CNN anchor Kate Bolduan said Tuesday on “At This Hour” that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was “lying” about his past comments on the January 6, 2021 riot on the U.S. Capitol.
At his weekly press conference, McCarthy deflected questions about his conversations with former President Trump during and after the riot.
White House correspondent John Harwood said, “Liz Cheney said yesterday, ‘I wish Kevin McCarthy were a brave and honorable man.’ He just demonstrated in that news conference why she does not see those qualities in him. He was not willing to talk about the events of January 6th in any reasonable way. He was deflecting and ducking and dodging about the things that he said that night–”
Bolduan interrupted, “He was lying. He was lying.”
Harwood continued, “Yes, right, when he condemned President Trump. He evaded all attempts to explain why he had told Manu Raju a few months ago that he was going to cooperate. He gave a completely disingenuous answer about why he’s now changed his mind and didn’t, isn’t going to cooperate, why he changed his mind on Donald Trump’s role. Look, he is the leader of a party that is now driven by a lie about the 2020 election, and he is an apt leader of that party.”
Bolduan said, “These are the comments that he said after the insurrection.”
On January 13, 2021 from the House floor, McCarthy said, “The president bears responsibility for the attack on the Capitol from mob rioters, and he should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what unfolded, and these acts require immediate action from President Trump and accept his responsibility and quell the unrest and assure that President-Elect Biden can successfully begin his term.”
Bolduan said, “Instead now, and I’m sorry, it is an attempt, failed attempt at gaslighting people.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN