Trump claims he knows nothing about desperate text messages sent to his team by Sean Hannity during Capitol riot

Former president praises Fox News host as a ‘talented person’ who gets ‘fantastic ratings’

Donald Trump has claimed he doesn’t know anything about text messages sent by Sean Hannity to his chief of staff during the 6 January attacks on the Capitol.

The House select committee investigating the Capitol riot last month released several text messages sent by the Fox News host to Mark Meadows in the days leading up to, during and after the attack on the Capitol on 6 January.

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The messages showed Hannity “had advance knowledge” of plans for 6 January to prevent the peaceful transfer of power to Joe Biden, according to the committee.

When Mr Trump was asked about the messages after speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday, he claimed not to know anything about them.

Question: Text messages were recently released from the January 6th committee sent by Sean Hannity. It appears he is contradicting what you were trying to tell your staff that day…
Trump: I don’t know what messages you’re talking about… pic.twitter.com/2bLUw0BspH

— Acyn (@Acyn) February 27, 2022

“I don’t know what messages you’re talking about but I think he’s a great gentleman, a very talented person, gets fantastic ratings and certainly he speaks very well of me,” Mr Trump said.

The House Committee has asked Hannity to testify, and voted to hold Mr Meadows in contempt after he refused to appear before them.