Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) revealed during the Jan. 6 hearing vote on Monday that three Fox News personalities were hurriedly texting White House chief of staff Mark Meadows begging him to make President Donald Trump stop the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
On television that day and in the days that followed, however, those Fox hosts were saying something entirely different on air.
"I, for one, am shocked Fox News hosts were saying stuff in private different to what they say in public. Shocked," MSNBC's Mehdi Hasan said in reaction, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
Media Matters president Angelo Carusone described it as a "big deal" for two major reasons.
"One, this is a stunning illustration, and it is rare to use the word stunning in relation to something Fox does but this is a stunning illustration of the Trump-Fox feedback because it shows in real-time on Jan. 6 they knew there was a problem," he explained. "They tried to protect and advise Trump to address that problem in real-time. Then after Jan. 6 they ran cover for him and, to this day, continued to rewrite history. The second reason is that we actually have their words that they were saying on air at the same time they were sending these messages."
READ MORE: Liz Cheney reads bombshell Jan. 6th text messages -- including panicked messages from Don Trump Jr.
Hasan showed a video collection of twisting the situation to make it seem that Democrats were acting hysterically. The attack wasn't actually that big of a deal, they claimed.
"What we just saw — it is gaslighting," said Hasan. "Now, thanks to the texts, we have clear evidence for that gaslighting."
Carusone agreed, noting that on Jan. 6, the same day Fox News hosts were sending the panicked text messages, they were telling their viewers that those attacking the Capitol weren't Trump supporters but Antifa and Black Lives Matter.
"Laura Ingraham called in," he recalled. "Sean Hannity did a show that night. Brian Kilmeade did the same thing. So, they recognized in real-time that this was actually Trump supporters and yet they spent an enormous amount of effort that very day lying, explicitly saying, and blaming this on Antifa and Black Lives Matter."
Hasan wondered if Hannity would dedicate his 9 p.m. hour to his role in the conversations with Meadows on Jan. 6 and come clean about what he was saying and thinking.
See the video below:
The Fox hosts who lied while secretly freaking out about Jan. 6 attack www.youtube.com
