A released tape of a telephone call that allegedly took place between House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy and House Republican Liz Cheney in the aftermath of the 6 January 2021 events suggests that McCarthy planned to advise then-President Donald Trump to resign despite previously denying such reports.
The tape was obtained by the New York Times journalists, who wrote the upcoming book "This Will Not Pass", and was first released by the MSNBC on 21 April.
In the recording, which was allegedly made on 10 January 2021, a voice resembling McCarthy's discusses the prospects of Democrats' plans to impeach Trump and the possibility of the president resigning voluntarily.
"Again, the only discussion I would have with him is that I think this will pass, and it would be my recommendation you should resign. I mean that would be my take, but I don’t think he would take it. But I don’t know", McCarthy allegedly said.
It is unclear whether the House Republicans' leader had that discussion with Trump and if he advised the president to resign.
Weeks after the events of 6 January, McCarthy publicly sided with Trump, who till this day maintains great influence over a large portion of Republican voters according to polls.
A spokesperson for Liz Cheney, another alleged participant to the call, denied she recorded or leaked the tape and had no idea how the press obtained it.
The publication of the recording comes just a day after McCarthy dismissed the New York Times journalists' reports about his actions and plans in the wake of January 6 as "totally false and wrong".
"It comes as no surprise that the corporate media is obsessed with doing everything it can to further a liberal agenda […] If the reporters were interested in the truth why would they ask for comment after the book was printed?" McCarthy asked.
Two reporters for the newspaper, Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns, are planning to release their book about those events on May 3.
It claims that GOP leaders in both chambers of the Congress blamed Trump for the events of January 6 and considered pressing him to resign. Both eventually backed trump, who denied responsibility for protesters breaching the perimeter of the Capitol during the certification of the 2020 election.
Commenting on the claims, partly serialised by the New York Times ahead of book's release, McCarthy said that the past year has showed that Trump was a better president than Joe Biden — insisted US voters would prove that by voting out the Democrats in the 2022 midterm elections.
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