Jan 6th Committee Will Request Fox News Host Sean Hannity’s ‘Cooperation’
In a brand new scoop on Tuesday, Axios is reporting that the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol intends to ask Fox News host Sean Hannity to cooperate with them by voluntarily appearing for questioning.
The Committee had previously released texts Hannity and other Fox News hosts had sent to then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows during the siege on the Capitol during their televised vote regarding Contempt of Congress charges against Meadows, who had been cooperating with the panel but suddenly withdrew after sharing thousands of pages of documents that showed specific plans to overturn the 2020 Presidential election.
A longtime personal friend and ally of Trump’s, Hannity has criticized the attack on the Capitol and the Select Committee, but never Trump himself. It’s uncertain as to why Hannity and the other Fox News hosts named by the Committee–Laura Ingraham and Brian Kilmeade–texted Meadows instead of directly calling Trump himself, but the Committee shared what Hannity sent to Meadows. “A phone call from Hannity to Trump carried more sway than a conversation between the president and many members of his own Cabinet,” according to Axios.
Scoop: The Jan. 6 select committee is preparing to ask Fox News Channel host Sean Hannity for his voluntary cooperation with its investigation of the assault on the U.S. Capitol. https://t.co/3CCCsPxMNE
— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) January 4, 2022
“Can he [Trump] make a statement?” Hannity said in the texts, made public in mid-December. “Ask people to leave the Capitol.”
On January 6, Hannity was on the air defending the mob: "This is something that has been building and building for a long period of time" https://t.co/1mcg8EKOha https://t.co/QeKVJQkySk
— Media Matters (@mmfa) January 4, 2022
Tim Mulvey, a spokesperson for the January 6th committee, declined to comment when Axios asked about the pending Hannity request. Hannity’s lawyer, Jay Sekulow, told Axios, “If true, any such request would raise serious constitutional issues including First Amendment concerns regarding freedom of the press.”
The Select Committee should skip right over formal requests and go straight to the subpoena phase for Sean Hannity.
Welcome to the find out portion of fucking around, Sean.
— 𝐁𝐞𝐤𝐬 (@antifaoperative) January 4, 2022
Read the full report at Axios.