these facts require immediate action by president trump. accept his share of responsibility. yes, under that mask that was kevin mccarthy. let s go straight to leigh ann caldwell on capitol hill and glenn kirschner former federal prosecutor now an msnbc analyst and jeremy peters, new york times national politics reporter and the author of the new upcoming book with the devastating title insurgency: how republicans lost their party and got everything they wanted. leigh ann, help me out here. we know what mccarthy said on january 6th and a week later on the house floor. he then went to visit trump at mar-a-lago and has been video silent since. nothing is going to change if he testifies. why do they want to do it? to compare and contrast the two? reporter: part of the reason they want to talk to him is to understand why he did make such an about-face on his position regarding the former president. they note that his speech on the
trump has a hold on the party. lindsey graham said last night that he won t support mitch mcconnell, who has been in power far longer than trump, if mcconnell can t work with trump. that is very, very different from lindsey graham s position after the capitol riot. how is it that donald trump who lost the white house, lost the house, lost the senate still has such a grip on the party, career republicans who have been in office for decades? in one word, fear. it s the fear that republican politicians have of their voters because their voters like donald trump in most cases a heck of a lot better than they like their average republican senator or congressman, and trump has managed to hold on to the party to his grip on the party for much longer than, i think, most historians, political experts, consultants would have expected time and time again he has defied expectations. i mean, let s not forget while
committee chair bennie thompson wants to know what mccarthy talked about with trump and trump s staffers as the riot was unfolding. there is a lot we don t know, but here is what we do know, mccarthy said himself that he spoke with trump on the phone during the riot and as nbc news reported last year, it did not go well. the sources telling us mccarthy was shaken up by what happened and the republican leader telling trump himself on the phone, who the f do you think you re talking to? well, things are changed. now mccarthy is slamming the committee s probe saying their probe is an abuse of power and do not forget exactly one year ago he publicly blamed the former president for the riot and he called on the house to censure trump. the president bears responsibility for wednesday s attack on congress by mob rioters. he should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding.
to challenge his own party? we should remember joe biden didn t win with america voting for him, he won with america voting against trump. right. and i think, you know, there is a risk that s a really good point because trump does run the risk of really putting some distance between himself and his base. i think right now the trump base is actually further to the right than trump is on a lot of stuff. i mean, look, he got booed the other week when he told people to get their booster shots. i think there are certain ways like that in which he is out of step. how much that ultimately matters, you know, we ll see. this weekend he s going to arizona and he s holding a rally with exactly the type of candidates that you were just referring to, far right conservative pro-trump republicans who are vying for a number of offices from governor down ballot. so those races will be key