Ex-McCarthy Staffer Who Was in Capitol on Jan. 6 Slams Minority Leader: ‘Follower’ Whose Actions are ‘Dictated by Most Extreme Wing’

Ryan O’Toole, a former staffer for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), described his former boss essentially as a “follower” who is a puppet for extremists during an interview Thursday on CNN.

On the anniversary of the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, O’Toole joined The Lead with host Jake Tapper to discuss why he quit on McCarthy (R-CA) and joined the staff of Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY).

Tapper asked O’Toole how he explains McCarthy’s “evolving” opinion of former President Donald Trump following the riot.

McCarthy criticized the former president immediately following the events of Jan. 6, but soon softened his stance after famously visiting the former president at his Mar-a-Lago estate to make amends.

O’Toole told Tapper that he was inside the Capitol during the riot. He further accused McCarthy of not addressing him and other staffers about what had unfolded that day.

Tapper asked O’Toole, “I’m stunned that leader McCarthy didn’t reach out to his staff. Um, how do you explain McCarthy’s evolving opinion on Trump’s role in the insurrection? Blaming him directly for the mob, and then months later leading the whitewashing of it?”

O’Toole responded by offering some biting criticism of his former boss, who he accused of allowing himself to be a voluntary hostage to fringe elements within the GOP.

“Look, I think there is a great leadership quote that former Boston Mayor Curly has used before. ‘There go the people. I am their leader. I must follow them,’” O’Toole said. “And I think that really describes leader McCarthy’s leadership strategy in that there is not one.

“His leadership strategy is dictated by the most extreme wings of his party. And so when Marjorie Taylor Greene or Matt Gaetz put 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, and so the leadership that enables that behavior is continuing today, as we’ve seen.”

Watch above, via CNN.

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