Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he was “surprised” to hear House Minority Kevin McCarthy (D-CA) make the suggestion then-President Donald Trump would resign after the riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, when he only had a few days left to serve.
Guest host Kristen Welker said, “Senator, let me ask you about the big story this week impacting your party. This is a new audiotape we heard from the top Republican in the House, Leader Kevin McCarthy. Let’s begin with revelations in the new book ‘This Will Not Pass,’ the authors released audio in which we hear McCarthy days after January 6 saying this about then-President Trump. Take a listen, and I’ll your reaction on the other side.”
In audio, McCarthy said, “We know it will pass the House. I think there’s a chance it will pass the Senate even when he’s gone. It’s my recommendation he be gone.”
Welker said, “For context, it’s important to point out before the audio was released, McCarthy said the words totally false and now said the tape was taken out of context. We understand he’s spoken to former President Trump and mended fences, but you just heard the audio, Senator Blunt. Given the disconnect, how can Americans believe what the top Republican in the House says?”
Blunt said, “Well, a lot of people are saying a lot of things in that two weeks. I haven’t talked to the majority leader in the House about this, but he’s been close to Trump. Frankly, when I first heard this, I thought anybody close to President Trump as Kevin McCarthy was would know the last thing Donald Trump would do is either resign or quit. It was a pathway. Ten days to the end of this term, there was no way that was going to happen. I was frankly kind of surprised that Kevin would even suggest it might be a realistic suggestion to make to President Trump.”
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