Three prominent Fox News anchors sent concerned text messages to MarkMeadows, the last chief of staff for President Donald J. Trump, urging him to persuade the president to take the riot seriously and to make an effort to stop it.
The texts were made public on Monday, just before the House committee voted to recommend that Mr. Meadows be charged with contempt of Congress. Liz Cheney read the text messages aloud.
The texts were sent to the former White House chief of staff by Laura Ingraham, the host of the nighttime show, and Sean Hannity, a prime-time host.
The president needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home. This is hurting all of us. His legacy is being destroyed.
Mr. Kilmeade was texting Mr. Meadows to get him on TV. Everything you have accomplished is being destroyed.
Sean asked if he could make a statement. People should leave the Capitol.
In the hours after the attack, Ms. Ingraham promoted a false theory that members of antifa were involved.
The Capitol was under siege by people who are antithetical to the MAGA movement, according to Ms. Ingraham. They were likely not all Trump supporters, and there are reports that antiFA sympathizers may have been sprinkled throughout the crowd.
Ms. Ingraham said that any unhappiness with the vote should not have led to violence.
Mr. Hannity said at the top of his show that the attackers must be arrested and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. He said that the nation needs to do more to protect law enforcement.
I don't know who they are, I don't care if they are left or right, I don't care. I wouldn't support them. How were officials not prepared? We have to answer that question. How did they allow the Capitol building to be broken into?
The results of the 2020 election were questioned by Mr. Trump and his supporters in the weeks before the riot, but there was no evidence of widespread fraud.
Mr. Hannity said that the election was a train wreck. According to Gallup, 83 percent of Republicans and millions of others don't have faith in the election results. You can't just hope that goes away.
Representatives for Fox News didn't respond to the request for comment.
In the 11 months since the attack, the Fox News hosts who appear in the morning and prime-time hours have often played down the events of January 6, with some likening it to the violence during the protests against racism and police violence in the summer of 2020.
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The issue is yet to be tested. The House is investigating the Capitol riot and the power of the former president to keep secrets. There is a breakdown of executive privilege in the indictment of Stephen K. Bannon for contempt of Congress.
Executive privilege is something. It is a power claimed by presidents under the Constitution to prevent the other two branches of government from gaining access to certain internal executive branch information, especially confidential communications involving the president or among his top aides.
What is Trump's claim? The former President has filed a lawsuit to stop the disclosure of White House files related to his actions. He believes that these matters should be kept a secret.
Is Trump's claim valid? The line between a president's secrecy powers and Congress's investigative authority is not clear. The case is likely to be decided by the Supreme Court after a judge rejected Mr. Trump's bid to keep his papers secret.
Is executive privilege an absolute power? No. A legitimate claim of executive privilege may not be accepted in court. The Supreme Court upheld an order requiring President Nixon to turn over his tapes during the Watergate scandal.
Is executive privilege invoked by ex-presidents? Courts may view claims differently than current presidents. The Supreme Court ruled against Nixon in the case, but he was allowed to make a claim of executive privilege even after he left office.
Is Steve Bannon covered by executive privilege? This is not clear. The legal question of whether or not a claim of executive privilege may extend to communications between a president and an informal adviser outside of the government could be raised by Mr. Bannon.
What is contempt of Congress? People who defy congressional subpoenas are subject to a sanction. Congress can refer contempt citations to the Justice Department. Mr. Bannon was indicted on contempt charges for not complying with a subpoena.
Tucker Carlson, the Fox News host with the largest audience, produced a three-part documentary, "Patriot Purge," for the Fox Nation streaming platform that contained a false claim that the Jan. 6 attack was a "false flag" operation meant to demonize the political right.
More than 500 people have been arrested in relation to the Capitol riot. Mr. Carlson claimed in the documentary that Jan. 6 is being used to strip millions of Americans of their constitutional rights.
Chris Wallace resigned from Fox News on Sunday to take a job at CNN. He was concerned about the documentary in talks with management.
The conservative commentators, Stephen and Jonah Goldberg, quit Fox News last month in protest of the Carlson special, which they said would lead to violence.
