattacharya tapped as acting CDC headSpeed Read Jay Bhattacharya, a critic of the CDC’s Covid-19 response, will now lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
-
Witkoff and Kushner tackle Ukraine, Iran in GenevaSpeed Read Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held negotiations aimed at securing a nuclear deal with Iran and an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine
-
Pentagon spokesperson forced out as DHS’s resignsSpeed Read Senior military adviser Col. David Butler was fired by Pete Hegseth and Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin is resigning
-
Judge orders Washington slavery exhibit restoredSpeed Read The Trump administration took down displays about slavery at the President’s House Site in Philadelphia
-
Hyatt chair joins growing list of Epstein files losersSpeed Read Thomas Pritzker stepped down as executive chair of the Hyatt Hotels Corporation over his ties with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell
-
Judge blocks Hegseth from punishing Kelly over videoSpeed Read Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth pushed for the senator to be demoted over a video in which he reminds military officials they should refuse illegal orders
-
Trump’s EPA kills legal basis for federal climate policySpeed Read The government’s authority to regulate several planet-warming pollutants has been repealed
-
House votes to end Trump’s Canada tariffsSpeed Read Six Republicans joined with Democrats to repeal the president’s tariffs
