Sean Hannity addressed his Jan. 6 text message to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows asking then-President Donald Trump to make a statement asking the rioters at the U.S. Capitol to leave.
After refusing to talk about the message Monday night during an interview with Meadows on his Fox News show just hours after it was revealed, Hannity broached it on his radio show Tuesday.
He railed against the media "mob" before commenting on how he "thought liberals believed in privacy in this country."
Hannity: "The idea that I had sent a text to Mark Meadows that day on -- on Jan. 6th, and everybody in the mob in the media -- Lynda, have you been watching the hysteria? ... Now, why would they release this, except that they're trying to make a point?" pic.twitter.com/EQqvyAkDkT
— Brendan Karet (@bad_takes) December 14, 2021
He also asked, "Why would they release this, except they're trying to make a point?" before talking about the riots in summer 2020.
Rep. Liz Cheney, the vice chairwoman of the Jan. 6 panel, read nonprivileged text messages from Hannity and other Fox News personalities that Meadows gave to the committee, which have been used by critics of the network to note how the commentary on-air about the Jan. 6 riot differed from what was being said in private.
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“Can he make a statement? Ask people to leave the Capitol,” read Hannity's text to Meadows on Jan. 6.
Hannity later addressed the text messages during his Fox News show Tuesday night, lamenting a loss of privacy. Hannity also said he would be interested to see text message exchanges Cheney and her family had with Trump about matters including pardoning Scooter Libby, the former chief of staff to her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney.
.@seanhannity is mad that @Liz_Cheney read his text to Mark Meadows on Jan. 6 and asks, “Do we believe in privacy anymore in this country? Apparently not.”
— The Republican Accountability Project (@AccountableGOP) December 15, 2021
He then demands to see Liz Cheney’s whole family’s texts about Scooter Libby. pic.twitter.com/7Io9m0oA7k
The committee also voted unanimously on Monday to advance contempt proceedings against Meadows, Trump's White House chief of staff on Jan. 6, who last week stopped cooperating with its investigation into the Capitol riot.