Date: 2024-04-20 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00021471
POLITICAL ACCOUNTABILITY
JANUARY 6TH
Axios: Jan. 6 committee to request Sean Hannity's cooperation
JANUARY 6TH
Axios: Jan. 6 committee to request Sean Hannity's cooperation
Sean Hannity. Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Burgess COMMENTARY
I have strong views about the origins of the January 6th events on Capital Hill. I feel that my position is justified based on the stream of information that was available on broadcast media on January 6th itself and the flood of supporting information that has been all over the Internet for many months. My views have not changed very much during the past 12 months in large part because I reject all the data flows that have nothing to support what they are purporting to show. The amount of misinformation and disinformation flows has been huge, but most are readily debunked based on data flows that have high quality supporting reality.
The role of propaganda in forming public opinion is not new. In the political arena, it was important to Hitler and the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany in the 1930s. It is at the core of product marketing, though mostly described as advertising and not propaganda. It is also important in the forming or manipulation of public opinion, and, of course, has been important in making the Trump saga possible.
Peter Burgess
Jonathan Swan
January 4th 2022
The Jan. 6 select committee is preparing to ask Fox News Channel host Sean Hannity for his voluntary cooperation with its investigation of the assault on the U.S. Capitol, a source with direct knowledge of the plans tells Axios.
Why it matters: Hannity is one of the most prominent media figures in America and was a close adviser to Donald Trump throughout his presidency. The committee revealed last month that Hannity texted then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows during the riot to urge him to get Trump to stop his supporters.
Tim Mulvey, a spokesman for the Jan. 6 committee, declined to comment when asked about the pending Hannity request.
Jay Sekulow, counsel to Sean Hannity, told Axios: “If true, any such request would raise serious constitutional issues including First Amendment concerns regarding freedom of the press.”
Between the lines: Hannity condemned the attack on the U.S. Capitol, saying on his show on the night after the riot that 'all of today's perpetrators must be arrested and prosecuted.'
But Hannity has never criticized Trump for his role in ginning up the crowd in DC that day. And he has criticized the congressional committee investigating Jan. 6.
Details: Axios has not yet been able to establish the nature of the cooperation the committee plans to ask of Hannity. Committee officials have said Hannity was among several Fox News hosts who were texting Meadows during the riot.
'Can he [Trump] make a statement?' Hannity said in the texts, made public in mid-December. 'Ask people to leave the Capitol.'
Two other Fox News hosts — Laura Ingraham, the host of the 10 p.m. show 'The Ingraham Angle' and Brian Kilmeade, a host of the morning show 'Fox & Friends' — also weighed in with Meadows in real-time as Trump supporters stormed the Capitol to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden's electoral victory.
Behind the scenes: Hannity was much more than a TV host during the Trump presidency. He was a friend, supporter and informal adviser in frequent phone calls with the former president.
One former Trump aide sarcastically referred to Hannity as the 'real chief of staff.' That was a gross overstatement, but it spoke to Hannity's special access to Trump.
Such was Hannity's influence with Trump that officials who wanted to persuade him often turned to the Fox News host to help get their ideas or action items across the line. A phone call from Hannity to Trump carried more sway than a conversation between the president and many members of his own cabinet.