In the wake of last year’s deadly attack on the US Capitol, right-wing Fox News anchor Sean Hannity pleaded with a top adviser to Donald Trump who said “no more stolen election talks” and “no more wackos” should be allowed into the president’s orbit.
Kayleigh McEnany, the White House press secretary, agreed, but to little effect.
More than a year after the mutiny, around which seven people died As Trump supporters sought to stop the certification of the electoral college results, Trump continues to lie that Joe Biden stole the 2020 election.
He also continues to hang out with far-right conspiracy theorists, including Mike Lindell, the founder of MyPillow, who in a lawsuit this week was accused of being “crazy as a fox.”
Hannity has also been close to Trump for a long time, as an informal adviser and at one point as a guest at rallies. Although it has been revealed that the attack on Capitol Hill shocked him, he has spent the year since the riot supporting Trump’s version of events.
The House committee investigating Jan. 6 has asked for Hannity’s cooperation, a request that a lawyer for the host says raises “First Amendment concerns regarding freedom of the press.”
Hannity has previously said no. say be journalist.
Excerpts from her messages to McEnany on January 7, 2021 were included in a letter of the January 6 committee to Ivanka Trump, the daughter and adviser to the former president whom the panel also wants to question.
“First,” the letter stated, “on January 7, Mr. Hannity sent a text message to Ms. McEnany, laying out a five-point approach to talks with President Trump. Articles one and two of that plan say the following:
“1 – No more stolen election talks.
“2 – Yes, impeachment and the 25th amendment are real, and many people will resign…”
McEnany, the letter said, replied: “I love it. Thank you. That’s the playbook. I will help reinforce…”
If McEnany followed Hannity’s playbook, he didn’t produce a touchdown or even a reasonable punt.
It has been widely reported that the invocation of the 25th Amendment, which provides for the removal of a president deemed incapable of carrying out his duties, was seriously discussed among Cabinet and White House officials.
That came to nothing, but Trump was impeached a second time. He was acquitted when enough Senate Republicans remained loyal.
On Friday, Politico published the text of a draft executive order for the seizure of voting machines and the text of a speech in which Trump would have condemned the rioters on Capitol Hill, but which he never delivered.
According to the January 6 committee, Hannity also told McEnany, “Key in now. No more crazy.”
McEnany said: “Yes. 100%.”
A footnote to the letter says that Katrina Pierson, another right-wing commentator, “also uses the term ‘crazy’ in her text messages, apparently to describe several of the president’s supporters.”
Lindell continues to insist that he has evidence that the 2020 election was stolen, recently claiming that his work could lead to life in prison for “300 and a few million people”.
That led the Washington Post to to ask: “Are you one of the 11 Americans that Mike Lindell doesn’t want to arrest?”
In comments at a Trump rally in Arizona last weekend, Lindell took aim at Hannity’s employer.
“When was the last time you saw someone on Fox talk about the 2020 election?” I ask.
Fox News has continued to fuel conspiracy theories about the Capitol riots, but Fox Corporation faces litigation with respect to claim (it is of a stolen election.
This week, Lindell joined Fox in being sued for Smartmatic, manufacturer of electoral machines.
In the lawsuit, the company accused Lindell of knowing what he was doing — trying to sell pillows — while spreading election lies.
He was, the company said, “crazy as a fox.”
www.theguardian.com
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism