Fox News host Sean Hannity said he was “at war” with his network during the fallout of the 2020 election, newly released text messages between him and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows reveal.
Hannity expressed frustration with Fox News for not airing an ad he cut and appeared to back Meadows’s criticism of then-Fox News anchor Chris Wallace, as seen in a trove of 2,319 text messages between the duo from Election Day 2020 to President Joe Biden’s inauguration published by CNN on Friday. The text messages were provided to the House committee investigating the Capitol riot by Meadows.
LEAKED: TEXT MESSAGES FROM TRUMP ALLIES IN CONGRESS ON CHALLENGING 2020 ELECTION
“Doing this to try and get ratings will not work in the long run and I am doubtful it is even a short term winning strategy,” Meadows texted Hannity on Dec. 6, 2020, with a link to an article about how Wallace corrected a Trump official, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, for referring to Biden as “vice president” instead of “president-elect.”
“I’ve been at war with them all week. We will talk wen I see u. I’m at the party with my kids next Sunday night at 7. Also if this doesn’t end the way we want, you me and Jay are doing 3 things together. 1- Directing legal strategies vs Biden 2- NC Real estate 3- Other business I talked to Rudy. Thx for helping him,” Hannity replied.
Hannity was alluding to plans for the prospect of former President Donald Trump’s efforts to challenge the 2020 election failing. Jay appears to be a reference to Jay Sekulow, who had done legal work for Hannity as well as Trump. The text messages were scarce on details about Hannity’s feud with the network. Two days after sending that text, the prime-time host explained that he had cut an ad that the network did not run.
“I was screaming about no ads from Labor Day on. I made my own they never ran it. I’m not pointing fingers. I’m frustrated,” he said.
It is unclear what ad Hannity was referencing, but there had been a report in a book, Wall Street Journal reporter Michael Bender’s Frankly, We Did Win This Election, that said Hannity helped craft an ad for the Trump campaign that the network only ran once. Hannity denied that reporting.
A few days later, Meadows asked for Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott’s number and said he would give her a call.
“I talked to Jay about this and he agrees. You also need to spend at least half your time doing business with us. And I’m serious. Did u ever talk to Fox. I’ve been at war with them,” Hannity texted Meadows on Dec. 12.
Meadows said he did not give her a call because he had been tied up in work for the administration. Although it was not said explicitly in the text message, CNN reported that Hannity had been encouraging Meadows to work for Fox News when Meadows requested Scott’s number. None of the subsequent text messages shed light on whether he followed up with Scott.
In addition to expressing frustrations with Fox News, the trove of text messages also shed light on how Hannity repeatedly inquired about efforts to challenge the results of the election. He was distraught with the news that Trump had lost, but then he became increasingly leery of “lunatics” who had taken efforts to overturn the election too far. On New Year’s Eve 2020, he told Meadows point-blank: “I do NOT see January 6 happening the way he is being told,” referring to Trump.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Fox News for comment.
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Meadows had turned over a slew of documents and text messages to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot. A number of communications he had have since been leaked out to the media. For example, two weeks ago, CNN published a trove of communications he had with Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas after the election.
The committee recommended Congress vote to hold him in contempt for failing to comply with its request fully, and the matter has since been referred to the Justice Department. Meadows claimed Trump’s assertion of executive privilege restricted him from revealing certain information to the committee and declined to appear for deposition.
