• Following the January 6 attack on the Capitol, Kevin McCarthy worried that censuring Trump wasn't sufficient.
  • "Is that letting him off on something?" McCarthy asked fellow top Republicans on a January 10 call.
  • McCarthy later called for censuring Trump as an alternative to impeaching him.

Days after the January 6 attack on Washington, still-fuming House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy wondered aloud if anything other than impeaching Donald Trump would satisfy shell-shocked lawmakers. 

Though McCarthy had faithfully defended the embattled president during the first impeachment, New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns wrote that the siege at the US Capitol had so deeply rattled the California Republican that a nascent GOP plan to censure Trump didn't seem like punishment enough. 

"Is that letting him off on something?" McCarthy asked fellow top Republicans on a January 10, 2021 call, according to the forthcoming book "This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America's Future." 

McCarthy quickly hedged the rhetorical question, which he reportedly posed to fellow House leaders including then-Republican Caucus Chair Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and national reelection chairman Tom Emmer of Minnesota, by adding, "I'm just brainstorming with everybody." 

The discussion was part of an impromptu strategy session during which GOP leaders tried to game out whether Trump would agree to be censured — largely a symbolic gesture — as a way to avoid potential impeachment. 

Cheney argued that the vengeance-seeking president had "unleashed a mob that came up to the Capitol, that attempted to kill a number of us, probably any of us they could have found." 

And when Emmer asked about consequences other than impeachment, McCarthy said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer had already shot down his trial balloon about a censure resolution, according to the book. And he wasn't psyched about running it by Trump either. 

"I don't really want to talk to the guy," McCarthy reportedly told colleagues. 

As the House prepared to impeach Trump for incitement of an insurrection, McCarthy publicly floated a censure resolution against Trump on the House floor.

"I think a fact-finding commission and a censure resolution would be prudent," said McCarthy.

 

McCarthy's office and Emmer's staff did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the censure discussions. 

McCarthy was also wary of letting MAGA culture warriors like Republican Reps. Matt Gaetz of Florida, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, and Mo Brooks of Alabama get away with riling up the "Stop the Steal" crowd.  

"We can't put up with that type of shit," McCarthy reportedly said of his unruliest colleagues.

Following the release of audio recordings that revealed McCarthy singling out Gaetz and other far-right conservatives, Gaetz has stepped up his criticism of McCarthy.

He called Scalise and McCarthy "weak men, not leaders," and is among the few Republicans openly criticizing GOP leadership following the revelations.

 

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