Text messages released by the January 6 committee on Monday show that Fox News hosts urged the former White House chief of staff to get Trump to call off his supporters.
Their efforts are very different from the message they gave to their viewers on the day of the riot.
Sean Hannity, a friend of Donald Trump, tried to get the president to call off his supporters.
Can he make a statement? "Ask people to leave the Capitol," read the message.
December 14, 2021.
Laura Ingraham is a hardline Trump ally.
The president needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home. This hurts all of us. She told him that he was destroying his legacy.
December 14, 2021 is Oliver Darcy's birthday.
Brian Kilmeade is host of Fox & Friends. Everything you have accomplished is being destroyed.
The hosts were dismayed and said that Trump had the power to stop the riot, but did not use it.
As the three went on air that night, their focus was not shifting the blame away from Trump and his supporters.
All three condemned the violence, but played up theories that the damage was caused by left-wing groups.
The rioters didn't look like Trump supporters, according to Ingraham.
I have never seen Trump rally attendees wearing helmets. Black backpacks. She said that the uniforms you saw in the crowd shots were the ones she saw.
Have you ever seen them wearing those knee pads?
I've been to a lot of these rallies. I know that you have covered them. I have never seen that before. Ever.
In an interview with Fox News, Kilmeade expressed skepticism that Trump supporters were behind the violence.
I don't know if Trump supporters have ever demonstrated violence in a big situation.
On his radio show that night, he pushed a conspiracy theory that the protests were the work of the anti-fascist movement.
He said on his show that bad actors may have been behind the chaos.
He said during his opening segment that there were also bad actors that would enter large crowds.
A Fox News spokesman didn't reply to Insider's request for comment.
In the wake of the riot, several of the network's hosts continued to push conspiracy theories about who was behind the violence and who was to blame.
Tucker Carlson claimed in a recent documentary that law enforcement officials had instigated the violence on January 6 as part of a bid to undermine Trump supporters.
