Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) claims he doesn’t recall speaking to former White House official Cassidy Hutchinson related to key testimony she gave to the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Hutchinson, who worked under then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in former President Donald Trump’s administration, testified before the congressional committee that McCarthy was concerned Trump would go with his supporters to the Capitol. She claimed McCarthy called her during Trump’s speech preceding the riot, saying, “the president just said he’s marching to the Capitol. You told me this whole week you aren’t coming up here, why would you lie to me?”

CNN’s Manu Raju questioned McCarthy about the claims this week and McCarthy didn’t outright deny the call, but said he has no recollection of it. He also claimed he did not watch Trump’s speech, making the testimony “confusing” for him.

“If I talked to her, I don’t remember it. If it was coming up here, I don’t think I wanted a lot of people coming up to the Capitol, but I don’t remember the conversation,” McCarthy said, after first telling Raju “there’s a recession” when the reporter brought up January 6.

McCarthy said he was “working” while Trump gave his speech, in which the then-president doubled down on his unproven claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged in Joe Biden’s favor.

“I didn’t watch it, so this is what is so confusing,” McCarthy said. “I didn’t watch the speech. I was working. So I didn’t see what was said, I didn’t see what went on, until after the fact.”

Hutchinson alleged in her testimony that Trump had every intention of going with his supporters to the Capitol. Responding to her testimony, Trump referred to Hutchinson as a “whacko” and called the hearing involving her a “Kangaroo Court!”

Watch above via CSPAN

The post Kevin McCarthy Doesn’t ‘Recall’ Speaking to Jan 6 Witness Cassidy Hutchinson About Trump Going to Capitol, Claims He Didn’t Watch Speech first appeared on Mediaite.

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