Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) tore into House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Sunday morning, calling the California congressman a “liar” and “traitor” over revelations that he privately told House Republicans that then-President Donald Trump was to blame for the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection and would recommend that he resign.
In a series of audio recordings obtained by The New York Times, McCarthy not only contradicted his public comments by suggesting Trump should step down but he also claimed the former president personally took responsibility for the attack. Additionally, McCarthy told GOP leadership that he’d “had it with this guy.”
Trump, however, has indicated that he is not upset with McCarthy over the leaked comments, telling his inner circle that he’s glad the lawmaker didn’t follow through while publicly saying he still has a good relationship with McCarthy and will support his efforts to become House speaker. McCarthy, meanwhile, has claimed that despite what the tapes reveal, he “never thought that [Trump] should resign” and was merely walking “through different scenarios.”
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During an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union, Warren didn’t mince words when anchor Dana Bash asked her to react to McCarthy’s comments on the tapes compared to what he’s publicly said and done.
“Kevin McCarthy is a liar and a traitor,” the Massachusetts senator exclaimed. “This is outrageous! And that is really the illness that pervades the Republican leadership right now.”Asserting that Republicans “say one thing to the American public and something else in private,” Warren added that “they understand that it is wrong” that an insurrectionist mob attempted to overthrow the government.
“The Republicans instead want to continue to try to figure out how to make [the] 2020 election different instead of spending their energy on how it is that we go forward in order to build an economy, in order to make this country work better for the people who sent us to Washington,” the progressive lawmaker declared.
“Shame on Kevin McCarthy,” she concluded.
