Among the documents turned over to the Jan. 6 Select Committee by former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows were text messages from Donald Trump Jr. urging his father to respond to the protest at the Capitol.
”He’s got to condemn this s**t ASAP; the Capitol Police tweet is not enough,” Trump Jr. texted Meadows on Jan. 6, according to Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., at Monday’s hearing in which the committee voted 9-0 to recommend the House vote to charge Meadows with contempt of Congress.
”I’m pushing it hard, I agree,” Meadows tweeted back, Cheney told the panel before the vote.
Cheney added that Donald Trump Jr. sent a number of messages to the chief of staff to urge further action from then-President Donald Trump.
”We need an Oval Office address,” Trump Jr. also tweeted to Meadows, according to Cheney. ”He has to lead now. It has gone too far and gotten out of hand.”
The full House will now vote Tuesday on recommending that the Justice Department charge Meadows with contempt of Congress, a resolution expected to pass the Democratic-held House.
Cheney also noted that a number of Trump-supporting Fox News hosts had texted Meadows on Jan. 6:
Laura Ingraham: ”Hey Mark, the president needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home … this is hurting all of us … he is destroying his legacy.”
Brian Kilmeade: ”Please get him on TV. Destroying everything you have accomplished.”
Sean Hannity: ”Can he make a statement? … Ask people to leave the Capitol.”
