Kevin McCarthy Criticizes Pelosi for Not Taking Any Republicans to Taiwan — Neglects to Mention She Did Invite Them

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) attacked Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) for not taking any Republicans with her on her trip to Taiwan this week, neglecting to mention that she did, in fact, invite Republicans to join her.

Appearing in studio with Harris Faulkner on Wednesday’s episode of The Faulkner Focus, McCarthy said that Chinese President Xi Jinping had “grabbed an opportunity here” and criticized Pelosi’s trip for being “wrong” on “timing” and “gave Xi an opening.”

Pelosi “really made a mistake,” McCarthy claimed, by not taking any Republican members of Congress with her:

I support her going to Taiwan. I would have gone with her, had she asked. She didn’t take one Republican. When she went to Ukraine, she didn’t take one Republican.

So if you really want to make a strong statement, that America’s making a statement, don’t make it partisan, don’t take all Democrats. If you want to have Congress…speak with one voice, take people from both sides of the aisle. It didn’t have to be me. But just take another Republican. And had she done that, it’s a much stronger voice of what she is trying to do.

What McCarthy neglected to mention was that Pelosi had invited Republicans to take the trip with her. As reported by the Washington Times (a conservative paper, it should be noted) on July 28, Pelosi had invited several other members of Congress to join her, including Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), the top-ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. McCaul confirmed Pelosi’s invitation on the record, telling NBC News he had “a personal obligation that would conflict with the visit,” according to the Times.

There’s also a sharp cognitive dissonance between McCarthy’s criticism of Pelosi and the praise she received from many of his Republican colleagues and other conservatives.

“Republicans have signed on to this trip,” Fox News anchor Bret Baier reported on Tuesday as Pelosi arrived in Taiwan to what he described as “a rock star welcome.”

“Some 26, 27 senators sending a letter of support with this trip,” Baier noted.

“There aren’t any Republicans on the delegation –” Baier began as John Roberts interjected, “Though they were invited.”

“They were invited,” Baier concurred. “There is support on Capitol Hill for this effort.”

The letter Baier referenced was signed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and 25 other Republican Senators, expressly stating their support for Pelosi’s trip and noting that other members of Congress had visited Taiwan “[f]or decades.”

National Review’s editorial board and columnist Jim Geraghty — again, a conservative site — also praised Pelosi’s trip in advance, highlighting her history of standing up to the Chinese government’s attempts to act like a “bully,”

Watch the video clips above, via Fox News.