Fox hosts, Donald Trump Jr. texted Meadows to urge Trump’s action

[ad_1]

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows sighed as he walked back to the West Wing following an interview with FOX News outside the White House on Oct. 25, 2020 in Washington, DC.

Olivier Douliery | AFP | Getty Images

A stunning series of text messages to then White House chief of staff Mark Meadows reveals that Donald Trump Jr., a trio of Fox News hosts and Republican members of Congress have pleaded with him to persuade President Donald Trump to urge rioters in the Capitol on Jan. 6 to leave the complex.

The text messages, revealed during the ongoing House contempt hearing against Meadows, reveal a disconnect between how the writers of the messages privately feared the violence of Trump supporters, and how they minimized or publicly justified the disturbance.

Fox News and some of its hosts are among the most loyal media supporters of Republican Trump, who before the riot had urged supporters to fight the confirmation of Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential election victory. through a joint session of Congress.

For hours Trump resisted calls to publicly ask the thousands of his supporters who stormed the Capitol complex to retreat, even as some of them fought with police, entered the Senate chamber and were actively seeking members of Congress.

“Mark, the president needs to tell the people at the Capitol to go home. It hurts us all. He’s ruining his legacy,” Fox News host Laura Ingraham texted on Jan. 6, according to Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, a Republican member of the House select committee investigating the insurgency.

Ingraham suggested on television that night that the rioters were not supporters of the then president, saying, “I have never seen those who attended Trump’s rally wearing helmets, black helmets, brown helmets, black backpacks – the uniforms you see in some of these crowds. shots. “

The rioters included members of right-wing, pro-Trump militia groups including the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. Some members of the mob were carrying weapons.

Another Fox personality, Brian Kilmeade of “Fox & Friends,” himself texted Meadows in language that reflects Ingraham’s fear of the impact of the violence on Trump’s alleged legacy.

“Please take him on TV. It destroys everything you’ve done,” Kilmeade texted, according to Cheney.

And Fox host Sean Hannity, a top Trump booster, asked Meadows that day, “Can he [Trump] made a statement asking people to leave the Capitol, ”Cheney said Monday night as he disclosed the evidence Meadows provided to the committee before he abruptly stopped cooperating.

Politics of CNBC

Read more coverage of CNBC’s politics:

Like her colleagues, Hannity never told her viewers that she asked Trump’s chief of staff to tell the president something that could stop the chaos, even though he had Meadows on his show Monday night. , after publicly disclosing the texts.

Instead, Hannity downplayed after the attack on the Capitol the actions of the rioters, telling TV that “most of them were peaceful.”

A Fox News spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNBC.

Among the straightforward messages to Meadows urging him to act as president on Jan. 6 are those from Trump’s eldest son, and Republican members of Congress, where Meadows served seven years as a member of the GOP House. from North Carolina.

The son of US President Donald Trump Donald Trump Jr. speaks as supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump gather at the White House ahead of Trump’s speech to oppose U.S. Congressional certification of the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election in Washington, U.S., Jan. 6, 2021.

Jim Bourg | Reuters

“We need an Oval Office address,” Trump Jr. texted. at Meadows, Cheney said, noting that the younger Trump texted the chief of staff “repeatedly.”

“He’s got to condemn this shit ASAP. The Capitol Police tweet is not enough,” Trump Jr. wrote. in another message.

Meadows replied, “I insist on it. I agree.”

Trump Jr. did not respond to requests for comment by NBC News.

A Republican member of Congress wrote in Meadows that day: “It’s really bad here on the hill.”

Another text to him from a Republican said, “The president needs to stop this as soon as possible,” Cheney announced Tuesday.

The third text from a GOP member said, “Fix it now.”

With very few exceptions, Republican members of Congress opposed the formation of a select committee investigating the insurgency on Jan. 6. In addition, 147 Republicans voted against ratifying Joe Biden’s election that day.

A few hours after the unrest began, Trump eventually asked his supporters to leave the Capitol, but even if he did that he justified their actions as warranted by their and his false claim of being defeated in election to Biden as a result of ballot fraud.

“I know your pain, I know you’re hurt,” Trump said in a video address. “But you have to go home now, we have to have peace. We have to have law and order, we have to respect our great people in law and order.”

In a subsequent tweet, he wrote: “These are the things and events that happen when a sacred erosion of election victory is meaningless and violently removed from great patriots who have long been badly and unfairly treated,” he wrote. niya. “Go home with love and peace. Remember this day forever!”

[ad_2]