Outgoing Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) believes House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA.) should shoulder the blame for what he described as “crazy elements” in Congress.
Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday (January 1), Kinzinger asserted that McCarthy was the reason former President Donald Trump remained “a factor” in politics.
He revealed that he would tell the House Minority Leader he was “disappointed” in him if they had a one-on-one conversation.
Kinzinger added McCarthy had the opportunity to tell the American people “the truth” as a Congressional leader but instead chose to travel to Mar-a-Lago a few weeks after the January 6 insurrection.
The outgoing lawmaker described McCarthy’s decision to travel to Mar-a-Lago as the reason Trump’s political relevance was “resurrected.”
According to reports, McCarthy urged then-President Trump to call off the rioters as they were attacking the Capitol.
A leaked phone call between McCarthy and other lawmakers in the aftermath of January 6 revealed that the House Minority Leader was critical of Trump’s role in the insurrection.
However, McCarthy would later strengthen ties with former President Donald Trump, as did many Republicans in Congress.
The show of support — traveling to Mar-a-Lago —Kinzinger believes kept Trump’s leadership ablaze, and that had McCarthy not, Trump would have been pushed out as leader of the GOP.
While Kinzinger also blamed Senate Minority Mitch McConnell (R-KY.) for Trump not being impeached in the second impeachment trial, he believed McCarthy traveling to Mar-a-Lago instituted the GOP’s begrudging defense of Trump’s actions.
