Jan. 6 panel to seek Hannity’s cooperation: report

Fox News host Sean Hannity is the latest person the Jan. 6 select committee is preparing to ask for voluntary cooperation with its investigation, according to a report by Axios. 

When asked to comment on the potential request, Jay Sekulow, a lawyer for Hannity, told Axios, “If true, any such request would raise serious constitutional issues including First Amendment concerns regarding freedom of the press.”

Hannity was in frequent contact with then-President Trump during his time in office, often acting as a quasi-adviser to the president, Axios reports. 

A conversation between Hannity and Trump often had more weight than a discussion among the president and his Cabinet members or advisers, the outlet reports. 

During the Jan. 6 capitol riot, Hannity texted Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows imploring him to urge the president to make a statement to dispel the rioters.

“Can he make a statement? Ask people to leave the Capitol,” Hannity texted Meadows as the riot was unfolding. 

The text, alongside similar texts from other Fox News hosts, were brought out by the Jan. 6 committee. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), vice chairwoman of the select committee, read into the congressional record a series of text messages sent to Meadows and obtained by the panel investigating the Capitol riot in mid-December. 

After the texts were made public, Hannity spoke about them on his program to viewers. 

“I said to Mark Meadows the exact same thing I was saying live on the radio at that time and on TV that night on Jan. 6 and well beyond Jan. 6,” Hannity said in December, while also adding that he was an “honest and straightforward” person and suggested the leaked texts were an invasion of his privacy.

Hannity has criticized the Capitol riot, but he has not been critical of Trump for any potential role he may have played in the attack. He has also criticized the select committee, reports Axios.