Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), the House Rules Committee chairman, slammed Fox News on Tuesday for ignoring the text messages the network’s stars sent then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows as the Jan. 6 Capitol attack raged.
“I think it’s notable that as of the start of the meeting, that there has been zero mentions on Fox News of their hosts’ texts to Mark Meadows,” McGovern said during a rules committee hearing on Meadows’ contempt of Congress resolution. “The texts that [Rep. Liz] Cheney read last night at the select committee’s meeting. Not one. And that’s despite the fact that one of the hosts that texted him was live on the air all morning.”
Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade, one of three Fox hosts to text Meadows, was on-air for three hours on Tuesday morning and never once broached the subject. Furthermore, Fox News hosts Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity didn’t address their texts to Meadows on Monday night.
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“I’m glad these hosts privately pushed to stop the violence on that awful day, but what I’m upset about is what they’ve publicly said ever since,” McGovern added, noting the Fox stars would later claim the violence was “overhyped” and “somehow” not former President Donald Trump’s fault.
Shortly after McGovern’s remarks, Fox News finally broke its silence on the bombshell texts, briefly referencing them during a late-morning report.
