WATCH: Congressional Republicans Squirm When Confronted on Sunday Shows About Kevin McCarthy Getting Caught Lying

Republicans were confronted on the Sunday shows over House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) getting caught in a falsehood over his newly-revealed comments about former President Donald Trump.

McCarthy became the center of a news bombshell after New York Times reporters Alexander Burns and Jonathan Martin reported that he spoke with Republican congressional leaders about asking for Trump’s resignation over the events of Jan. 6. McCarthy claimed the story was “totally false and wrong,” but Burns and Martin released audio proving their report on the House minority leader was true. McCarthy continues to claim he never said he wanted Trump to resign.

The development has been a subject of major media focus in recent days, and Republican lawmakers struggled with the matter as they faced questions about it on Sunday.

NBC’s Kristen Welker played the McCarthy audio as she spoke to Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) on Meet The Press, and she said “given the disconnect [between McCarthy’s words], how can Americans believe what the top Republican in the House says?”

“Well, a lot of people were saying a lot of things in that two weeks,” Blunt answered. “I haven’t talked to the minority leader in the House about this, but he’s been close to trump. Frankly, when I first heard this, I thought, ‘anybody whose been as close to President Trump as Kevin McCarthy was would know that the last thing Donald Trump was gonna do was either resign or quit.’ It was a pathway, ten days to the end of this term. There was no way that was going to happen, and I was frankly going to surprised that Kevin would even suggest it might be a realistic suggestion.”

Asked if McCarthy has a credibility problem because of the tape, Blunt said “you’ll have to ask him that.”

My guess is you don’t remember every conversation you’re in exactly the way it occurred, and maybe remember you remember the way you you wanted it to occur…I’ve never been in a leadership meeting where you felt like you couldn’t think out loud and apparently, they have a leadership where you can’t think out loud.

Over on CNN, Dana Bash interviewed Congresswoman Victoria Spartz (R-IN) and asked for her take on the McCarthy blow-up. Spartz, a Ukrainian-American citizen who was speaking from Kyiv, deflected the question by saying “we need to really deal with serious issues right now.”

Bash continued to hone in on the topic, saying “one thing that’s not a policy debate is the question of telling the truth. And it doesn’t seem that [McCarthy] did. Does that bother you, particularly on something as grave and as important as what happened on January 6th?”

Spartz’s answer:

Well, I think they need to explain. I don’t know, I don’t have a review of the personal conversation, who said what. I think Leader McCarthy and President Trump, they need to do an explanation of what’s happening and explain what’s happening. I wasn’t there. I didn’t hear it. There is a lot of things people try to spin, so I’m not going to be commenting. But I think they should discuss what’s happening and explain what it was and why it is, but ultimately, people have different opinions. People change views. That’s okay. That’s a part of political process, to communicate and have different views and learn about the issues and maybe change — sometimes — opinions and have debate and deliberation. That’s very healthy. It’s not necessarily people maybe don’t tell the truth, but people can change an opinion based on learning about circumstances.

Spartz concluded with a swipe at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for not having the Capitol evacuated faster on January 6th. Conservatives have repeatedly tried to claim Pelosi was responsible for the breaches of security on January 6th, but the fact is she’s not in charge of the U.S. Capitol Police

Fox News’ Sandra Smith also called out McCarthy’s bind during an interview with Congressman Michael McCaul (R-TX), asking him “can Kevin McCarthy still leave your conference?”

“Absolutely,” McCaul answered. He launched into a convoluted defense by claiming McCarthy “was gaming out various options” about what could happen if Trump was impeached, which he was for inciting an insurrection.

“The fact is, he never had that conversation with President Trump,” McCaul said. He continued to describe McCarthy’s recorded lie as “a little beltway bubble blitz” and “I don’t think its going to have any long term consequences.”

Watch above, via CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News.