Sen. Warren calls Kevin McCarthy 'a liar and a traitor' over recordings that show Trump should resign

WASHINGTON - Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren is slamming Rep. Kevin McCarthy as a liar and a traitor over recordings that show the House Republican leader despite his denials, placing responsibility on then-President Donald Trump for the Capitol riot and suggesting Trump resign.

It is unusually strong language to use against the House Republican leader who is in line to become speaker -- second in the presidential succession if Republicans win control of the House in November.

Warren sounded off with a swell of Democratic criticism against McCarthy. In January 2021, he recorded comments as proof that GOP lawmakers at the highest levels privately acknowledge Trump's role in the insurrection at the Capitol yet continue to defend him in public.

McCarthy, R-Calif., denied a New York Times report that detailed phone conversations with House Republican leadership shortly after the riots that he thought Trump should resign. He said it was totally false. McCarthy talks about the possibility of Trump leaving office amid the Democratic push to remove him from office in an audio that was first posted Thursday by the newspaper and aired on Rachel Maddow's MSNBC show.

Warren, D-Mass., was asked Sunday about her reaction. Kevin McCarthy is a liar and a traitor, she told CNN's State of the Union. That is really the illness that pervades the Republican leadership right now, that they say one thing to the American public and something else in private, Warren said. They understand that it is wrong to think that the Republicans want to make the 2020 election different, instead of trying to figure out how to make the election work better for the people who sent us to Washington. She said that Kevin McCarthy was a shame.

The crowd that attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021, marched there from a rally near the White House where Trump had implored them to fight to overturn Democrat Joe Biden's victory in the presidential election, saying falsely that the election was stolen. Trump has denied responsibility for the violence.

McCarthy was a person of interest for the House committee investigating the storming of the Capitol. The committee requested an interview with McCarthy in mid-January to find out if he had spoken with Trump and White House staff in the week after the violence, including a conversation with Trump that was reportedly heated.

McCarthy said at the time he would refuse to cooperate because he saw the investigation as not legitimate and accused the panel of abuse of power. After the Capitol attack, Trump and McCarthy had a strained relationship but made amends after the GOP leader flew to the former president's resort in Florida to smooth things over.

McCarthy is relying on Trump to win the House majority in November s midterm elections because of their alliance renewed.