Fox Hosts' Texts To White House Official Contradict Coverage Of Jan. 6 Capitol Siege
Consider This from NPR
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4.2 • 6.2K Ratings
🗓️ 17 December 2021
⏱️ 10 minutes
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Summary
The texts, which were made public this week as the House of Representatives voted to hold Meadows in contempt, reveal a starkly different message than the one those same Fox hosts delivered to their audiences about the insurrection.
NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik and investigative correspondent Tom Dreisbach discuss the gap between Fox's messaging behind closed doors and in front of the camera.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | We are here to address a very serious matter. |
| 0:03.8 | This is Republican Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming at a congressional hearing this week. |
| 0:09.2 | Contemptive Congress by a former chief of staff to a former president of the United States. |
| 0:15.4 | We do not do this lightly. |
| 0:17.5 | She's on the Select Committee investigating the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol |
| 0:22.0 | that involved many people trying to block the certification of the presidential election. |
| 0:26.8 | On Monday, the Committee unanimously recommended Mark Meadows be charged with contempt of Congress. |
| 0:32.5 | The former White House chief of staff skipped a scheduled deposition and refused to cooperate with the subpoena. |
| 0:38.1 | But this vote on contempt today relates principally to Mr Meadows' refusal to testify |
| 0:45.3 | about text messages and other communications that he admits are not privileged. |
| 0:50.8 | And on Tuesday, the full House voted to hold Meadows in contempt, setting the stage for the |
| 0:57.1 | Justice Department to decide whether to prosecute him. Those text messages Cheney mentioned, |
| 1:02.8 | some of them are from three Fox News hosts, sent to Meadows on January 6th as insurrectionists |
| 1:09.2 | stormed the Capitol building. Cheney read them aloud. |
| 1:12.1 | Quote, Mark, the president needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home. This is hurting all of us. |
| 1:20.7 | He is destroying his legacy. Laura Ingram wrote, |
| 1:24.7 | Please get him on TV, destroying everything you have accomplished. Brian Kilmeet texted. |
| 1:34.2 | Quote, can he make a statement? Ask people to leave the Capitol. Sean Hannity urged. |
| 1:40.8 | Those text messages help us understand what Meadows knew about the events of that day. |
| 1:45.9 | And they also reveal a disconnect between what Ingram Kilmeet and Hannity clearly knew and what |
| 1:52.5 | they told their audience about the attack. This is the thing that has made me feel like I was in an |
| 1:58.7 | invasion of a body snatchers movie for the last five years. That's Jonah Goldberg, editor in chief |
... |
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