When asked by CNN’s Manu Raju why it was acceptable for him to support Trump’s efforts to overturn the presidential election in Congress but criticize Democrats for doing the same in a contested State House race – United in Iowa, McCarthy has repeatedly rejected the idea that he was trying to annul the election at all.
“You are saying something that is not true,” the California Republican said when Raju said Trump tried to overturn the results of the congressional election and McCarthy was supporting that effort.
McCarthy’s explanation flies in the face of reality. Trump tried to pressure Congress to overturn the election and McCarthy has expressed no concerns about it. He also supported a lawsuit in Texas to invalidate millions of votes and ultimately voted to quash the two-state election results in the votes that took place after the Jan.6 uprising on Capitol Hill.
The exchange comes as McCarthy has sought to maintain a relationship with Trump while leading a party whose establishment is wary of allowing the former president to dictate the way Republicans go. McCarthy met with Trump in January to discuss strategy to win a majority in the House in next year’s midterm election.
Sources told CNN at the time that Trump was focusing his political energy on targeting Republican Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the third House Republican, who voted for her impeachment earlier this month.
McCarthy declined to say whether he approved of Trump’s efforts to cancel the election and did not say why he did not speak out against those efforts at the time if he did not support them.
“I am not Donald Trump,” McCarthy told Raju.
McCarthy attempted to argue that he only opposed two states, Arizona and Pennsylvania, which he said ultimately would not have changed the outcome of the election. McCarthy said he supported his support for the Texas lawsuit that tried to overturn the election results, telling Raju, “The answer is yes and you know why, because that’s where you go: to court. “
CNN’s Ali Main, Michael Warren, Devon Sayers, Jamie Gangel and Ryan Nobles contributed to this report.
