• Donald Trump and Kevin McCarthy met for three hours at Mar-a-Lago on Monday, NYT reports.
  • They met for the first time since leaked audio showed McCarthy calling on Trump to resign after January 6.
  • Trump, The Times reported, repeatedly and erroneously called McCarthy "Speaker." 

Former President Donald Trump and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy met for three hours at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida on Monday, The New York Times reported.

The two met for the first time since leaked audio revealed McCarthy blaming Trump for the January 6 Capitol siege and telling fellow Republicans that he planned to ask the former president to resign from office on January 10, 2021, in the wake of the attack. 

Two New York Times reporters, Jonathan Martin, and Alexander Burns, released the tapes to back up reporting on McCarthy's remarks in their book "This Will Not Pass" after McCarthy repeatedly denied making the comments. The book, released on Tuesday, details the internal tumult within the Republican Party over Trump and January 6. 

"My gut tells me no. I'm seriously thinking of having that conversation with him tonight," McCarthy said when asked if he thought Trump would resign. "From what I know of him, I mean you guys know him, too, do you think he'd ever back away?"

In other audio obtained and released by the authors, McCarthy wondered aloud whether Twitter could suspend the accounts of Republican members of his caucus who posted inflammatory or conspiratorial tweets about the January 6 insurrection. 

He also said that Rep. Matt Gaetz a Republican of Florida and staunch Trump ally, was "putting people in jeopardy" with his public attacks on GOP lawmakers who criticized Trump, like Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming. 

During the Monday meeting, The Times reported, Trump took multiple calls where he erroneously referred to McCarthy as "Speaker." The current Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, is a Democrat. If Republicans win back control of the House of Representatives in November, however, McCarthy is most likely to become speaker. 

Trump, The Times reported, is "said to be enjoying his current moment of dominance over the minority leader" as McCarthy tries to patch up his relationship with Trump ahead of the 2022 midterms, where Trump could play a key role in boosting Republican House members.

 

Democrats and Trump-critical Republicans alike slammed McCarthy as "feckless" and "spineless" for calling on Trump to resign behind closed doors while staying mum publicly. Pro-Trump Republicans too blasted McCarthy for his comments. 

"While I was rallying in Wyoming against Liz Cheney … Kevin McCarthy was defending Liz Cheney among House Republicans," Gaetz tweeted. "@GOPLeader - you should have trusted my instincts, not your own."

Read the original article on Business Insider