News/Commentary

Kevin McCarthy wanted Twitter to strip fellow GOP lawmakers of accounts, in recorded private call

April 23, 2022 | | Print Article

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Two New York Times reporters claim to be in possession of audio footage of House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy privately wishing that Twitter would ban the accounts of some of his more outspoken colleagues.

Recorded in the immediate aftermath of then-President Donald Trump being banned from Twitter on Jan 8th, 2021, the footage itself has yet to be released, though given Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns’ records, few doubt them.

On Thursday, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow released separate audio footage obtained from the two Times reporters of McCarthy talking about encouraging then-President Trump to resign. The footage was recorded on Jan. 10th, 2021.

Watch that below:

After playing the footage, she then spoke with Martin and Burns, and they revealed during the conversation that they also have audio footage of the GOP House leader fretting privately about his colleagues’ tweeting habits.

“What McCarthy is talking about, is he’s hearing from his fellow GOP leaders on this call about some of the more bombastic tweets from far-right members of the House Caucus who are, you know, looking for any rationalization about the attack on January 6th. And McCarthy says out loud on this call, you know, ‘Can’t they take their Twitter accounts away too?'” Martin told Maddow.

“Which is striking, given his tough talk today about taking on big tech companies. In this private conversation that we have on tape, he suggested that those big tech companies he wants to crack down on actually should crackdown on members of his Caucus — the very members who he is now courting assiduously to try to keep happy so he has the votes to become speaker next year.”

“And it’s a striking moment in this conversation, because he’s almost pulling his hair out. You can sort of hear the anguish in his voice as he’s talking about, ‘What else do I have to deal with beyond President Trump? And my own members?'” Martin continued.

“And he’s deeply frustrated in that period. And once again, the McCarthy office denied that fact, and it is a fact. It’s on tape that he said this, sort of pining away, hoping that Twitter could strip some of his own members of their accounts.”

Maddow responded by noting that McCarthy has denied everything, including that he’d plotted, however briefly, against then-President Trump.

But, she continued, obviously McCarthy was lying about the Trump matter given the audio footage that’s already been publicly released.

“Mr. McCarthy and his office have denied that he said he was going to call Trump and tell him to resign. You have it on tape. We just heard that he, in fact, said that,” she correctly noted.

Maddow then asked Martin to confirm that he does indeed also have audio footage of McCarthy plotting against his fellow Republicans.

“He’s also today denied that he called for members of his own caucus — other House Republicans  — to have their social media access cut off. You’ve also got that on tape?” she said.

“That’s correct, and we have a lot more on tape from this period, which is at the highest levels of American politics. It is sensitive, it’s delicate and it’s high stakes, and we have it all on tape,” Martin responded.

Listen:

As to which colleagues McCarthy had been speaking about, Martin and Burns only named one person, Lauren Boebert, in their original “report” published Thursday.

“During the same Jan. 10 conversation when he said he would call on Mr. Trump to resign, Mr. McCarthy told other G.O.P. leaders he wished the big tech companies would strip some Republican lawmakers of their social media accounts, as Twitter and Facebook had done with Mr. Trump,” they wrote.

“Members such as Lauren Boebert of Colorado had done so much to stoke paranoia about the 2020 election and made offensive comments online about the Capitol attack,” the two then opined.

Interestingly, neither Boebert nor any other prominent GOP figure has tweeted anything about the pair’s reporting, presumably either because they don’t care, or because the GOP is trying to avoid airing out their dirty laundry.

The one lone exception is outgoing and deeply disliked Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a “Republican” whom many critics have accused of acting like a Democrat.

The response from some members of the base has been to tell Kinzinger to “get a life” (outside of, you know, trash-talking his colleagues 24/7/365).

Look:

Over on cable TV meanwhile, Newsmax’s Greg Kelly has also taken note of Martin and Burns’ reporting.

“Kevin McCarthy is a swamp snake. He’s a career politician, and we don’t like him. Alright? He doesn’t belong there, and in a moment of crisis, he wet his pants. Sorry. And he was outflanked by Liz Cheney of all people!” he said of McCarthy.

He was “outflanked” in the sense that it’s suspected that it was Cheney who gave Martin and Burns the tapes.

Listen:

Vivek Saxena
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