McCarthy Rejects Jan. 6 Select Committee’s Testimony Request

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-California) won’t testify in front of the Jan. 6 select committee. The committee requested to interview him about his phone call with former President Donald Trump on the morning of the Capitol riot. They also want to know about his conversations with Trump and his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, “before during and after the attack.”

McCarthy responded that he had nothing to add other than what he had already stated in media interviews.

Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Washington) became a witness to one of McCarthy and Trump’s reportedly “heated” phone calls after he shared an account with her. She said in a statement that McCarthy said he had told Trump to publicly denounce the Capitol riot and that the rioters were Trump supporters, not far-left Antifa members like Trump had claimed. She said Trump’s response was, “Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are.”

McCarthy is the third congressman to receive a request to testify. He joins Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Scott Perry (R-Pennsylvania) in denying an interview with the select committee.

The committee is made up of seven Democrats and two Republicans. They have interviewed nearly 350 people so far, and have collected 35,000 pages of records including texts, emails and phone records. They hope that the information can paint a picture of what was going on in Trump’s mind during the days leading up to and after the Capitol attack. Personalities close to Trump, such as former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, were subpoenaed. The committee is reluctant to subpoena current Congress members because it could create legal and political challenges.

“The Select Committee has tremendous respect for the prerogatives of Congress and the privacy of its Members,” Democratic chairman of the panel Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi) wrote. “At the same time, we have a solemn responsibility to investigate fully the facts and circumstances of these events.”