House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s latest denial fell apart in record time.
McCarthy denied a New York Times report Thursday that he had told other lawmakers that he would call on then-President Donald Trump to resign in the days following the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol by his supporters.
But audio released by the Times shortly after shows otherwise.
“The only discussion I would have with him is that I think… [impeachment] will pass, and it would be my recommendation that you resign,” he said in a Jan. 10, 2021 telephone conversation with GOP leaders.
He added that he didn’t think Trump would take his advice, “but I don’t know.”
Alexander Burns and Jonathan Martin’s Times report was based on passages in their new book, “This Will Not Pass.”
In a statement earlier in the day, McCarthy called the report “totally inaccurate and wrong,” and his spokesman told the Times that “McCarthy never said he would call Trump to tell him to step down.”
Here is the audio of a Republican leadership conversation obtained by Burns and Martin:
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
