CNN
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A newly released transcript of Kayleigh McEnany’s Jan. 6 interview with the committee revealed how the White House press secretary learned from Trump over lunch in her office that the situation in the US Capitol had turned violent.
“I initially went back to my office to have lunch, but eventually turned up the volume on Fox News,” McEnany told the committee.
The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol on Friday released its latest batch of transcripts of interviews conducted during the investigation. The new transcripts include interviews with former press secretary and daughter of former President Donald Trump, Ivanka.
According to the latest installment of documents, McEnany returned to the White House from Trump’s rally at the Ellipse and eventually went to her office for lunch — a turkey sandwich.
Soon, a CBS News producer “stormed into” her office and asked for her “thoughts on the Capitol.” McEnany said she was “completely taken aback by what (the reporter) was referring to.”
She then alerted White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows about the reporter’s investigation and reports of minor injuries at the Capitol, McEnany said.
At some point during the riots, McEnany said she received a text message from Deputy Press Secretary Judd Deere, who relayed that he “was asked if we had any response to people storming office buildings in Hill.”
When interviewed by the House panel, Rep. Liz Cheney, the committee’s vice chair of the GOP, pressed McEnany on her apparent inaction after hearing reports of violence, suggesting a lack of urgency.
“[Deere] texting you guys storming, it says Hill office building,” Cheney said. “And you just had a turkey sandwich and you just – didn’t register?”
According to transcripts, McEnany then dismissed Cheney’s account.
“I definitely reject the characterization that I only ate a turkey sandwich and would ignore lyrics about storming office buildings on Capitol Hill. I probably wouldn’t have seen it then,” McEnany replied, saying the text message was likely sent to her personal phone, which would have been on her desk.
“There’s no way I would eat a turkey sandwich if I thought Capitol Hill was under siege,” she added.
McEnany met with the committee virtually in January after being first subpoenaed last year.
The public release of the transcripts comes in conjunction with the committee’s final report, a comprehensive review of the bipartisan panel’s findings on how Trump and his allies sought to overthrow the 2020 presidential election, which was released late Thursday night.