Fox News anchor Chris Wallace debated House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) over former President Donald Trump’s actions during and after the January 6 riots at the Capitol.
Wallace said, “During the trump impeachment in February during the trial in the Senate, a Republican congresswoman said this, I want to put it up on the screen. She said that while the January 6th riot was in full force, you phoned President Trump and asked him to call off his supporters. According to you, she said, the president responded ‘Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election then you are.’ Is she right? Is that what President Trump said to you?”
McCarthy said, “When I talked to President Trump I was the first person to contact him when the riots were going on. When he ended the call, he was telling me he will put something out to make sure to stop this. And that’s what he did. He put a video out later.”
Wallace said, “Quite a lot later and it was a pretty weak video. But I’m asking you specifically, did he say to you ‘I guess some people are more concerned about the election then you are?'”
McCarthy said, “No, listen — my conversations with the president are my conversations with the president. I engaged in the idea of making sure that we could stop what was going on inside the Capitol at that moment in time, the president said he would help.”
Wallace asked, “Has the president ever reached out to you since that report came out to discuss what you and he talked about in the January 6 phone call and did you say to him ‘I can’t because we are under oath?'”
McCarthy said, “No.”
Wallace said, “That’s never happened?”
McCarthy said, “Never happened. Never even close.”
Wallace asked, “And if it did happen, you would agree that would be witness tampering?”
McCarthy said, “Yeah, but never happened. I never had any conversation like that. I never even heard that rumor before until today.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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