Kevin McCarthy begged Trump to call Biden on the eve of his inauguration, but Trump refused: book
- McCarthy begged Trump to call Biden before his inauguration, a new book says.
- "Do it for me," McCarthy told Trump, per the book. "You've got to call him. Call Joe Biden."
- But Trump refused, according to Bob Woodward and Robert Costa's book "Peril."
House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy begged President Donald Trump to call then-President-elect Joe Biden on the eve of his inauguration, but Trump repeatedly rebuffed him. That's according to Bob Woodward and Robert Costa's "Peril," an early copy of which was obtained by Insider.
The conversation took place on the phone about 10 p.m. on January 19, the book says, and Trump told McCarthy he'd just finished writing a personal letter to Biden as part of a long-running tradition in which outgoing presidents leave letters for their successor.
"I just finished the letter," Trump told McCarthy, according to the book. The House GOP leader was glad to hear that after weeks of urging, Trump had finally taken his advice.
The California Republican wanted Trump to go a step further to solidify the transfer of power to Biden, especially since Trump wasn't going to attend the inauguration, eschewing years of norms and leaving a lasting fracture in the long American tradition of peaceful transitions between administrations.
"I don't know what happened to you in the last two months," McCarthy told Trump on the phone, according to the book. "You're not the same as you were for the last four years."
He then begged that the president call Biden, the book says. "Do it for me," he told Trump. "You've got to call him. Call Joe Biden."
Trump said no. After McCarthy pushed him a couple more times, Trump changed the subject, according to the book.
It was par for the course for Trump, who had refused to acknowledge Biden's victory in the 2020 election and continues insisting that he was the rightful winner and that the race was unfairly stolen from him.
He brushed off any suggestions that he concede to Biden in the days and weeks after the election. At one point in November, after the race had been called for Biden, Trump told his close confidant and communications director, Hope Hicks, "It's not who I am to give up. It's not in me to do that," the book says.
She appealed to Trump to consider the political capital he could accumulate and urged him not to "squander it," the book adds. But Trump was adamant, according to the book, saying, "I don't care about my legacy. My legacy doesn't matter. If I lose, that will be my legacy."
McCarthy publicly blamed Trump for the Capitol siege. But soon after, he softened his tone and walked back some of his criticism.
The two men even met at Mar-a-Lago after Trump left office, but Trump was still upset McCarthy had blamed him for the riot, the book says.
"This guy called me every single day, pretended to be my best friend, and then, he fucked me," Trump told friends at a dinner in February, according to the book. "He's not a good guy."