‘Leaked’ Text Messages Allegedly Show Fox News Hosts and Donald Trump Jr. Tried to Get Trump to Call Off Rioters on Jan. 6

Text messages between three Fox News hosts, Donald Trump Jr. and former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows from Jan. 6 have been “leaked.” The text messages allegedly show the hosts and Trump Jr. trying to get Meadows to convince Donald Trump to call off the rioters who were terrorizing the U.S. Capitol.

Republican Liz Cheney is the committee’s vice chair looking into the insurrection that took place on Jan. 6 of this year. The messages were reviewed and considered before the panel voted to recommend that the U.S House hold then-president Donald Trump’s former White House chief of staff in criminal contempt. The text messages were between Fox News hosts involved in the incident: Laura Ingraham, Brian Kilmeade, and Sean Hannity.

Bloomberg reports that the recommendation will head over to the full house for a vote scheduled on Tuesday. Meadows could face a charge for contempt of Congress for allegedly refusing to testify. The following texts were read and discussed by Cheney.

“Indeed, according to the records, multiple Fox News hosts knew the president needed to act immediately” on Jan. 6, Cheney said. “Mark, the president needs to tell the people in the Capitol to go home. This is hurting all of us. He is destroying his legacy,” Ingraham texted, Cheney said, per an NBC News report.

Another text read: “Please get him on TV. Destroying everything you have accomplished,” Kilmeade said. “Can he make a statement asking people to leave the Capitol?” Hannity asked in a text.

After highlighting the text messages, Cheney said the messages prove Trump’s inaction in the matter. “But hours passed without necessary action by the president,” Cheney said Monday, NBC News reports. “These nonprivileged texts are further evidence of President Trump’s supreme dereliction of duty during those 187 minutes.”

She added: “And Mr. Meadows’ testimony will bear on another key question before this committee: Did Donald Trump, through action or inaction, corruptly seek to obstruct or impede Congress’ official proceedings to count electoral votes? Mark Meadows’ testimony is necessary to inform our legislative judgments.”