Adam Kinzinger Slams Kevin McCarthy’s ‘Pathetic’ Defense Of His Infamous Mar-a-Lago Visit
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Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) torched his onetime colleague Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday for his characterization of his Mar-a-Lago photo-op with Donald Trump in the weeks after the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol attack.
During a forum at Georgetown University, an attendee asked the former House speaker if he felt he had turned his back on democracy by helping to rehabilitate Trump’s image with that visit to the Florida estate.
McCarthy infamously posed for a photo with the former president at Mar-a-Lago, weeks after saying Trump bore responsibility for the insurrection.
In response to the query, McCarthy claimed that Trump had asked him to visit while he was in Florida for a fundraiser, and he agreed without telling anyone.
“Whether I like you or dislike you, if something bad happens in your life, I want to be the first person to call you,” he said.
“Now you play anything you want into me going to Mar-a-Lago, but I simply got a phone call, and I was down there doing a fundraiser when I come by and see the president,” he added.
Kinzinger, one of two Republicans who served on the Jan. 6 committee, was unimpressed by McCarthy’s portrayal.
“It’s pathetic,” he told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins. “I mean, look, I’m not saying this for sympathy, but during the Jan. 6 stuff, my family and I were getting death threats. Do you know how many times I heard, as a former friend of Kevin McCarthy, from Kevin McCarthy? None! Instead, he called Liz Cheney and I: ‘Pelosi Republicans.’”
Adam Kinzinger on McCarthy defending his visit to Mar-a-Lago after Jan. 6 as just checking on a friend: “My family and I were getting death threats. Do you know how many times I heard, as a former friend of Kevin McCarthy’s, from Kevin McCarthy? None.” pic.twitter.com/7t0OpjXv1K
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) April 10, 2024
McCarthy went to Mar-a-Lago for one reason, Kinzinger said.
“He needed to become speaker, and he knew that he didn’t have time to take out the MAGA. And if he wanted to win, he needed them,” he said. “So he went down to enlist the help of Donald Trump for fundraising, which Donald Trump helped him with.”
He added, “And in that process, it was like a ambulance showing up to a person in cardiac arrest. He took the paddles to Donald Trump and brought him back to political life.”
