Former President Donald Trump will be an asset for the Republican Party in winning back the House in 2022, even after the violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Wednesday.
"Elections are about ideas," the California Republican said on CNBC's "Squawk Box." "Elections are a question of what is in the voter's mind that day."
McCarthy pointed out that in the last election, for the first time since 1995, "no Republican House incumbent lost their election ... Republicans are in a very good position. Republicans are led by the power of the idea. At the end of the day, the only thing to help Republicans is they have better ideas than what the Democrats have today, if that decision is based on them pushing forward this $1.9 trillion bill, that only 9% goes to COVID."
Meanwhile, McCarthy denied a New York Times report claiming Trump was initially "pleased" by what happened during the Jan. 6 riot.
"I did speak to him that day," said McCarthy. "He wasn't pleased. I stand by my statement."
He added that the aftermath of the riot has left members of Congress going after free speech, including writing to their cable television networks to demand networks be removed and to Amazon demanding books not be printed.
"They've tried to impeach this president," he said. "A lot of it is political. Nobody supports what went on on Jan. 6. We believe everybody should be prosecuted who entered that building. I was in that building. I was escorted out of that building ... I got things stolen in my office. I had zip ties left in my office. Nobody supports that and the president didn't support that. I think we have to look at it with all the evidence. That's the most important way."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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