Hannity Insists the Important Texts From Jan. 6 Be Made Public: Pelosi's
The Fox News host and Trump confidant doesn't want to talk about his own texts. He wants Kevin McCarthy to pledge to subpoena Pelosi's Jan. 6 texts if the GOP wins big in November.
William Vaillancourt
Published Jan. 12, 2022 12:28AM ET
Forget about his own revealing texts prior to and on Jan. 6, 2021—Sean Hannity thinks the public needs to see House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's.
That was what the Fox News host requested of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday, should he become speaker of the House after the 2022 midterms.
"Will you pledge to have a real Jan. 6 committee?" Hannity asked. "Will you pledge, that if you become speaker, that you will subpoena Nancy Pelosi, Muriel Bowser… the sergeant-at-arms, and the D.C. police chief? And will you subpoena their texts, phone calls, and emails?"
McCarthy demurred, saying only that he had requested that those records be preserved. The California congressman then criticized the legitimacy of the House Jan. 6 committee, whining about how Pelosi had rejected the members he had picked to be on it.
"Why did the Democrats… pick and choose which Republicans could be on—disallowing, never before in history, individuals that I selected as minority leader?" a dramatic McCarthy asked as part of a series of questions designed to sow doubt about the committee's findings. Two of the congressmen McCarthy picked—MAGA diehards Rep. Jim Jordan and Rep. Jim Banks—each voted to object to the election results on Jan. 6.
During their discussion, Hannity, who said the Capitol riot is something that should never happen again, still couldn't pass up an opportunity to mention how then-President Donald Trump deployed the National Guard. He omitted how Trump initially resisted, as several reports indicate.
The real focus, Hannity and McCarthy agreed, should be on Pelosi and Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser—not the commander in chief who egged on his supporters to "fight like hell" to prevent the election from being "stolen."
Hannity's request of the congressman is notable in light of his own communications with the Trump White House that have been of interest to the Jan. 6 committee.
In a hearing last month, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) read aloud texts from the Fox News host to Trump's chief of staff, Mark Meadows, on Jan. 6. "Can he make a statement. Ask people to leave the Capitol," Hannity wrote.
Additional messages came to light last week.
"We can't lose the entire WH counsels office," Hannity wrote to Meadows on Dec. 31. "I do NOT see January 6 happening the way he is being told. After the 6 th. He should announce will lead the nationwide effort to reform voting integrity. Go to Fl and watch Joe mess up daily. Stay engaged. When he speaks people will listen."
On the eve of the riot, Hannity texted Meadows that he was "very worried" about what would transpire in the next few days.
Hannity totally ignored the news of his communications with the White House even when he welcomed Meadows as a guest on the night that Cheney made his texts public. He did eventually get around to it, though, addressing the matter the next day by claiming that his messages were normal and that releasing them was an invasion of privacy.