Political | Process

“I’ve had it with this guy,” the California Republican told a group of Republican leaders on Jan. 10, 2021, as reported by the New York Times in an adaption of This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden and the Battle for America’s Future, a book by two reporters with the newspaper set to be released next month.

McCarthy’s team fired back at the report. “McCarthy never said he’d call Trump to say he should resign,” said Mark Bednar, a spokesman for the Republican leader.

In the days following the riot on Jan. 6, 2021, McCarthy joined other Republicans in publicly denouncing Trump for not doing more to quell the attack on the Capitol.

“The president bears responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on Congress by mob rioters,” McCarthy said on the House floor. “He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding. These facts require immediate action by President Trump.”

But that position shifted shortly thereafter. McCarthy traveled to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort roughly a week after Trump left office on Jan. 20, after which they struck a deal to help Republicans win back the majority in the House. McCarthy is now positioned to become House speaker next year with Republicans expected to retake control of the chamber.

Trump’s claims of a stolen election in 2020 have loomed large ever since. He left the White House under the shadow of a historic second impeachment.

Ten Republicans joined Democrats in voting to impeach him on a charge of incitement of insurrection in connection to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Trump was acquitted by a then-GOP-controlled Senate.