‘THAT’S NOT TRUE’

Kevin McCarthy Evades When Confronted About Promise to Testify to Jan. 6 Committee

The House minority leader deflected and dodged when pressed on his previous pledge in May to talk to the Jan. 6 committee about his conversations with former President Trump.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) evaded and, at times, directly contradicted himself when confronted on his previous promise to testify before House Selection Committee probing the Jan. 6 attack. With McCarthy now refusing a request to voluntarily speak to the panel, CNN reporter Manu Raju pressed him on remarks he made months ago. “How’s CNN doing? You doing okay?” McCarthy snarked before Raju noted the GOP leader opposed the formation of an outside committee from the start. “That’s not true,” McCarthy shouted, only for Raju to note the GOP leader had previously said in May he’d be willing to testify about his Jan. 6 call with then-President Donald Trump. “And you now say you won’t appear voluntarily,” Raju added, as McCarthy nodded along. “So it seems you’re trying to hide something here.” The California lawmaker responded: “Great question. I hope everything gets corrected at CNN. Work through all that with your employees.” After that, McCarthy claimed “it could have been a different answer” to whether he’d now testify if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi didn’t “play politics” with the select committee.

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Justin BaragonaSenior Media Reporter

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