House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Thursday that former President Trump’s words at a rally did not incite the violent mob that invaded the U.S. Capitol earlier this month, contradicting his previous comments that Trump bore responsibility for the insurrection that resulted in five deaths. Eight days earlier, during a Jan. 13 House debate on whether to impeach Trump, McCarthy said the president was to blame for the violence, though he voted against impeachment. “The president bears responsibility for [the] attack on Congress by mob rioters,” McCarthy said on the House floor. Ending any kind of continuation of massive lies after the Capitol was torn apart — which [McCarthy] didn’t do,” Thomas said on KGET-TV on Jan. 15. “Keep in mind, Kevin doesn’t have a moral conscience,” said Mark Martinez, chair of the political science department at Cal State Bakersfield.

Source: Los Angeles Times January 22, 2021 11:02 UTC