McCarthy downplays remarks about Trump in secret recording

By ALAN FRAM
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is downplaying secretly recorded remarks he made about Donald Trump shortly after last year’s attack on the Capitol. He also says he never told the then-president that he should resign — something that has not been reported. McCarthy’s comments were his first public remarks since The New York Times reported last week that on a January 2021 phone call with fellow Republicans, he said he was “seriously thinking” about telling Trump “he should resign.” McCarthy initially called that report “totally false and wrong.” The newspaper later released a recording of him making those remarks.