McCarthy Issues Stern Warning To Republican Voters

Voice of America, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has tried to calm those encouraged by former President Trump’s call for protests following the expectation that he might be arrested following the Manhattan District Attorney investigation.

During a press conference at the House GOP issues retreat on Sunday McCarthy was explicitly asked about Trump’s earlier call on Truth Social for his supporters to protest his arrest. In response, McCarthy stated that he did not believe that people should protest, and instead claimed that Trump’s statement was only meant to be a push to get people to be more educated about everything that was going on.

McCarthy said that “he’s not talking in a harmful way.” He added that there should be no one who seeks to harm someone else and that the law needed to be equal in order to ensure that this would not be happening. McCarthy continued by claiming that they just wanted “calmness” and that they were not seeking “violence or harm.”

On Saturday, Trump took to Truth Social to claim that there were speculations that he would be arrested on Tuesday in the case that would be brought forth by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s investigation into a hush-money payment given to adult film star Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence prior to the 2016 presidential election. It was in that post that Trump had written, “Protest, take our nation back!” Many have been worried that these comments could potentially lead to violence being incited, especially since Trump’s supporters had previously attacked the U.S. Capitol following Trump’s allegations that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen.