On Wednesday, CNN aired an extended version of an audio recording in which House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is heard saying what then-president Donald Trump did on Jan 6, 2021, was “atrocious and totally wrong” and lamenting that the 25th Amendment would take “too long” to remove Trump from office.
The audio was released by The New York Times reporters Jonathan Marin and Alex Burns, who authored the new book This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America’s Future.
MSNBC Nicolle Wallace and a panel of experts broke down the political and legal implications of the new bombshell new audio recording.
After playing a portion of the audio, Wallace pointed out that the audiotapes reveal McCarthy knew Trump was responsible for efforts to overturn the election and needed to be held accountable, but switched his tune after a visit to Mar-a-Lago.
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“Should DOJ want to know what Trump and McCarthy talked about? Wallace asked. “Because maybe what Trump told him or showed him where the White House visitor logs that had his caucus plotting a coup.”
“I think that would be very relevant,” former impeachment counsel Daniel Goldman replied. “And I think any conversations he had in the lead-up to Jan. 6th with [Mark] Meadows, with Don, Jr., with anyone in the Trump orbit pushing for this big wild rally on Jan. 6th, all of that would be relevant and it just goes to how massive this investigation really is, Nicolle.”
“So why doesn’t anyone want to know what Kevin McCarthy learned at Mar-a-Lago when he decided that Trump must stay?” Wallace asked.
“I’m neither a lawyer or a prosecutor but the operative questions here are ‘What did they know and when did they know it?’ Because a crime happened here. This was a crime scene. This is a scheme screen against democracy, Kevin McCarthy is a witness to one of the biggest political crimes perpetrated against this country,” panelist Miles Taylor, who served as chief of staff in the Department of Homeland Security during the Trump administration, explained.
“Those questions need to be asked and that’s why this tape is a bombshell,” he declared.
Listen to the audio via CNN:
McCarthy on Jan. 8, 2021: "What the President did is atrocious and totally wrong."
McCarthy on the 25th Amendment for Trump: "That takes too long too. It could go back to the House, right?"
audio from @alexburnsNYT @jmartNYT https://t.co/iPfceIhRTN
Audio from pic.twitter.com/vOTkh2Wain
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) May 4, 2022
Watch the MSNBC discussion below:
