Authors of a new book released audio of House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy saying he planned to urge President Trump to resign over the Jan. 6 riot — hours after McCarthy denied the account.

• Why it matters: With the House GOP expected to win the majority in November's midterms, McCarthy — one of Trump's most unabashed allies — is on the doorstep of the Speaker's office. But if Trump turned on him, the Californian's path could be imperiled by the former president's loyalists in the GOP caucus.

The book — "This Will Not Pass," by N.Y. Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns, out May 3 — reports a stunning exchange from a House GOP leadership call on Jan. 10, 2021, four days after the Capitol attack.

• McCarthy: "Liz, you on the phone?"
• Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.): "Yeah, I'm, here. Thanks, Kevin. ... Are you hearing that he might resign? Is there any reason to think that might happen?"

McCarthy: "I've had a few discussions. My gut tells me no. I'm seriously thinking of having that conversation with him tonight. I haven't talked to him in a couple days. From what I know of him — I mean, you guys all know him, too. Do you think he'd ever back away? But what I think I'm going to do is, I'm going to call him." ...

• "[T]he only discussion I would have with him is that I think this [impeachment resolution] will pass, and it would be my recommendation you should resign. I mean, that would be my take. But I don't think he would take it. But I don't know."

In a sign of how dire Trump's situation looked, McCarthy said: "Now this is one personal fear I have. I do not want to get in any conversation about [Vice President] Pence pardoning."

The intrigue: At 5 a.m. ET Thursday, The Times posted a story about the call, including a denial from a McCarthy spokesperson: "McCarthy never said he'd call Trump to say he should resign."

• At 11:32 a.m., McCarthy himself tweeted a statement saying: "The New York Times' reporting on me is totally false and wrong. ... If the reporters were interested in truth why would they ask for comment after the book was printed?"
• But the reporters had receipts. They gave the tape to MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, who detonated it on her 9 p.m. show.

🥊 Asked about the audio, a Cheney spokesperson told me: "Representative Cheney did not record or leak the tape and does not know how the reporters got it."

Zoom out: The tape exacerbates the Jan. 6 wound for the GOP.

• A House select committee is continuing to vacuum up testimony and documents about events surrounding the attack on the Capitol.

🔮 What's next: The immediate reaction among House Republicans was muted. They're waiting to see what Trump does.

🍿 Listen to the 90-sec. audio ... Watch Maddow's segment (3½ mins.) ... Read the N.Y. Times story (subscription).

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Another bombshell from the book:

• House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy told other GOP leaders during a conference call on Jan. 10, 2021, that he wished big tech companies would strip some of his own members of their social media accounts, as Twitter and Facebook had done with then-President Trump, the N.Y. Times reports (subscription).
• The account comes from the forthcoming book "This Will Not Pass," by Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns, out May 3.

As context, The Times notes that members, including Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), had stoked paranoia about the 2020 election and made offensive comments online about the Capitol attack.

• "We can't put up with that," McCarthy said. "Can’t they take their Twitter accounts away, too?"

A spokesperson told The Times that McCarthy "never said that particular members should be removed from Twitter."

• Jonathan Martin, the book's co-author, told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow: "We have it all on tape."

New satellite images show apparent mass graves near Mariupol, where local officials accused Russia of burying up to 9,000 Ukrainian civilians to conceal the slaughter taking place, AP reports.

• Satellite image provider Maxar Technologies said the photos show 200+ mass graves in Manhush, a town where Ukrainian officials say Russians have been burying Mariupol residents.

The imagery shows long rows of graves stretching away from an existing cemetery.

• The graves could hold as many as 9,000 dead, the Mariupol City Council said on Telegram.
• Maxar said a review of previous images indicates the graves in Manhush were dug in late March, then expanded in recent weeks.

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Since the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, the U.S. national average temperature has climbed by 2.6°F, and all the continental states have warmed — many significantly, Axios' Andrew Freedman writes.

• Why it matters: Earth Day was born as a symbol of the environmental movement, originally focused on air and water pollution. Now it's a reminder of human-caused climate change — more severe heat waves and wildfires ... stronger hurricanes ... and heavier flooding.

Of 49 states with sufficient data (absent Hawaii) and 246 cities examined by researchers at Climate Central, a climate communications nonprofit, each state and 244 cities saw temperatures climb in the past 52 years.

• 30%: The increase in the atmospheric concentration of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere since 1970.
• 7.7°F: The amount Reno, Nevada, has warmed since 1970, putting it first on the list of fastest-warming cities.
• 4.3°F: The total average warming in Alaska during the past 52 years, making it the fastest-warming state.

The Mid-Atlantic and Northeast are also seeing rapidly rising temperatures. Vermont's average has risen 3° degrees since 1970.

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Netflix's market swan dive and CNN+'s sudden death underscore a fundamental shift in the streaming economy toward ad-supported services, Axios Media Trends author Sara Fischer reports.

• Why it matters: For years, Wall Street has rewarded companies like Netflix and rival Disney for adding paid users, then punished them when they hit a ceiling. Every streaming service is now looking to ads as a way off that roller coaster.

CNN+ got the ax (effective April 30) because executives at Warner Bros. Discovery, its new parent company, didn't think the economics behind its subscription plan made sense, sources tell Axios.

• Discovery executives thought there weren't enough people willing to pay for subscription video news services to warrant the $1 billion investment CNN planned for CNN+ over four years.

CNN+ executives predicted the service would break even after four years. Discovery executives were skeptical.

• Early data showed that CNN+ signed up roughly 150,000 subscribers in its first two weeks. But that was after spending roughly $25 million per month on marketing and $300 million total.

💡 Discovery executives see a lot of potential in pushing more content to CNN's free app and selling premium video ads on those views.

Between the lines: Netflix's historic market drop this week shows that the market for those willing to pay for a subscription streaming service may be saturated.

• This isn't surprising, given that data from TV research firm Magid shows consumers haven't increased their roughly $40 monthly streaming budgets since 2019.
• But Wall Street was caught off guard by Netflix's numbers. Billionaire investor Bill Ackman lost more than $400 million after liquidating his Netflix stock Wednesday. He told CNBC: "I'm 100% ready to admit when I'm wrong."

👀 What we're watching: Amazon and YouTube are doubling down on free, ad-supported services as a way to lure subscribers overwhelmed by rising subscription bills.

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Mask mandates in airports weren't actually bothering Americans too much, Sam Baker writes from an Axios/Ipsos poll.

• Why it matters: In a surprising departure from COVID's usual partisan divides, Democrats, Republicans and independents are basically on the same page.

In the online poll of 998 adults on Tuesday and Wednesday (margin of error: ± 3.8 points for full sample), Democrats and independents backed mask mandates by much wider margins.

• 57% of Republicans said they support mask requirements in airports, compared to 75% of independents and 91% of Democrats.
• Majorities support requiring masks on planes, on trains and when riding public transit.

Just 34% of Republicans said they're very likely to keep wearing masks on planes even though they no longer have to — compared to 58% of Democrats and 46% of independents.

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Vinyl-record sales grew steadily in recent years but really blew up in 2021, hitting $1 billion in revenue, Axios Nashville's Nate Rau reports.

• Just 11 years ago, the format generated $119.4 million in revenue, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.