'The silence is deafening': Dem lawmaker busts Fox News for ignoring hosts' texts to Mark Meadows

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), chairman of the House Rules Committee, called out Fox News on Tuesday after the network failed to cover the news that at least three of its hosts had texted then-Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Jan. 6.

At a Tuesday Rules Committee hearing to consider holding Meadows in contempt of Congress, McGovern noted that Jan. 6 Select Committee member Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) had recently revealed that Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and Brian Kilmeade had texted the then-chief of staff as the Capitol riot was ongoing.

"I think that it's notable that as of the start of the meeting that there has been zero mention on Fox News of their hosts' texts to Mark Meadows, the texts that Ms. Cheney read last night at the Select Committee's meeting," McGovern said. "Not one. And that despite the fact that one of the hosts (Brian Kilmeade) that texted him was live on the air all morning."

The lawmaker praised the Fox News hosts for pushing for Trump to stop the violence on Jan. 6.

"But what I'm upset about is that what they've publicly said ever since, that what happened that day somehow wasn't the fault of Donald Trump and his allies, that what happened really wasn't a big deal, that all this is being over-hyped," McGovern remarked. "This would be a good time for these hosts to use their platforms to tell the American people the truth, just like they were privately texting Mark Meadows the truth on that terrible day, that the president's inaction hurt us all, that he should have done more, that he should have pushed to stop the violence.

He added: "But I have to say that their silence is deafening."

Watch the video below from CNN.