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The Republican Party is facing a new moment of reckoning tied to its top leaders and the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. 

It follows the release of two private audio conversations involving House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, including a 

 in which he claims Trump admitted some responsibility for the insurrection.

"I've been very clear to the president: He bears responsibility for his words and actions, no ifs ands or buts," McCarthy is heard telling the House Republican conference in a 

. "I asked him personally today does he hold responsibility for what happened? Does he feel bad about what happened? He told me he does have some responsibility for what happened ... And he needs to acknowledge that."

That tape was released on Friday as part of 

, who have shared new details about the Republican ire that played out behind closed doors soon after the siege. 

A day earlier, Martin and Burns shared another 

McCarthy tape from a Jan. 10, 2021 House Republican leadership call

. Before the audio was released late Thursday, McCarthy had 

 he recommended Trump resign during that call. However, the tape exposed that was a lie.  

But that lie might not mean much to McCarthy's hopes to be the next House speaker if Republicans win control of the chamber next year. 

While McCarthy faces a tricky conversation with his conference, which could come when the House returns from a 2-week recess next week, the ultimate judge is likely Trump. For now, many of the revelations exposed in the calls mimic concerns McCarthy shared publicly in the early days after the attack. 

And while such new details upend the stories that Republicans have told about the siege or Trump's role in it since, their members often return to their central mantra, which is unwavering loyalty to Trump. 

 were clearly furious after the attack, including 

, but they and others returned to the fold soon after. 

And while members of GOP leadership have remained largely quiet in the wake of the McCarthy tapes, rank and file members offered a mixed view. For example, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz 

 of Wyoming, one of two Republican members on the House select Jan. 6 committee, of leaking the tape to the New York Times and told McCarthy that he should have listened to him.

But South Carolina's Nancy Mace, who is facing a tough re-election fight, shared her early support for McCarthy in 

"Water under the bridge," Mace said. "This is kind of, I don't think a story that's going anywhere, but I support him wholeheartedly." 

Politics and Government News

Claudia Grisales

Author

McCarthy faces a tricky conversation with his conference over what he said, which could come when the House returns from recess next week, but the ultimate judge is likely former President Trump. 

Republicans face a new reckoning over what GOP House leader McCarthy said about Trump

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