Fox News hosts begged Trump to stop Jan. 6 violence because they knew he started it

As the nation approaches the first anniversary of the appalling Jan. 6 attack on our democracy, let's set the record straight on the text messages sent that day by Fox News hosts Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity to then-President Donald Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows. They have been consistent in condemning the violence by Capitol Hill rioters since then.

The words of their text messages don't reveal any damning hypocrisy. They were as outraged by the violence on the air as they were in the private text messages. Anyone who has attacked them as hypocrites on this score was wrong.

But, and it is a big but, the text messages do raise questions about whether Ingraham and Hannity have been straight with their viewers for nearly a year about who caused that violence.

First, here's what the duo of Fox News personalities wrote to Meadows:

"Can he (Trump) make a statement, ask people to leave the Capitol?," wrote Hannity.

"Mark, the president needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home," wrote Ingraham. "This is hurting all of us. He (Trump) is destroying his legacy."

What do both messages have in common? The idea that Trump had the power to send the violent rioters storming the Capitol back home? Why would that be? Maybe because Trump was the one who called them there in the first place.

Trump called supporters to Capitol

Trump had first fired up his supporters with a barrage of lies that the election was stolen by Democrats; then he raised their hopes with a slew of baseless lawsuits that were quickly dismissed; and then when an angry crowd showed up in Washington, he gave them their marching orders.

"Now it is up to Congress to confront this egregious assault on our democracy. And after this, we’re going to walk down, and I’ll be there with you. … We are going to the Capitol, and we are going to try and give ... our Republicans, the weak ones, because the strong ones don’t need any of our help, we’re try – going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country,” Trump said.

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And indeed, just as he said, the crowd stormed to the Capitol, where violence broke out and dozens of police officers were injured because, as Trump told them, "We fight like hell, and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”

In watching dozens of hours of video of Fox broadcasts, I've never heard Ingraham or Hannity hold Trump responsible for the Jan. 6 violence the way they clearly did in those text messages.

Hannity and Ingraham blamed Pelosi

Indeed, they've made excuses and blamed other people for the violence. Ingraham has tried to blame Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, asking: "What was Nancy Pelosi's role in allowing the circumstances to exist that opened the door for the hideous Jan. 6 riots?" She downplayed the violence, calling police officers who gave accounts of their experience "third-rate theatrics."

Hannity claimed that Trump aimed for a peaceful protest and that parts of the protest were "staged." He said that Pelosi, on the other hand, needs to be investigated: "Wouldn't they subpoena her home, her text messages, her emails, her phone calls leading up to the 6th?"

I asked Fox representatives if they had any examples of the hosts holding Trump accountable for starting the violence they were so keen to have him stop. The network has yet to provide any.

On Jan. 6, Ingraham and Hannity knew that Trump started the violence and that he could stop it. It is plain from their pleading text messages. Too bad they haven't been honest with their viewers about who is to blame since then.

David Mastio is an opinion writer with USA TODAY. Follow him on Twitter @DavidMastio.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fox News: Hannity, Ingraham knew Trump started Jan. 6 violence