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.
-
Rothermere’s Telegraph takeover: ‘a right-leaning media powerhouse’Talking Point Deal gives Daily Mail and General Trust more than 50% of circulation in the UK newspaper market
-
The US-Saudi relationship: too big to fail?Talking Point With the Saudis investing $1 trillion into the US, and Trump granting them ‘major non-Nato ally’ status, for now the two countries need each other
-
Sudoku medium: November 30, 2025The daily medium sudoku puzzle from The Week
-
Judge halts Trump’s DC Guard deploymentSpeed Read The Trump administration has ‘infringed upon the District’s right to govern itself,’ the judge ruled
-
Trump accuses Democrats of sedition meriting ‘death’Speed Read The president called for Democratic lawmakers to be arrested for urging the military to refuse illegal orders
-
Court strikes down Texas GOP gerrymanderSpeed Read The Texas congressional map ordered by Trump is likely an illegal racial gerrymander, the court ruled
-
Trump defends Saudi prince, shrugs off Khashoggi murderSpeed Read The president rebuked an ABC News reporter for asking Mohammed bin Salman about the death of a Washington Post journalist at the Saudi Consulate in 2018
-
Congress passes bill to force release of Epstein filesSpeed Read The Justice Department will release all files from its Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking investigation
-
Trump says he will sell F-35 jets to Saudi ArabiaSpeed Read The president plans to make several deals with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman this week
-
Judge blasts ‘profound’ errors in Comey caseSpeed Read ‘Government misconduct’ may necessitate dismissing the charges against the former FBI director altogether
-
Ecuador rejects push to allow US military basesSpeed Read Voters rejected a repeal of a constitutional ban on US and other foreign military bases in the country
