A week after the storming, McCarthy delivered a speech in which he held Trump partially responsible for the riots. He emphasized the fact that Trump failed to intervene after the initial TV footage, showing the demonstration evolving in a violent assault. He later said that he did not believe Trump had provoked the mob. On January 28 McCarthy paid a solo visit to the ex-president in his Mar-a-Lago residence. Officially the topic was said to be "regaining the lost votes in the mid-term elections of 2022", but it was widely reported as an attempt to mend fences with Trump and lessen the tensions within the Republican party.