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Kevin McCarthy dubbed 'dead man walking' after clip reveals he wanted Trump to resign over Jan 6

The newly leaked tape shows McCarthy lied about wanting Trump out over the insurrection, told Liz Cheney he would tell ex-POTUS to resign

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has found himself embroiled in a major scandal, thanks to a newly leaked audiotape. In the tape, McCarthy is heard telling GOP Rep. Liz Cheney he wants Donald Trump to resign over the January 6 insurrection, a claim he called "totally false and wrong" just hours before it was published. The scandal comes as little surprise to the internet users, who are now brutally slamming McCarthy for his lies.

The GOP leader, who hopes to become Speaker of the House following the 2022 midterms, has endured an extremely tough couple of years after being linked to numerous scandals. In August 2021, he faced calls to resign after joking about hitting Speaker Nancy Pelosi with a gavel. The same month, the allegations of his affair with former Rep. Renee Ellmers came back into the spotlight. He has also been linked to the Jan 6 insurrection, reportedly engaging in an "expletive-laced" call with Trump which led to his phone records being subpoenaed by the House Select Committee. 

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McCarthy has long been tied to the insurrection, but his exact role has been unclear because so far, he's refused to sit down for a deposition with the committee. Nonetheless, it appears McCarthy in private, is very different from McCarthy in public. A good example of this is his attitude towards Trump, as exposed by Rachel Maddow and MSNBC. 

McCarthy's 'big lie' exposed

On April 21, 2022, The New York Times reported that McCarthy and Senator Mitch McConnell said Trump "was responsible for inciting the deadly riot and vowed to drive him from politics." The House leader reportedly told a group of his colleagues, "I’ve had it with this guy," and said he would push Trump to "resign immediately." However, just weeks later, the two backtracked and publicly began supporting Trump again, at least in public. In private though, we now know McCarthy was done with Trump.

According to The Times, he called Trump "atrocious and totally wrong" and added that his remarks at a rally just before the insurrection were "not right by any shape or any form." Yet, he decided to push out Liz Cheney from GOP leadership for saying the same thing he did, but in public. McCarthy responded to the report with a statement, calling "The New York Times' reporting on me is totally false and wrong." He added, "It comes as no surprise that the corporate media is obsessed with doing everything it can to further a liberal agenda." 

Hours later, Rachel Maddow exposed McCarthy by releasing the audiotape of her discussion with Cheney on Trump. It is unclear how Maddow's team obtained the tape, which shows him discussing the 25th amendment with Cheney on January 10. "It would be my recommendation you should resign," McCarthy says he will tell Trump, adding, "I don't know how he will take it." He also tells Cheney "I do not want to get into any conversation about Pence pardoning."

The clip, which you can hear below, clearly shows McCarthy pushing for Trump to resign in private, contrary to his claims. It also stands in stark contrast to his public comments following the insurrection, when he downplayed its seriousness. 

'The death knell of his dream to be speaker'

The backlash was instant and brutal, mostly over the fact that Cheney was booted from GOP leadership, while McCarthy kept his position. "I don’t understand how Liz Cheney was thrown out of @HouseGOP leadership for doing exactly.the.same.thing. @GOPLeader McCarthy said he would do. He folded. She held strong. Shouldn’t he lose his job and she keep hers?" asked Rep. Eric Swalwell. Another joked, "I think Liz Cheney found a way to get Kevin McCarthy on the record." A third tweeted, "I am so happy this audio of Kevin McCarthy is out. He’s been exposed as a fraud and a liar. Again. And it’s probably the death knell of his dream to be speaker. But while I am thankful the reporters released this, they have quite literally covered up this story for over a year."

"So Kevin McCarthy is just a big liar and a hypocrite?" one user asked. Another commented, "Kevin McCarthy has reached the end of his political career. He will never be the Speaker of the House. He has been undone by his cynicism, lying and stupidity. He is a checkers player who has been undone by a chess player." A third tweeted, "The new definition of political dead man walking -- Kevin McCarthy."