Kevin McCarthy Says Nobody Is Questioning 2020 Election Results as Trump Calls It 'Rigged'
Just hours after the House GOP voted to strip Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney of her leadership post over her feud with former President Donald Trump, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy denied that the election of President Joe Biden is in dispute among Republicans.
"I don't think anybody is questioning the legitimacy of the presidential election," McCarthy, a California Republican, told reporters after a nearly two-hour, bipartisan meeting with Biden at the White House on Wednesday. "I think that is all over with, we were sitting here with the president today."
McCarthy's remark is a stark departure from Trump's stance, as the former president has baselessly claimed that the 2020 election was stolen from him. Trump's insistence that the race was rigged and a resulting rally in support of him eventually led to a mob storming the U.S. Capitol on January 6, in an attempt to stop the certification of the election results.
Trump's vocal Twitter account was suspended shortly after the riot, but he's since started a blog where he posts regular commentary.
In a statement as recently as Tuesday, Trump referenced the "rigged and stolen" election. The day before, he called on Republicans to fight the election outcome, writing, "If a thief robs a jewelry store of all of its diamonds (the 2020 Presidential Election), the diamonds must be returned." On Friday, he referred to the election outcome as "the greatest Fraud in the history of our Country!"
McCarthy had been trying to get a meeting with Biden since the president took office in January, frequently telling reporters he hadn't heard back on his request.
Biden called McCarthy, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to the White House to talk about ways to move forward on a massive infrastructure package.
McConnell and McCarthy both expressed optimism about a path forward after the meeting.
"There is certainly a bipartisan desire to get an outcome [on infrastructure]," McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, told reporters.
But minutes after leaving the White House, McCarthy's campaign sent a fundraising text message blasting the administration.
"It's Kevin McCarthy. I just met with Corrupt Joe Biden and he's STILL planning to push his radical Socialist agenda onto the American people," the message read.
After the meeting, the White House said in a readout of the meeting that Biden enjoyed having a discussion with the top four leaders of Congress.
"The President reiterated that he ran to be a leader for all Americans—regardless of who they voted for, that he believes there are many crucial areas where his administration and both parties in Congress can come together, and that in this unprecedented moment the American people expect us to put the interests of families above our disagreements," the White House statement read. "The President also emphasized that whatever differences exist between the parties, the real competition is between the United States and the rest of the world, and that other countries are not waiting for us to equip our people to win in the 21st Century—and that there is nothing we cannot do as a country when we do it together."
