January 6 committee seeks cooperation from Sean Hannity [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot is seeking Sean Hannity’s cooperation.
• The Fox News host is asked to answer questions about newly disclosed texts he sent White House staff before and after the insurrection.
• The texts reveal Hannity expressed concern about what would happen if Trump continued to challenge the 2020 election results.

The January 6 House committee investigating the U.S. Capitol riot sent a letter to Sean Hannity on Tuesday. The panel is asking the Fox News host to voluntarily submit information he may have regarding the Jan. 6 insurrection. The letter was signed by the committee’s Chair Bennie Thompson and Vice-Chair Liz Cheney.

The letter suggested Hannity had “advance knowledge of President Trump’s and his legal team’s planning for January 6th” and that he expressed concerns both to the then-president and his staff about it. The lawmakers also believe Hannity was communicating with White House officials and other lawmakers during the riot and in the days after.

“These communications make you a fact witness in our investigation,” they wrote on Tuesday. “Thus, we write today to seek your voluntary cooperation on a specific and narrow range of factual questions.”

Specifically, the committee said it obtained messages between Hannity and Trump, as well as his chief of staff Mark Meadows, sent between December 31, 2020, and January 20, 2021.

On the last day of December, Hannity allegedly texted Meadows:

“We can’t lose the entire WH counsels office. I do NOT see January 6 happening the way he is being told. After the 6 th [sic] 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 evening of January 5, Hannity also allegedly sent a message that said: 

“I’m very worried about the next 48 hours. With the counting of the electoral votes scheduled for January 6th at 1 p.m., why were you concerned about the next 48 hours?”

That same evening he texted Meadows: “Pence pressure. WH counsel will leave.”

The committee believes, based on communications it has reviewed, that Hannity may have also had a direct conversation with the former president on January 5.

During the riot, Hannity told Meadows that Trump should “… Ask people to peacefully leave the [C]apit[o]l.”

In Tuesday’s letter, the committee’s two chairs said they would like to ask Hannity what conversations he had, if any, with White House staff about the possibility of Trump being removed from office under the 25th Amendment.

The committee requested that Hannity send them the name of his counsel to set up a time for a transcribed interview, and it asked him to “preserve all records of such communications.”

Source: CBS News