Jan. 6 Committee Seeks Interview With Kevin McCarthy – The New York Times

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In particular, the panel said it was interested in a phone call Mr. McCarthy had with Mr. Trump during the riot. Mr. McCarthy previously described the call, in which he asked Mr. Trump to send help to the Capitol, as “very heated.”

During that call, according to an account given last year during impeachment proceedings, Mr. Trump sided with the rioters, telling Mr. McCarthy that they were evidently more upset about the election than the Republican leader was.

The committee also cited a Politico article reporting that Mr. McCarthy divulged to other Republicans that Mr. Trump had admitted some degree of responsibility for the Jan. 6 attack in his one-on-one conversations with Mr. McCarthy.

The committee has interviewed more than 340 witnesses, including former White House aides. On Wednesday, Kayleigh McEnany, a White House press secretary under Mr. Trump, appeared before the committee for a virtual interview, according to a person familiar with the situation.

The request to meet with Mr. McCarthy is the third time the committee has asked a Republican lawmaker to voluntarily agree to an interview. Representatives Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Jim Jordan of Ohio have refused to cooperate with the panel.

Mr. Jordan — who in November told the Rules Committee that he had “nothing to hide” — denounced the panel’s inquiry on Sunday and called the request for an interview an “unprecedented and inappropriate demand.”

Mr. Perry, who is close to Mr. Jordan, last month refused a voluntary meeting with the committee, calling the panel “illegitimate.”

To date, the committee has been reluctant to issue subpoenas for sitting members of Congress, citing the deference and respect lawmakers in the chamber are supposed to show one another. But Mr. Thompson has pledged to take such a step if needed.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/12/us/politics/kevin-mccarthy-jan-6-committee.html

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