Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is coming under fire on social media over a wild new claim about his 2021 meeting with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
McCarthy is often blamed for helping to revive Trump’s political fortunes by flying to Florida to pose for a grinning photo op weeks after MAGA fans stormed the U.S. Capitol and tried to stop the certification of the election.
A new book by former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) says she called him out at the time.
“Mar-a-Lago? What the hell, Kevin?” Cheney asked, according to CNN, which obtained an advance copy.
“They’re really worried,” McCarthy said. “Trump’s not eating, so they asked me to come see him.”
“What? You went to Mar-a-Lago because Trump’s not eating?” Cheney replied.
“Yeah, he’s really depressed,” McCarthy said, according to the book excerpt.
McCarthy’s critics on X put the former speaker on blast:
A few weeks ago our 14 year old dog stopped eating. At no point did our vet say to us “you should grovel before him and tell him you think he’s the President”.
But Kevin’s gonna Kevin, I guess. https://t.co/M97NiTmCwz
— Sean Casten (@SeanCasten) November 28, 2023
Kevin McCarthy had to feed Trump. Cute
— Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraini) 🇺🇸🇺🇦🇮🇱 (@AdamKinzinger) November 28, 2023
Tapper: I loved the one of McCarthy saying that he had to go down to Mar-a-Lago because Trump was depressed and he wasn’t eating. First of all, that alone I find surprising… just because he’s a man of healthy appetite. I don’t mean that disparagingly pic.twitter.com/hUBcVLNRD1
— Acyn (@Acyn) November 28, 2023