Warren Calls McCarthy 'a Liar and a Traitor'

Republicans say House minority leader might have been thinking aloud about Trump options
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 24, 2022 4:30 PM CDT
Warren Calls McCarthy 'a Liar and a Traitor'
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, shown at a hearing last month, said Democrats must get to work if they want to win the midterms.   (Tom Williams, Pool via AP)

Sen. Elizabeth Warren provided assessments of both parties on Sunday, with her harshest words reserved for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. The California Republican had denied a report that he said he'd call on President Trump to resign days after the attack on the Capitol, per the Hill, only to have a recording surface that contradicted him. "Kevin McCarthy is a liar and a traitor," Warren said in an appearance on CNN's State of the Union. "That is really the illness that pervades the Republican leadership right now," she added, "that they say one thing to the American public and something else in private."

The Massachusetts Democrat said that Republicans know that the Jan. 6 riot was an attempt to overthrow the government, and was wrong, but their interest is in reversing the results of 2020 presidential election instead of trying "to make this country work better for the people who sent us to Washington." Warren added, "Shame on Kevin McCarthy." Republicans cut McCarthy slack on Sunday, per USA Today. He might have been just thinking out loud, Sen. Roy Blunt suggested on NBC's Meet the Press. On Fox News Sunday, Rep. Michael McFaul said McCarthy's resignation comment came at an emotional, shocking time. "What Kevin was doing was gaming out various options," McFaul said.

Warren had a warning for her own party on Sunday, per CNN. The party can't rest on past accomplishments if it wants to win this year's midterm elections, she said: "Democrats win when they ... work on behalf of working people." That includes solving the economy's problems, Warren said. Democrats have to "get up off our rear ends” and bring down prices, she argued, while they're in control of Congress. Warren added that she isn't planning a presidential campaign. "I'm running for Senate," she said. "President Biden is running for reelection in 2024, and I'm supporting him." (More Elizabeth Warren stories.)

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