The Jan. 6 select committee sent a letter to House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday seeking his cooperation with its investigation.
The letter says the panel wants to discuss McCarthy’s “conversations with President Trump before, during and after the violent January 6th attack.”
The bulk of the letter lays out the many statements McCarthy made in which he clearly said Trump had incited the violent mob that laid siege to the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and asks whether he changed his stance on this because Trump told him to.
The committee’s letter also quotes McCarthy warning one week after Jan. 6 that Trump’s claims about a stolen election in 2020 — which have no basis in fact — were “raising the ability for greater violence.”
“The Select Committee is concerned about the potential for continued violence after January 6th provoked by President Trump’s false claims that the election was stolen,” the letter states.
Three weeks after the insurrection, McCarthy traveled to Florida to meet with Trump, and since then he has downplayed the former president’s role in what happened.
“Your public statements regarding January 6th have changed markedly since you met with Trump. At that meeting, or at any other time, did President Trump or his representatives discuss or suggest what you should say publicly?” the committee's letter asks.
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