Republicans applaud Kevin McCarthy after he defends Trump’s resignation comments, report says

Republican members of the House GOP caucus reportedly gave the minority leader a standing ovation on Wednesday after he gave a new defence for his leaked comments in which he said that he would suggest to Donald Trump that he should resign.

The New York Times last week published leaked audio of Mr McCarthy in the hours after the January 6 attack on Congress telling another member that he would tell Mr Trump that he should step down before his term officially ended on 20 January.

Speaking at a GOP caucus meeting, Kevin McCarthy reportedly told his members that he was just speculating about Mr Trump’s future, while accusing the media of manipulating his meaning and leaving out the full context of his remarks. The claims drew him a standing cheer from the assembled Republican members, according to CNN’s Melanie Zanona.

He even received somewhat unlikely support from Marjorie Taylor Greene, the conspiracy-slinging Georgia congresswoman whose removal from House committees was supported by Mr McCarthy after her past comments about violence against Democrats including Nancy Pelosi were revealed.

Ms Greene reportedly rose in defence of the beleaguered House GOP leader and thanked him for his work (through his attorneys) in the effort to restore her personal Twitter account, according to CNN.

But the mood in the room wasn’t all roses, according to reports and accounts from those in the room. One GOP member told HuffPost specifically that not everyone present joined in the ovation for Mr McCarthy, and several indicated both privately to reporters and publicly that they will wait to hear the rest of the recordings before making a judgement one way or another.

One of those members is Matt Gaetz, a Trump loyalist and 2020 election denier who is currently under investigation by the Justice Department for sex trafficking, an allegation he has strenuously denied and denounced as a hit job. Mr Gaetz the night before had released a statement condemning both Mr McCarthy and his no. 2, House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, for their recorded comments; Mr Scalise in particular was heard suggesting that Mr Gaetz could have committed a crime.

Mr Gaetz questioned Mr Scalise during Wednesday’s meeting and was among the most outraged about the leaked comments, according to multiple reports. He appeared incensed about the remarks after the meeting ended as well, and took to Twitter to refute what appeared to be Mr Scalise’s explanation of his past condemnation of the Florida congressman.

Wednesday’s meeting will result in no immediate shifts in the House GOP power structure but it signals that Mr McCarthy’s hold over his caucus may not be as cemented as he would like ahead of his potential run for the Speaker’s gavel next year. A handful of Republicans refused to tell reporters if they still supported Mr McCarthy’s position as GOP leader in the wake of the meeting.

The meeting followed withering criticism of Mr McCarthy by Fox News’s Tucker Carlson on his widely-viewed programme on Tuesday evening, wherein the right-wing host declared the California Republican an agent of the Democratic Party and warned specifically against electing him Speaker should the GOP retake the House in November.

Other conservative commentators reacted to the leaked audio similarly on social media, calling for Mr McCarthy to be put aside for a true Trump loyalist.