House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and former President Donald Trump had an expletive-laden discussion on a phone call while the Jan. 6 Capitol riots were still unfolding, three sources told NBC News.
As a crowd of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol during Joe Biden’s Electoral College certification of victory, which resulted in the deaths of five people, McCathry called on Trump to control his supporters.
Sources described the call as “unfriendly” and almost incoherent, but it illustrates more than was publicly available at the time about Trump’s real-time reaction to the crowd. The former president is currently in the middle of his second impeachment accused of inciting the riots.
McCarthy called Trump, according to a source familiar with the matter. Another source told NBC News that McCarthy was in shock during the call and was asking the president for help.
Trump told McCarthy on the call, “Well, Kevin, I think these people are more upset about the election than you are,” according to Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, a Washington Republican, and another Republican member familiar with the conversation.
CNN was the first to report Trump’s comments on rioters who were more “upset” by the election than McCarthy.
“When McCarthy finally managed to speak to the president on January 6 and asked him to publicly call off the riot, the president initially repeated the falsehood that it was Antifa who had violated the Capitol,” the representative said in a statement posted on Twitter Friday. in the evening.
At one point during the phone call, McCarthy said to Trump, “Who the hell do you think you’re talking to?” According to a Republican lawmaker briefed on the conversation.