Speaker Kevin McCarthy came to the aid of former President Donald Trump on Wednesday, saying there was no "criminal activity" committed by the former president on Jan. 6, 2021, highlighting Trump's message "to be peaceful."
McCarthy made the comments to reporters at the Capitol, a day after Trump said he was the target of a criminal investigation by the Justice Department.
"I don't see how he could be found criminally responsible," McCarthy said. "What criminal activity did he do? He told people to be peaceful."
McCarthy acknowledged speaking with Trump on Tuesday, something the speaker said happens on a "regular basis."
He said the former president was frustrated and denied the implication that the call was a "strategy session" to set the talking points around the DOJ probe.
"I think the strategy sessions happen in the Democrats' Department of Justice, where they go after anybody who's running against the president," McCarthy said. "It seems as though — and if you go up in the polls you're more likely to get indicted."
House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik criticized the "illegal weaponization" of the DOJ to go after Trump while dragging its feet on the Hunter Biden investigation, an assertion lobbed Wednesday by two IRS whistleblowers during a hearing on Capitol Hill.
"I would move to an impeachment inquiry if I found that the attorney general has not only lied to the Congress and the Senate, but to America," McCarthy said, referring to Attorney General Merrick Garland.