1/6 panel requests interview from GOP leader Kevin McCarthy

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Calif. and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., right, pay their respects to former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., during a memorial service in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol as Reid lies in state, Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2022, in Washington. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool via AP)

The House panel investigating the U.S. Capitol insurrection requested an interview and records from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday, as it shifts its focus to former President Donald Trump’s inner circle — and what he was doing as hundreds of his supporters brutally beat police, stormed the building and interrupted the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory.

Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, Democratic chairman of the panel, requested that McCarthy, R-Calif., provide information to the nine-member panel regarding his conversations with Trump “before, during and after” the riot. The request also seeks information about McCarthy’s communications with former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in the days before the attack.

“We also must learn about how the President’s plans for January 6th came together, and all the other ways he attempted to alter the results of the election,” Thompson said in the letter. “For example, in advance of January 6th, you reportedly explained to Mark Meadows and the former President that objections to the certification of the electoral votes on January 6th ‘was doomed to fail.’”

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