Fox News personality Laura Ingraham feared further violence following the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot, according to a newly released text message she sent to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows almost a week after the 2021 insurrection.
Ingraham messaged Meadows on Jan. 12 to suggest Trump discourage armed protest from his supporters, the latest example of the close ties between prominent Fox News personalities and the Trump administration.
She wrote: “Remarks on camera discouraging protest at state capit[o]ls esp with weapons will be well advised given how hot the situation is. [E]veryone needs to calm down and pray for our country and for those who lost their lives last week.”
The message was disclosed on Wednesday by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 violence in a letter requesting the cooperation of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). McCarthy declined the request.
Text messages released last month revealed how Ingraham and her Fox News colleagues Sean Hannity and Brian Kilmeade pleaded with Meadows via text to get Trump to call off his supporters as the violence unfurled.
“Mark, the president needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home,” Ingraham messaged Meadows. “Can he make a statement? Ask people to leave the Capitol?” asked Sean Hannity. Brian Kilmeade, meanwhile, demanded Meadows get Trump on TV because the riot was “destroying everything you have accomplished.”