The Case of the January 6th Capitol Insurrection: Michael Fanone, a Newly-Revisited Minority Leader, and the Mother of a Third

During a private meeting last summer, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told two police officers who defended the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, and the mother of a third who died after the riot, that former President Donald Trump had no idea his supporters were carrying out the attack, according to newly obtained audio of the conversation.

Testimony to the House Select Committee on January 6 revealed that Trump watched television for hours as the rioters engaged in a brutal fight with law enforcement.

The District is a single-party consent jurisdiction for recordings, meaning it is legal for one party to record another without permission. CNN has reached out to McCarthy’s office for comment.

The meeting came at a time when many House Republicans were attempting to downplay or distort the facts surrounding the events of January 6th, when Trump made false claims about a rigged election that caused a deadly attack on the Capitol.

Fanone, who was stun-gunned several times and beaten with a flagpole during the riot, had previously made several attempts to meet with the California Republican to discuss the insurrection before McCarthy ultimately agreed, according to his new book.

In a private conversation, McCarthy said he had considered asking Trump to step down after the attack, according to previously released audio.

Republican’s including McCarthy had opposed efforts to examine the circumstances of the insurrection which drew criticism from Fanone and other police officers who were there.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/10/politics/michael-fanone-kevin-mccarthy-january-6/index.html

Counting the Crowd: When Donald Trump Stopped the Congressional Gold Medal, he Heard. In his Memory, Fanone Revisited

“He already knew what was going on,” she said of Trump, according to the audio obtained by CNN. People were fighting for a long time. This doesn’t make any sense to me.”

McCarthy told me that he had taken credit for the late-afternoon video address to his followers. I said that when you steal a election, this is what happens. Go home. I love you.’ What is that? Fanone writes in his book that it came from the President of the United States.

All three urged McCarthy to condemn 21 members of his own party who voted earlier that month against awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to officers who defended the Capitol and pushed him to commit to a serious “insurrection investigation,” Fanone writes in his memoir.

Before his meeting with Fanone, McCarthy said he would talk to anyone about his conversation with Trump, even if there was a problem.

Fanone suffered a heart attack and a concussion during the insurrection and is dealing with a traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Inflation, crime and border security in the Biden era: an exclusive interview with CNN insider’s view of his 2016 presidential campaign

McCarthy outlined his plan for power, including tackling inflation, rising crime and border security, in an exclusive, wide-ranging interview with CNN, two days before the election. McCarthy has been traveling around the country speaking about the need for Hispanic GOP women who are vying to represent key districts along the southern border.

The Biden administration continues to use a Trump-era emergency rule allowing them to turn away migrants at the US-Mexico border. According to data from the US Customs and Border Protection, in the fiscal year of 2022, there were over 2 million border encounters. Of those, more than 1 million were turned away under Title 42.

“We will never use impeachment for political purposes,” McCarthy said. If it rises to the occasion, it would be used at any other time.

“I’m very supportive of Ukraine,” McCarthy said. I think there needs to be accountability going forward. You cannot always have a blank check, but always make sure the resources are going to where you need them. And make sure Congress, and the Senate, have the ability to debate it openly.”

McCarthy wouldn’t reveal how many seats he thinks Republicans will pick up, but said he was confident it would win the majority. McCarthy did say that, in his eyes, “anywhere over 20 is a red wave.”

He will only get 218 votes for speaker if his majority is larger and he is willing to make deals with conservatives who denied him the speakership in 2015. McCarthy has not made any promises or given in their demands so far, with sources saying he has been listening to potential holdouts.

Sen. J.C. McCarthy: Stay in Mexico, but not sooner than you might think. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene will be the chairman of the Oversight Committee

“I think ‘Stay in Mexico’ you have to have right off the bat,” he said, referring to the controversial policy where migrants were forced to remain in Mexico while they wait for their immigration proceedings in the United States.

To help stem the flow of fentanyl coming across the border, McCarthy said “you first do a very frontal attack on China to stop the poison from coming,” and then “provide the resources that the border agents need” and “make sure that fentanyl anytime anybody who wants to move it, you can prosecute him for the death penalty.”

Most bills will be primarily messaging endeavors, unlikely to overcome the president’s veto or the Senate’s 60-vote threshold, though they would have to pass legislation to fund the government and raise the national borrowing limit at some point next year. McCarthy, however, signaled Republicans will demand spending cuts in exchange for lifting the debt ceiling, teeing up a risky fiscal showdown that could lead to a disastrous debt default.

If you want to give a person a higher limit, you need to first tell them they have to change their behavior. he said. “You shouldn’t just say, ‘Oh, I’m gonna let you keep spending money.’ No household should do that.

McCarthy said Republicans were prepared to raise the debt ceiling under Trump, but are not as prepared now because of the amount of money spent by Democrats.

When pressed on whether he’s willing to risk a default by using the debt ceiling as a bargaining chip, McCarthy insisted that wouldn’t happen: “People talk about risking it. You don’t risk a default.”

To that end, McCarthy has vowed to reinstate freshman Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia to her committee assignments, despite being stripped of her assignments by Democrats last year for her inflammatory remarks.

When asked if he has any restrictions about which committees Greene can serve, McCarthy – who will have a direct say in doling out those assignments – said “no.” She wants a seat on the Oversight Committee, which will play a critical role in GOP investigations in a majority.

She is going to have the same committees as every other member. Members request different committees and as we go through the steering committee, we’ll look at it,” he said. She’s just like any other member in our conference that gets elected and she can put through committees she wants.

There are other members who have spouted conspiracy theories. Republicans mocked the brutal attack on Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, or peddled theories about the incident.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/07/politics/kevin-mccarthy-interview-border-security/index.html

The Hardline Freedom Caucus has an Explicit Strategy for Speakership Race Elections in the House of Representatives, Revisited

“The first thing I’ll ask the president to do is not to call half the nation idiots or say things about them because they have a difference of opinion,” he said. “I think leadership matters, and I think it probably starts with the president. And it will start with the speaker as well.”

Several of the people who live in my area question the wisdom of proceeding forward with that leadership, and there need to be afrank conversation about who they choose for the top job.

Lauren Boebert said it was a “red line” for her and she wasn’t sure if the Freedom Caucus would make that a hard line.

The hardline Freedom Caucus, which includes dozens of members, is meeting in Washington, DC this week to plot out their strategy for the speaker’s race. They see an opportunity and are going to use their clout to get more power in the GOP-led House.

But the group’s push to extract concessions from McCarthy has exacerbated tensions inside the party. Said one senior GOP lawmaker: “They are a bunch of selfish, prima dona a**holes who want attention for themselves. They are trading effectiveness for the warm embrace of their social media followers.”

CNN has yet to project which party will have control of the House of Representatives, though as of Friday morning, CNN has projected that Republicans have 211 seats to Democrats’ 198.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/11/politics/kevin-mccarthy-speakership-race-house-freedom-caucus/index.html

The Norman Confronts Pelosi: Why Mr. McCarthy shouldn’t lead the C team in the House and what he can do about it

Norman said that the group wants to formalise a longer list of rules changes. They are also pushing to delay next week’s internal leadership elections, though there is no indication McCarthy plans to do so.

When asked whether McCarthy should get credit for delivering the majority, Norman responded: “The taxpayers that voted the representatives in deserve the credit.”

But there is at least one member who has said there is nothing McCarthy could do to earn his vote. Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida said on his podcast that not only was McCarthy not his first choice to lead, he was not “even in my top 100”.

Gaetz said that they shouldn’t start the C team with a slim majority. If we want to attract more people to our policies, we have to put our star players in a position to shine.

Hard-right Republicans took advantage of the chance to get promises from would-be leaders. Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana asked if Mr. McCarthy would investigate Pelosi if he were in charge of the House.

Mr. Gaetz asked whether he agreed with Mr. McCarthy that Mr. Trump was insufficiently loyal to conservatives.

According to two people familiar with the exchange who were not authorized to speak to the media, Mr. Scalise apologized and said he should have waited until he knew more about what happened.

The Ruling of the Dems: The Role of Representative Tom Cole in the Prediction of the 2018 Midterm Reionization Conference

The turmoil underscored how Republicans were toiling to find a path forward after disappointing mid-term results and still grappling with the influence of Mr. Trump. It came at the same time that Mr. Trump received a torrent of internal blame for the string of losses by candidates he had selected, even if they did not win.

“It’s going to be a narrow one,” said Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma. “It makes it really critical that you’ve got somebody with superb political skills. Somebody that knows every part of this conference.”