As rioters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, several leading Fox News pundits and Donald Trump’s eldest son all voiced desperate concerns that the former president was doing nothing to quell the violence and protect those in the building, according to damning text messages unveiled Monday night by the select committee investigating the attack.
The stunning messages, submitted to the panel by Mark Meadows, Trump’s former chief of staff, revealed that Sean Hannity, Brian Kilmeade and Laura Ingraham — all superstar Fox personalities with enormous conservative followings — and Donald Trump, Jr. were all pressing Meadows to convince the president to intervene during the early hours of the siege.
“He’s got to condemn this shit ASAP,” Donald Trump Jr. texted Meadows as the attack was underway.
“I’m pushing it hard. I agree,” Meadows replied.
But when the president still did not act, his eldest son reached out again to Trump’s chief of staff, according to Jan. 6 Committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who read the series of texts during a hearing Monday night.
“We need an Oval Office address. He has to lead now. It has gone too far and gotten out of hand,” Trump Jr. texted.
Around the same time, a trio of Fox News hosts were also bombarding Meadows with text messages, trying to get Trump to call off the attack.
“Mark, president needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home. This is hurting all of us. He is destroying his legacy,” Ingraham texted.
“Please get him on TV. Destroying everything you have accomplished,” added Kilmeade.
“Can he make a statement? Ask people to leave the Capitol,” texted Hannity.
Meadows also received dozens of texts from GOP lawmakers, staffers and members of the press trapped inside the Capitol during the assault, Cheney said.
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#BREAKING: Meadows text show Hannity, Don Jr. wanted Trump to stop Jan. 6 riot https://t.co/J0DgPtfnH5 pic.twitter.com/5ajpBfVZjb
— The Hill (@thehill) December 14, 2021
They knew the truth on Jan 6. They still do. And they lie about it. Every damned day. Fox Hosts Begged Trump to Stop the January 6 Attack on the Capitol https://t.co/EhywVzy824 via @BulwarkOnline
— Mona Charen (@monacharen) December 14, 2021
The best thing about the Meadows texts is how it's embarrassing to people who were willing to be half-way patriotically decent in private but not in public.
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahDispatch) December 14, 2021
It's funny that Hannity and Ingraham texted Meadows to get Trump to call off the rioters. Because guess who fed the lies about 2020 that helped inspire those rioters? Hannity and Ingraham did. The rioters operationalized what Fox News wrought.
New piece:https://t.co/a01lgHm78V
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) December 14, 2021
Fox News will have no trouble weathering this scandal because no one expects any better of Fox News. It’s not like anyone is genuinely scandalized that Fox hosts were all texting the WH chief of staff worried about preserving the President’s legacy.
— Sarah Longwell (@SarahLongwell25) December 14, 2021
Trump and Fox were a joint venture. They shared a message and purpose. Together, they unleashed the whirlwind, and key Fox hosts were with the president right until things went too far–then they pulled back, just a little, before they embraced him again: https://t.co/nP7Bl7d1dA
— David French (@DavidAFrench) December 15, 2021
That feeling when Geraldo is the reasonable one on your network. https://t.co/POFMtMBCpu
— Lionel Mandrake (@LMandrakeJr) December 15, 2021
I really didn’t think even Sean would make the invasion of privacy argument about his texts. If he’s going to be consistent on this, he’s going to lose hours of segments on Hunter Biden’s laptop.
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahDispatch) December 15, 2021
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