VANCOUVER, Washington (AP) – A Washington State Republican who was one of ten Republican House members who voted to accuse former President Donald Trump last Friday urged people to be aware of the talks which Trump held during the January 6 Capitol Revolt.
Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler said in a statement that the House’s minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, told him he was talking to Trump while riot police stormed the Capitol. He said McCarthy asked Trump to “publicly undo the riot” and told Trump that the violent crowd was in favor of Trump, not members of the far left.
In her statement, posted via Twitter, Herrera Beutler said, “That’s when, according to McCarthy, the president said, ‘Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you.’
The congressional disclosure comes as the U.S. Senate conducts Trump’s impeachment trial, which will resume Saturday. On Friday, Trump’s defense team denied inciting the deadly riot and said his encouragement to supporters to “fight like hell” at a rally that preceded it was a routine political speech.
U.S. House members acting as prosecutors at the ouster say Trump was the “chief instigator” who spread election falsities, and then encouraged supporters to come and challenge the results.
Herrera Buetler, who represents Washington’s third congressional district in the southwestern part of the state, said she has relayed some parts of her conversation with McCarthy earlier to components and local media.
He then appealed to people who knew Trump’s conversation with McCarthy to speak out.
“And to the patriots who were on the side of the former president as these talks went on, or even to the former vice president: if you have anything to add here, now would be the time,” he said.
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This story has been updated to correct that Herrera Beutler represents the third district of the Washington Congress.