Truthout is a vital news source and a living history of political struggle. If you think our work is valuable, support us with a donation of any size.
Kayleigh McEnany, a Fox News pundit who served as former President Donald Trump’s last press secretary, has shared text messages from her final weeks in the White House with the January 6 commission.
McEnany, who was by Trump’s side for several moments on the day of the Capitol attack, was subpoenaed in November to provide records and give testimony to the House select committee investigating the events of January 6. In mid-January, she appeared virtually to speak with commission investigators, skipping her Fox News program in order to give testimony.
McEnany has been cooperative with the committee’s requests, and has turned over her text messages from January 6 to the commission, a source familiar with the inquiry has said.
In a letter that accompanied her subpoena last fall, the select committee said that it wanted to speak with McEnany because of her “multiple public statements from the White House and elsewhere about purported fraud” in the 2020 presidential election, “which individuals who attacked the U.S. Capitol echoed on January 6.” The commission also noted that McEnany was “with former President Trump when he traveled to the Ellipse and spoke at the ‘Stop the Steal’ rally, and ‘popped in and out’ to join Mr. Trump as he watched the attack on the U.S. Capitol later that afternoon.”
The commission requested documents and testimony from McEnany “regarding these and other matters.”
It’s possible that the text messages from McEnany have already led to credible evidence that will be used by the commission later on. Indeed, the select committee recently cited some of McEnany’s texts in its request for Ivanka Trump to testify — an ask that the former president said was “very unfair” despite the fact that Ivanka was with Trump on the day of the attack as a White House adviser.
Some of McEnany’s text conversations on January 6 were with her now-Fox News colleague Sean Hannity, who asked her to relay advice he had for Trump as the Capitol attack was unfolding. “1 – no more stolen election talk,” Hannity wrote to her. “2- Yes, impeachment and the 25th amendment are real and many people will quit.”
“Love that. Thank you. That is the playbook,” McEnany responded, adding that she would “help reinforce” that sentiment.
It’s also possible that McEnany’s text messages have provided the select committee with evidence of the plan to use former Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the election results during Congress’s certification process on January 6. In its request to Ivanka Trump, the committee noted that it had evidence that she had “direct knowledge” of Trump’s “attempt to persuade [Pence] to take action to stop the counting of electoral votes.”
McEnany’s consistent cooperation with the January 6 commission is unexpected given her allegiance to Trump even after the Capitol attack took place. McEnany spent her final weeks in the White House doing what she typically did as press secretary for Trump: avoiding answering questions from reporters.
McEnany is one of around 400 individuals who have agreed to speak with the January 6 commission so far regarding their knowledge of what transpired before, during and after the Capitol attack. When McEnany was subpoenaed, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi), who chairs the commission, said that subpoenas were important in discerning “what role the former President and his aides played in efforts to stop the counting of the electoral votes and if they were in touch with anyone outside the White House attempting to overturn the outcome of the election.”
Important Message: Please Read
For 25 years, Truthout has survived by publishing impactful investigative journalism and analysis; distributing full editions 365 days a year; and building a community of readers who support us with small, hard-earned donations.
Eighty percent of our $3 million yearly budget comes from small donors alone. Of those, 8,000 readers support us with monthly donations. Back in 2018, when Facebook decided to suppress the circulation of posts made by organizations, thereby cutting readers off from seeing many articles shared by the news organizations they had intentionally decided to follow, Truthout’s total traffic declined by 40 percent, as nearly all of our traffic from that platform disappeared.
Now, Google has recently rolled out its AI search bar, providing AI summaries instead of directing readers to our site. Google Search is our single largest source of traffic; it’s the route by which nearly one third of our readers find us. Much like in 2018, a shocking 40 percent of our Google traffic has disappeared overnight.
It will not be easy for Truthout to shoulder this blow. Nor will it be easy for our peers and collaborators — news sites that depend on traffic and aren’t bankrolled by large corporations.
If you can support Truthout with a donation today, you can help us resist the AI onslaught. Please give today.