Kevin McCarthy defends remarks on leaked audio, telling Republicans foes trying to divide them
CNN
At a closed-door Republican conference meeting Wednesday, House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy gave a full-throated defense of his recently leaked comments where he expressed concern about far-right House Republicans inciting violence in the aftermath of the January 6 insurrection.
The California Republican said Wednesday that the effort was all part of an attempt to divide the GOP conference ahead of the midterms, according to several sources at meeting. McCarthy got a standing ovation, the sources said.
McCarthy defended the remarks as saying they needed to discuss every scenario — and the tapes only included a portion of his comments and don't have the full context. He also said that he doesn't talk about GOP members publicly and only does in private — and if there are any problems, they should discuss the matter privately, according to the sources.
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