Last month, recorded audio obtained by New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns revealed House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) stating he had “had it with this guy” and would ask then-President Donald Trump during the January 6, 2022 Capitol Hill riot.
Some Republicans have since been very critical of McCarthy as the GOP leader and a potential Speaker of the House. However, Rep. Jerry Carl (R-AL), a freshman lawmaker, said he does not resent McCarthy for his statements on that day.
During an interview with Mobile, AL talk radio FM Talk 106.5, Carl attributed McCarthy’s remarks to playing out every scenario and said many others, including himself, said things that day that they regretted.
“No, sir, and I’ll tell you the reason why,” he replied. “There were several different topics. If you listen to the entire tape, I have not, but I am told there are seven different scenarios that he went through. One of these scenarios was the only one that they used. The morning after it leaked, President Trump, 5:30 in the morning, called McCarthy and the first thing out of Trump’s mouth was, ‘McCarthy, we’re good. Don’t worry about me.'”
“Even the president knows — as management and as leaders, you have to go through all of the scenarios,” Carl continued. “You just have to. Whether you like them or not, you have to see what the options are. And it was a group conversation. I think there were four people on that phone call. I’ve never recorded a phone call. Have no intention of recording a phone call. But I guess that’s a pretty popular thing to do.”
“Somebody record it,” he added. “And we’ve got our own speculation on that. But it doesn’t bother me. McCarthy has got in the leadership role he is in — he has got to play out every role. I said things on that day, I texted things on that day to my staff that I had to go ask God to forgive me for. I mean, I was upset. I didn’t do anything to jeopardize the country or deep, dark secrets because that was day two for me on the floor. But that day affected all of us in a very harsh manner, and we said a lot of things that we wished we would not have said.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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