Fox News Hosts Take the Offensive About Texts to Meadows

“I think that’s part of the bargain that Fox News offers its viewers — ‘We have a different relationship with the government and a different relationship with the Republican Party,’” she added. “I think viewers in large part go there for it.”

A representative for Fox News declined to comment for this article. The network has not made any public statement about the text messages.

On Tuesday, after showing a clip of Ms. Cheney reading aloud the text she had sent to Mr. Meadows, Ms. Ingraham, who hosts “The Ingraham Angle,” accused “the regime media” of “somehow trying to twist this message to try to tar me as a liar, a hypocrite who privately sounded the alarm on Jan. 6, but publicly downplayed it.”

On his show, Mr. Hannity set up a confrontation between Geraldo Rivera and Dan Bongino, a right-wing polemicist who joined the channel in 2019.

“This was a riot that was unleashed, incited and inspired by the president of the United States, which targeted the heart of American democracy,” Mr. Rivera said on the program.

Mr. Hannity told Mr. Rivera to stop talking and reminded his viewers that his guest’s words represented only his opinion. He then shifted to the House inquiry, saying, “The question is, this corrupt committee. The question is, why this riot and not 574 other riots?”

After Mr. Rivera asked the host to “remember the frame of mind you were in when you wrote that text on Jan. 6,” Mr. Hannity turned it over to Mr. Bongino.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/15/business/media/fox-news-trump-january-6.html