New text messages reveal Fox News host Sean Hannity consulted with former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in an effort to turn out more voters for former President Trump during the 2020 election.
Contained in a massive trove of text messages Meadows turned over to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol are text messages between the Fox prime-time host and Meadows, CNN reported.
On the afternoon of the election, the outlet reported, Hannity texted Meadows and asked him how turnout was looking in North Carolina.
“Stress every vote matters,” Meadows reportedly wrote back. “Get out and vote.”
“Yes sir,” Hannity responded. “On it. Any place in particular we need a push.”
“Pennsylvania. NC AZ,” Meadows added. “Nevada.”
“Got it. Everywhere,” Hannity answered.
The text messages between one of Fox’s top hosts and the former president’s chief of staff are a small portion of a wide-ranging report by CNN showing how members of Trump’s inner circle worked to boost his reelection efforts before, during and after the Jan. 6 attack.
Text exchanges between Hannity and Laura Ingraham, another prime-time host on Fox, first came to light late last year when Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), vice chairwoman of the select committee, read into the congressional record a series of messages sent to Meadows and obtained by the panel.
“I said to Mark Meadows the exact same thing I was saying live on the radio at that time and on TV that night on Jan. 6 and well beyond Jan. 6,” Hannity said after his first batch of texts were revealed. “I say the same thing in private that I say to all of you. Liz Cheney knows this. She doesn’t seem to care. She’s interested in one thing and one thing only: smearing Trump and purging him from the party.”
Hannity, a close personal friend of Trump, has hosted the former president for an interview on at least one occasion since he left the White House.