CNN’s KFile reviewed earlier reporting on House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s statements in the immediate aftermath of the Capitol riot, finding two instances in which the spineless gummy worm told others that Trump had admitted responsibility for the Capitol riot in private conversation.

In a January 11th, 2021 private meeting among the House GOP caucus, McCarthy told his party members, “Let me be clear to you and I have been very clear to the President. He bears responsibility for his words and actions. No if ands or buts. I asked him personally today if he holds responsibility for what happened. If he feels bad about what happened. He told me he does have some responsibility for what happened. But he needs to acknowledge that.” The next day, in an interview with California radio station KERN, McCarthy said “I say he has responsibility. He told me personally that he does have some responsibility. I think a lot of people do.”

While it’s possible, maybe even likely, that McCarthy is full of shit and just saying what he thought people wanted to hear because that doesn’t really sound like something Trump would say, since nothing is ever his fault. Then again all reporting on that chaotic time describes Trump’s mental state as “fragile”, so who really knows. Either way, this new old reporting underscores the need for the House January 6th Committee to get the notoriously cowardly McCarthy on the record.