House Democrat says McCarthy only siding with Trump ‘just to hold his caucus together’

Democratic Caucus Chairman Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) said Sunday that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is supporting former President Trump in the wake of his indictment “just to hold his caucus together.” 

In an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on “This Week,” Aguilar responded to McCarthy’s defense of Trump last week after the former president was indicted over his efforts to stay in power upon losing the 2020 presidential election. 

“[McCarthy] is a guy who stood in the, in the well of the Capitol building and said that Donald Trump bears responsibility,” Aguilar said. “The only thing that changed is that he needed to count votes to secure the Speaker’s gavel. That’s the only thing that changed. And so now he has to be, just like many others, a key supporter of the former president, just to hold his caucus together.”

Last week, McCarthy claimed the Department of Justice is using Trump’s latest indictment “to distract” from the recent GOP-led investigation into President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, and his business dealings abroad.

“[The Republicans] have to continue to espouse these extreme, you know, theories and beliefs,” Aguilar said. “And by the way, this is also someone who said years ago that he created the Benghazi subcommittee to attack Hillary Clinton’s poll ratings when she got high in the polls, so not exactly a lot of credibility when it comes to this.”

Aguilar was a member of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack and has called out Republicans in the past for continuing to endorse Trump despite his alleged role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack and separate legal battles.

“And our January 6th Committee report showed time and time again that President Trump was told he lost the election by his campaign lawyers, by his advisers,” Aguilar said. “And some of those political advisers told him from even before the election that they weren’t going to accept the results of a free and fair election.”