Reacting to audio recording release, McCarthy says he never asked Trump to resign

House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy said he was denying the premise he asked then-President Donald Trump to resign after the Jan. 6 riot when he released a statement calling the New York Times' reporting wrong.

"The reporter came to me the night before he released the book and my understanding was he was saying I asked President Trump to resign. No, I never did and that's what I was answering," McCarthy said during his visit to the U.S.-Mexico border on Monday.

Reporters from the New York Times, authors of a new book titled, "This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America's Future," later released audio of McCarthy saying he was considering urging Trump to resign on Jan. 10, following the riot.

McCarthy said if the press asks any of his members if he ever asked Trump to resign the answer would be "no."

"If you're asking now, did I tell my members that we're going to ask - ask them if I told any of them that I said President Trump [sic], the answer is no," he said.

McCarthy said the border crisis is "more important" than something that happened 15 months ago in a private conversation.