House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy brought fellow Republican Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington to tears in a tense meeting weeks after the January 6 Capitol riot, according to a new book.
An excerpt from the forthcoming book "Unchecked: The Untold Story Behind Congress's Botched Impeachments of Donald Trump" published in the Washington Post on Tuesday offers new details of a February 2021 meeting in which McCarthy — reportedly tense from managing the party's relationship to former President Donald Trump in the wake of the Capitol riot — unloaded on the congresswoman.
"I alone am taking all the heat to protect people from Trump! I alone am holding the party together!" McCarthy yelled, according to the book. "I have been working with Trump to keep him from going after Republicans like you and blowing up the party and destroying all our work!"
Herrera Beutler was one of ten House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for incitement of an insurrection following the attacks, and was recently defeated in her primary by Trump-backed candidate Joe Kent.
