In audio recording, McCarthy seems to say he planned to urge Trump to resign, after denying claim

In an audio recording made public Thursday night, House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy seems to say he planned to urge former President Trump to resign following the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, after denying he said such just hours earlier.

The recording is reportedly of a House Republican conference call after the riot, which Trump critics say he incited, and before House and Senate impeachment votes that could have removed him from office.

It was released on MSNBC by the authors of the forthcoming book, "This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America's Future."

McCarthy on the Jan. 10, 2021, call seems to discuss with others the upcoming impeachment votes and what he intends to tell then-President Trump.

"I think this [impeachment] will pass, and that would be my recommendation: You should resign. That would be my take, but I don't think he would take it, but I don't know," he said.

Quotes from the recording appeared earlier in the day in a New York Times story about the book, written by two of the newspaper's Washington reporters – Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns. 

McCarthy later said in a statement the quotes were "totally false and wrong" and the last year and a half prove the country was "better off when President Trump was in the White House." He has yet to comment of the audiotape. 

Wyoming GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, a Trump critic who was a member of House GOP leadership at the time, was reportedly on the call and said Friday that said she did not leak the audio recording.