Pelosi, McCarthy respond to questions about House members’ role in the Capitol assault

At separate press conferences on Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy responded to reporters’ questions about the role members of Congress may have played in the Capitol attack on Jan. 6.

Video transcript

- Do you have any evidence, or were you briefed in any capacity about-- do you have any evidence, or were you briefed in any capacity about these allegations of reconaissance tours that some have talked about? And if there is not proof of that, some of your members [INAUDIBLE] some of the Republican members who were alleged to have given these have denied that they've [INAUDIBLE]?

NANCY PELOSI: [INAUDIBLE] all of those things, as you indicate, you have to have evidence of what has happened. There is no question that there were members in this body who gave aid and comfort to those with the idea that they were embracing a lie, a lie perpetrated by the President of the United States that the election did not have legitimacy. These people believed it. They believed the president. The president of United States-- his words have weight. They weigh a ton, in fact. So that's one thing.

In terms of what you suggest, everything has to be based on evidence, and that remains to be seen. In that regard, I'm very pleased that we will have an after action review that will review many aspects of what happened. If people did aid and abet, there will be more than just comments from their colleagues here. There'll be prosecution if they aided and abetted an insurrection in which people died.

But again, Chad, as you rightfully ask, that is something that you have to collect the evidence for as you proceed.

- Well, after the rioters came into the Capitol on January 6th, you voted to overturn the results in Pennsylvania and Arizona. You also signed on to that Texas lawsuit to invalidate the election. You waited for a couple of weeks ago to declare that Joe Biden won the election. Given the violence that we saw, do you regret the role you played in any way in sowing doubt about the election?

KEVIN MCCARTHY: I denounce any violence. I denounced it that day. I denounce it now. I denounced it in the summer. I denounce what happened last night in Portland and Seattle as well. I'm very consistent. What I voted on wasn't to overturn an election because it would not overturn it. What I signed on to amicus was the exact same question that you did a constitutional question about-- did a legislature have the right, or did the legislature actually move through to make any changes? This is the same thing that has happened in the last three presidential elections. It's the same thing that Nancy Pelosi said on the floor when she said, this is democracy. We should debate it.

It's different than when Jim Clyburn voted to overturn Ohio, which you would say, because that would change the outcome of the presidential election. So let's be very clear on what we did. If mine was based upon policy and principle, yes, I would stay the course. I have always denounced whatever individuals did here, what they did in the summer, or what they did last night. That's un-American. That's undemocratic. And anybody involved in that should be prosecuted. I've been very, very clear about that from day one. So thank you.

- Well, why didn't you come out earlier and say that the election was free and fair?

KEVIN MCCARTHY: Go ahead.

- As a follow-up to his question--

KEVIN MCCARTHY: Yes.