We Knew Kevin McCarthy Is a Liar, Coward, and Traitor. We Didn’t Know Liz Cheney Has Receipts.

Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

In the realm of remarkable political stories, the one that broke last night ranks quite high. Reporters for The New York Times Alexander Burns and Jonathan Martin revealed that in the days following the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) had informed GOP leaders that he planned to tell former President Trump to resign. He said that he believed Trump was responsible for inciting the riot that left numerous people dead, that Trump’s conduct had been “atrocious and totally wrong,” and that Trump’s remarks at the rally at the Ellipse were “not right by any shape or any form.” McCarthy reportedly declared, “I’ve had it with this guy.” He told Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and other Republican leaders over the phone, “What he did was unacceptable. Nobody can defend that and nobody should defend it.”

But defend it he did. As it became clearer over the following week that the Trump MAGA base was still solidly behind the former president and that those who tried to hold him responsible would pay a steep political price, McCarthy, along with then Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), lost his nerve and backed down entirely, leaving more principled GOP leaders like Cheney, who had voted to impeach Trump, out to dry.

McCarthy’s office issued a statement calling the Times report “totally false and wrong” while denying that he ever said he would ask Trump to step down. “McCarthy never said he’d call Trump to say he should resign,” a spokesperson declared. 

That lie didn’t last long. On MSNBC last night, the two Times reporters spoke with host Rachel Maddow and played an audio recording of a House GOP Leadership call on January 10, 2021, attended by both McCarthy and Cheney. The relevant portion is worth reviewing in its entirety:

McCarthy: Liz? You on the phone?

Cheney: Yeah I’m here, thanks, Kevin. Um, I guess there’s a question, when we were talking about the 25th Amendment resolution. Um, 

McCarthy: Yeah.

Cheney: And you asked if, you know, what happens if it gets there after he’s gone, is, is there any chance, are you hearing that he might resign, is there any reason to think that might happen? 

McCarthy:  I’ve had a few discussions. My gut tells me no. Uh, I’m seriously thinking of having that conversation with him tonight. I haven’t talked to him in a couple of days. Um, from what I know of him, I mean you guys know all know him, too, do you think he would ever back away? But what, what I think I’m going to do is, I’m gonna call him. My…this is what I think: Um, know it’ll pass the House. I think there’s a chance it’ll pass the Senate, even when he’s gone. Um, and I think there’s a lot of different ramifications for that.

Now, I haven’t had a discussion with the Dems, that if he did resign, with, would that happen? Now, this is one personal fear I have. Um, I do not want to get into any conversation about Pence pardoning. Again, the only discussion I would have with him is that I think this will pass. And it will be my recommendation you should resign. Um, I mean, that would be my take. But I don’t think he would take it. But I don’t know.

The Times further reported that McCarthy had told GOP leaders that he wished big tech companies would strip other Republican lawmakers of their social media accounts, just as Facebook and Twitter had done with Trump. “We can’t put up with that,” McCarthy reportedly had said. “Can’t they take their Twitter accounts away, too?” 

This allegation could set off a firestorm within the GOP and a challenge from the extremist wing of the party to McCarthy’s bid for leadership should Republicans retake control of the House in November. Without their support, McCarthy may not have the votes to be elected Speaker, which helps explain why he has refused to crack down on their extremism and has even pledged to restore committee assignment to radicals like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), even after they attended a white nationalist event.

Unsurprisingly, given the dangers of a revolt within his caucus over these revelations, McCarthy’s office also denied that he had ever said that particular Congress members should be removed from Twitter. But that apparently is also a lie that isn’t likely to hold up for long. After Maddow heard the audio recording of the conversation between McCarthy and Cheney, she asked the Times reporters:

“So just underscore this, just to be clear. Mr. McCarthy and his office have denied that he said he was going to call Trump and tell him to resign, you have it on tape. We just heard that he in fact said that. He is also today denying that he called for members of his own caucus, other House Republicans to have their social media access cut off, you also got that on tape?”

Reporter Jonathan Martin responded:

“That is correct. And we have a lot more on tape from this period, which is at the highest levels of American politics, it is sensitive, it is delicate, and it’s high stakes. We have it all on tape, and it’s going to tell a very different story about this period, that the story that many people are trying to tell right now.”

It admittedly isn’t clear that it was Liz Cheney herself who made the original recordings (though given the circumstances and her precarious position within GOP leadership, this remains highly likely). But it is a certainty Cheney and the January 6 Committee have been in possession of the recordings for some time. No one, except the Times reporters and certain Committee members, knows how many more tapes there are, but the revelation of their existence is certain to ring alarm bells within the highest levels of the GOP and the former administration. As the Committee prepares to get underway with public hearings around the January 6 insurrection next month, witnesses and politicians alike are now on notice that they had better be truthful in their statements or they could be called out by their own recorded voices. Because Lordy, there are tapes.