House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told President Donald Trump that he had heard gunfire outside the House chamber, when the two leaders talked during the insurrection - a conversation that is now at the center of the Senate impeachment trial.
ABC News' Jonathan Karl reported Saturday that McCarthy had made a specific reference to shots being fired as he encouraged Trump to call off the MAGA mob.
On Saturday morning, the lead impeachment manager, Rep. Jamie Raskin, made a surprise announcement that the Democrats wanted witnesses on the heels of CNN's blockbuster Friday night report that included new details about Trump refusing to rein in his supporters who were attacking the Capitol on January 6.
New details about a call between President Donald Trump and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (pictured) triggered chaos Saturday morning when Democrats announced they wanted witnesses for the impeachment trial. ABC News reported that McCarthy had told Trump he heard gunfire during their conversation mid-insurrection
Rep. Jamie Raskin made the surprise announcement Saturday morning that the House Democratic impeachment managers wished to call witnesses, after details about a call between McCarthy and Trump became public Friday night
CNN reported that Trump, seen on January 6, got into a screaming match with McCarthy who told the president that the rioters were breaking his windows. When Trump made his comment about them caring more about the election, McCarthy replied with, 'Who the f**k do you think you are talking to?'
In particular, the House Democratic team wanted to hear more from Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, who went public with what she knew about the call between McCarthy and Trump.
McCarthy had debriefed a number of GOP lawmakers on the conversation after the fact.
'For that reason and because this is the proper time to do so under the resolution the Senate adopted to set the rules for the trial we would like the opportunity to subpoena Congresswoman Herrera regarding her communications with the House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and to subpoena her contemporaneous notes that she made regarding what President Trump told Kevin McCarthy in the middle of the insurrection,' Raskin told the Senate audience.
'We will be prepared to proceed by Zoom deposition of an hour or less just as soon as Congresswoman Herrera Beutler is available and to then proceed to the next phase of the trial, including the introduction of that testimony shortly thereafter,' he added.
The new twist to Trump's impeachment trial, which was expected to conclude Saturday, came after CNN reported Friday night new details about the call.
CNN said that Trump and McCarthy engaged in an expletive-laced shouting match during the riot, with the California Republican begging the president to rein in his supporters.
'Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are,' Trump said, according to lawmakers who were briefed on the call by McCarthy.
McCarthy, who was described by CNN as 'furious,' yelled at Trump that the rioters were breaking his windows.
'Who the f**k do you think you are talking to?' the top House Republican yelled at the president of the United States.
CNN's sources were Republican members of Congress, who believed that the contents of the call prove that Trump had no interest in calling off the deadly riot.
'He is not a blameless observer, he was rooting for them,' one GOP unnamed lawmaker said. 'On January 13, Kevin McCarthy said on the floor of the House that the President bears responsibility and he does.'
'This proves that the president knew very early on - what the mob was doing, and he knew members were at risk and he refused to act ... it's a violation of his oath of office to fail to come to this defense of Congress and the constitutional process immediately,' another GOP member familiar with the call told CNN.
Herrera Beutler, a Washington state Republican who voted in favor of Trump's impeachment, mentioned Trump's comments to McCarthy during a town hall this week.
She later confirmed the exchange to CNN.
'You have to look at what he did during the insurrection to confirm where his mind was at,' Herrera Beutler said. 'That line right there demonstrates to me that either he didn't care, which is impeachable, because you cannot allow an attack on your soil, or he wanted it to happen and was OK with it, which makes me so angry.'
'We should never stand for that, for any reason, under any party flag,' the lawmaker continued. 'I'm trying really hard not to say the F-word.'
And she again stood by her account in a Twitter statement on Friday evening.
She wrote: When McCarthy finally reached the President on January 6 and asked him to publicly and forcefully call off the riot, the president initially repeated the falsehood that it was antifa that had breached the Capitol. McCarthy refuted that and told the president that these were Trump supporters. That's when, according to McCarthy, the president said: "well I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are."
'To the patriots who were standing next to the former president as these conversations were happening, or even to the former vice president: if you have something to add here now would be the time.'
Rep. Anthony Gonzalez, an Ohio Republican who voted to impeach Trump, told CNN that he believes the exchange 'speaks to the former President's mindset.'
'He was not sorry to see his unyieldingly loyal vice president or the Congress under attack by the mob he inspired. In fact, it seems he was happy about it or at the least enjoyed the scenes that were horrifying to most Americans across the country,' Gonzalez said.
During Friday's impeachment trial, Trump's lawyers tried to deny the president even knew that individuals like Vice President Mike Pence were in peril.
'The answer is no. At no point was the president informed the vice president was in any danger,' Trump's attorney Bruce Castor said, despite Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama saying that on a call he had with Trump during the insurrection he mentioned that Pence was being whisked away to a secure location.
After Friday's proceedings, Tuberville told reporters he stood by his account.
Tuberville's testimony or his phone records could also be requested by the Democratic impeachment managers.
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