House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) speaks during a weekly news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, November 18, 2021.
Tom Brenner | Reuters
The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot on Wednesday asked Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to voluntarily provide information to that panel.
The request to McCarthy, R-Calif., comes after the committee had sought information from two other GOP House members, Jim Jordan and Scott Perry.
The committee wants information from McCarthy about events that occurred before, during and after the riot, including about discussions he had with then-President Donald Trump, and MCarthy’s support after the invasion of the Capitol to continued objections to the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.
The panel noted Wednesday that McCarthy “was reportedly in communication with” then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in the days leading up to Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of Trump supporters of stormed the Capitol complex, disrupting for hours the confirmation by Congress of Biden’s victory.
“We also must learn about how the President’s plans for January 6th came together, and all the other ways he attempted to alter the results of the election,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson, the Mississippi Democrat who chairs the committee, in a letter to McCarthy.
“For example, in advance of January 6th, you reportedly explained to Mark Meadows and the former President that objections to the certification of the electoral votes on January 6th ‘was doomed to fail,’ ” Thompson wrote.
Thompson also asked McCarthy for information detailed in various news reports that he had encouraged Trump to take action to stop the riot while it was underway.
And McCarthy was asked about reports that Trump had acknowledged his culpability for the violence that day.
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