(NewsNation) — House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy was reported to have been “done with” former President Donald Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol, calling the events of that day and what Trump did “unacceptable.”

McCarthy, perhaps fearing fallout within the Republican Party and with voters, later denied having ever criticized Trump over Jan, 6 as The New York Times reported.

Then audio came out of McCarthy doing exactly that.

“I’ve had it with this guy,” McCarthy said in the audio. “What he did is unacceptable. Nobody can defend that and nobody should defend it.”

Trump has forgiven McCarthy for the comments, it seems, even taking them as a compliment. Trump says his Republican critics “realized they were wrong and supported me.”

Political scientist Kevin Kosar of Washington think tank American Enterprise Institute joined NewsNation’s “Dan Abrams Live ” on Wednesday to break down the possible mid-term fallout of McCarthy’s comments, and why it is seemingly so difficult for Republicans to talk about Jan. 6.

Kosar said Republicans have a much easier time not talking about Jan. 6 or being critical of the event at all, rather than recognizing any possible nuance surrounding the riot at the capitol.

“Because while he was the guy down the road, talking to the crowd and it was his crowd who for months he told the election was stolen, etc. and he tweeted out ‘we need to go fight’ and this and that and the other,. They just don’t see a way to separate cleanly talking about Jan. 6 and saying it’s a bad thing but ‘we’re still good people.'”