“He’s got to condemn this [blank] ASAP,” Trump Jr. texted White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Jan. 6. Fox News' Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity and Brian Kilmeade relayed similar messages to Meadows, newly-released texts show.
Donald Trump Jr. tried to get his father, then-President Donald J. Trump, to halt the Jan. 6 Capitol riots as they were happening, according to newly-released text messages.
“He’s got to condemn this [blank] ASAP,” Trump Jr. texted White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. “We need an Oval Office address. He has to lead now. It has gone too far and gotten out of hand.”
“I’m pushing it hard. I agree,” Meadows replied.
The texts were uncovered by the House Select Committee investigating the insurrection.
The exchange prompted his cousin, Mary Trump, to mock Trump Jr. for not reaching out to the former president directly.
“It’s simply cowardice, because Donny knew that the message he was delivering was the message his father did not want to hear,” Mary said on CNN.
Several top Fox News personalities also tried to get the then-president to intervene.
“The president needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home. This is hurting all of us. He is destroying his legacy,” Laura Ingraham texted Meadows.
“Fox & Friends” host Brian Kilmeade echoed that concern, texting, “Please, get him on TV. Destroying everything you have accomplished.”
Sean Hannity also weighed in: “Can he make a statement? Ask people to leave the Capitol.”
Meadows, who faces possible criminal contempt charges for his refusal to testify before the House committee, appeared on “Hannity” last night, but there was no mention of the Jan. 6 messages.
“Obviously it's disappointing, but not surprising,” Meadows said of the charges. “And let's be clear about this, Sean. This is not about holding me in contempt. It's not even about making the Capitol safer. This is about Donald Trump and actually going after him once again.”
Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney says the texts “leave no doubt the White House knew exactly what was happening at the Capitol.”
