https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10498501/Now-Kevin-McCarthy-calls-January-6-violent-insurrection.html

Fake News?

House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy has conceded that January 6th was a 'violent insurrection,' saying he agreed with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's description of that day.

'No one would disagree with that,' McCarthy told reporters on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.

His clarification comes after McCarthy was mocked by Democrats for walking away from an ABC News reporter who was asking him about the Republican National Committee censure of Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney for serving on the committee investigating the insurrection.

The GOP leader was caught on camera walking away from the reporter who was trying to question him in the halls of the Capitol.

But McCarthy later talked with NBC News and said that anyone who broke into the Capitol on January 6th was not taking part in 'legitimate political discourse.' He also said he didn't think the censure of Cheney and Kinzinger - the two Republicans serving on the panel - was about that.

'I think anybody, we all know this, who entered this building, that rioted, is not legitimate political discourse,' he said. 'But I don't think that's what the RNC was talking about when you talk to them.'

McCarthy suggested the 'legitimate discourse' referred to alternative electors whom the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot has subpoenaed, even though he said they were in Florida during the riot.

Asked whether he agreed with the decision to censure Kinzinger and Cheney, McCarthy said: 'I think there's a reason why Adam is not running again. I think there's a reason why at the end of the day, Liz would have a hard time winning here if she runs, and I don't think she runs.'

Kinzinger is not seeking re-election but Cheney is. She has outraised her GOP primary opponent, who has the backing of former President Donald Trump. Cheney, however, has the support of other top-name Republicans, including George W. Bush, Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney.

McCarthy's comments come as the Republican Party faces an internecine battle over Trump's attempt to hang on to the presidency - from his false claims that he won the election to his defense of the MAGA crowd that stormed the Capitol on January 6th to try and stop the certification of Joe Biden's victory.