Details of fiery phone call with McCarthy show Trump refused to call off Capitol rioters

Donald Trump engaged in a heated argument with House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy when he implored the former president to call off the rioters as they were besieging the US Capitol, according to sources briefed on the matter.

In an expletive-laden phone call on January 6 as the Capitol assault was unfolding, McCarthy insisted that the rioters were Trump's supporters and pleaded with the then-president to call them off.

Trump refused to do so and instead argued that the rioters cared more about the election results than McCarthy did. "Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are," Trump said, according to lawmakers who were briefed on the call afterward by McCarthy, CNN reported on Friday night.

Trump’s comment triggered what congressional Republicans familiar with the call described as a “shouting match,” in which McCarthy also told Trump his supporters were breaking into his office through the windows.

The newly revealed details of the phone call provide critical insight into Trump’s state of mind as rioters were storming the Congress building. The former president is currently in the middle of his second impeachment trial on a charge of inciting an “insurrection.”

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Senate Democrats need to convince at least 17 Republican colleagues to join them in order to convict Trump by a two-thirds majority. A conviction seems unlikely at this stage as many Republicans argue that the impeachment effort is unconstitutional since Trump is no longer in office. Some have said that they believe Trump’s action and rhetoric did not play a part in the riot.

Republican lawmakers briefed on the January 6 phone call, however, said the fiery exchange showed that Trump was not interested in controlling his supporters as they tried to overturn his election defeat to Democrat Joe Biden.

“He is not a blameless observer, he was rooting for them,” one Republican member of the House told CNN.

Rep. Herrera Beutler ― who was among the 10 Republican House members who voted to impeach Trump a week after the Capitol violence ― described the call as “chilling.”

“You have to look at what he did during the insurrection to confirm where his mind was at,” the congresswoman told CNN. “We should never stand for that, for any reason, under any party flag,” she added, voicing her extreme frustration.

The congresswoman said that not only did Trump refuse to call off his supporters, but he placed calls to senators while they were in lockdown to ask them to “further delay the electoral counting.”

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Another Republican lawmaker said the call was problematic for Trump. “I think it speaks to the former president's mindset," said Rep. Anthony Gonzalez, an Ohio Republican who also voted to impeach Trump last month.

“He was not sorry to see his unyieldingly loyal vice president or the Congress under attack by the mob he inspired. In fact, it seems he was happy about it or at the least enjoyed the scenes that were horrifying to most Americans across the country,” he added.

Multiple Republicans said they believed the details of the call were important to the impeachment proceedings as senators move to determine Trump’s fate. If convicted, Trump will forever be barred from holding office again.

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