Kevin McCarthy 'didn't engage with any of his staff' about how to respond following January 6, according to a former aide

• A former McCarthy aide said that the Minority Leader 'didn't engage' at all with staff about January 6.
• "None of the McCarthy staff were able to connect with him regarding the day's events," he said.

A former aide to Kevin McCarthy said that the House Minority Leader did not engage with his staff at all about how to respond to January 6 in the immediate wake of the attacks.

Speaking with CNN's Jake Tapper on Thursday evening, Ryan O'Toole — who served at the time as the Republican Cloakroom director and was on the House floor during the attacks — was asked what McCarthy had to say to staffers in the wake of the attack.

"My recollection was that he did not — he didn't engage with any of his staff," said O'Toole. "I didn't get a chance to have any sort of debrief and my understanding is that none of the McCarthy staff were able to connect with him regarding the day's events, or how to respond to them, frankly.

—The Lead CNN (@TheLeadCNN) January 6, 2022

O'Toole, who now works for anti-Trump Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, went on to praise Democratic leadership for their actions that day.

"I'd be remiss if I didn't recount, as we were walking back from that secure room that we'd been evacuated to, to complete the day's business on the House floor, Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi and Leader [Steny] Hoyer stopped our team, our floor team, to thank us for the job that we had done assisting members and continuing the process."

"I think that demonstrates the color of the leadership that day demanded," he added.

Reached for comment, a staffer from McCarthy's office directed Insider to tweeted statement that said "throughout the day McCarthy was in frequent contact [with] members of our staff."

—Ryan Nobles (@ryanobles) January 6, 2022

McCarthy has found himself in a difficult position as he seeks to retain a relationship with former President Donald Trump — who he initially blamed for the attack — while defending Congress as an institution.

"The president bears responsibility for Wednesday's attack on Congress by mob rioters," McCarthy said amidst Trump's second impeachment trial. He also floated censuring the former president.

Later, McCarthy pivoted to blaming Democrats for security issues at the Capitol, and recently said that Congress is "no closer to answering the central question of how the Capitol was left so unprepared" for the attacks, in an implicit jab at Pelosi.

And according to O'Toole, McCarthy is now largely beholden to the furthest-right members of his caucus, including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz.

"When Marjorie Taylor Greene or Matt Gaetz puts their thumb on the scale, that's what he responds to, and that drives the House Republican Conference into the arms of somebody like Donald Trump," O'Toole said. "And so the leadership that enables that behavior is continuing today, as we've seen."