In the diaries, Haniti gives advice and asks for direction, blurring the line between her Fox show, radio show and Trump’s White House.
On election afternoon, Haniti sent a message to Meadows at 1:36 p.m. to ask about North Carolina’s turnout. Two hours later, Meadows replied, “Shake that every voice matters. Go out and vote. On the radio”.
“Yes, sir,” said Hannity. – To him. Everywhere in particular we need a boost.
“Pennsylvania. NC AZ,” Meadows wrote, adding, “Nevada.”
“Understood. “Everywhere,” Haniti said.
The texts also show the two men discussing Trump’s strategy to challenge the election, complaining to Fox and figuring out what to do after Trump leaves office – including possibly working together.
“You also need to spend at least half of your time doing business with us,” Hannity told Meadows on December 12th. “I am serious, too. Have you ever talked to Fox? I was at war with them.
“I agree. We can make a powerful team,” Meadows said. “I didn’t talk to (Fox News CEO) Susan (Scott) because I was bound by an apology, but I’ll make sure to get in touch. You are a true patriot and I am so proud of you! Your friendship means a lot to me. “
“The feeling is mutual,” Haniti wrote.
Hannity did not respond to requests for comment from CNN; neither Meadows nor his lawyer. A commission spokesman on January 6 declined to comment.
Fostering conspiracies for fraud
Initially, after the November 2020 election, Haniti seemed all-in with Trump’s false election allegations. On November 29, he sent an SMS to Meadows, saying that his team was trying to prove election fraud: “I made my team dig into the numbers. There’s no way Biden can get those numbers. Simply mathematically impossible. It’s so sad for this country that they can achieve that in 2020. We need a big breakthrough, a video, something. “
Meadows replied, “You are absolutely right. We are working on a breakthrough. “
“All right. It would be phenomenal, “Haniti replied.
But a few weeks later, when Trump’s team lost a lawsuit and lawsuits by lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell failed to turn into anything more than false conspiracy theories, Haniti’s tone changed.
Hannit registered with Meadows on December 22, asking him how he was.
“I am fighting like crazy. I went to Cobb County to review the process. Very difficult days, but I will continue to fight, “said Meadows, referring to the Trump team’s objections to the votes from Cobb County, Georgia.
Although Haniti never seemed to dispute Trump’s false claims about the election itself, he expressed concern about the tactics of some who insist on the Trump case. Hannity replied to Meadows, “Fighting is good. Crazy people are NOT good. They are NOT helping him. I’m tired of these people.”
Until New Year’s Eve, Haniti warned of the consequences if senior White House lawyers resigned in protest. Haniti also seems to accept the fact that the election is over and the president’s best course of action is to go to Florida and engage with Biden from there.
“We can’t lose the whole WH council. “I don’t see January 6 happening the way it’s called,” Haniti said. “After 6. He has to announce that he will lead the nationwide effort to reform the integrity of the vote. Go to Florida and watch Joe mess up every day. Stay engaged. When he speaks, people will listen.”
Preparing for an interview with Trump
Haniti’s text messages to Meadows are of interest to the House Election Committee, which wrote to Haniti in January requesting an interview. In the same month, the panel released some of Haniti’s texts to Meadows, showing his concern about what would happen on January 6, 2021.
After the letter was sent, Haniti’s lawyer, Jay Sekulow, told CNN: “We are reviewing the committee’s letter and will respond as appropriate.”
The texts provide evidence of what many White House and Fox sources have argued during the Trump administration: that Haniti acted as “shadow chief of staff” while juggling radio and television broadcasts. Trump frequently called on Haniti’s show – and Haniti appeared on stage with the president during his last campaign rally in 2018.
While Haniti was fiercely loyal to Trump on the air, his off-air relationship was more complicated. He sometimes complained about Trump’s behavior and worried that the president was hurting the Republican Party with a big letter.
Haniti said he is not a journalist and Fox does not adhere to traditional journalistic standards. He is more like a GOP activist and artist, like some of his fellow Fox presenters. In addition to Haniti, Laura Ingraham of Fox, Tucker Carlson, Maria Bartiromo and Brian Kilmid also sent messages to Meadows.
A Fox spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
In a remarkable text, Bartiromo sent a message to Meadows on the morning of November 29, less than an hour before she conducted Trump’s first interview since election day. The text included questions she planned to ask Trump.
“Hello, the audience wants to know that he will fight this. They want to hear the path to victory. And he is in control “, Bartiromo sent an SMS at 9:21 am. The facts are on your side. Let’s start from there. What are the facts? Describe what happened here. I will then look at fraud, including the statistical impossibilities of Biden’s magic (federalist). Please make sure it does not explode on the tangents. We want to know that he is strong, he is a fighter and he will win. This is no longer about him. It’s about ????. I will ask him about the big technologies and the media that also influence the disposal. Towards the end I will get to the GA run-offs and then the vaccines. “
At 10:12 a.m., Trump called Bartiromo’s Sunday Morning Futures show. Her line of questions reflects much of what she set out in the text message.
“Thank you for talking to us in the first interview since election day,” Bartiromo said. “Mr President, you have said many times that this election was rigged, that there was a lot of fraud. And the facts are on your side. Let’s start there. Please review the facts. Describe what happened.”
Earlier, the commission released texts from both Kilmaid and Ingram expressing concern about the Capitol attacks and their effect on Trump’s legacy. Tucker Carlson appears in only one exchange in Meadows’ text diaries as he tries to talk to Meadows as he prepares for his November 17 show.
“I’m sorry you missed it. I was writing the show. I think I understand, but I appreciate it, “Carlson wrote.
The diaries also show that there were dozens of journalists from other organizations who sent text messages to Meadows during this time. Contrary to Haniti’s reports, these reporters often sought confirmation from the White House Chief of Staff for emergency news or tried to arrange an interview with Trump.
Meadows received articles from reporters from the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Politico, Bloomberg, NBC, ABC, CBS and CNN, among others.
“I’m starting to feel depressed”
As the return came on election night, Hannita called Meadows to share a tweet about the total number of early voting in North Carolina, a state that was crucial to Trump’s hopes of re-election. “Will we last ??” Haniti Meadows asked.
“We are still fine,” Meadows wrote.
A week later, Hannita re-registered to see Meadows make a living.
“I’m doing well. I work around the clock. We will fight and win,” Meadows said.
“You really think it’s possible,” Haniti said. “I am just beginning to feel depressed. Until (sic) great disorganization. We need Jim in charge of the messages. Someone who is credible.
“Arizona is now down just 12,813. There are still census ballots,” Meadows wrote. “Very disorganized, but I broke my head yesterday and today. Don’t let your heart worry your friend.”
Haniti and Meadows’ texts highlight the isolated effects of the right-wing media echo camera, where little or no accurate information about the election results was able to break through.
In November and early December, Haniti’s show often reinforced Trump’s campaign lies. Guests, including then-White House spokeswoman Kaylee McEnnany, appeared almost every night to cast doubt on the election results and support support for doomed legal challenges. “We will follow the facts,” Haniti said in her program on December 2, a day after Trump’s attorney general William Barr announced that there was no evidence of widespread election fraud.
But in his lyrics with Meadows, Haniti sounded resigned to the fact that the election was over.
“The case in Texas is very strong. It’s still a Herculean climb. Everyone knows it’s stolen. Everyone,” Hannita wrote on December 8th. “Stir between mad as hell and hellishly sad. Wtf it happened to our country, Mark.”
Meadows replied, “I’m so upset to see what we let happen.”
“Honestly, we think alike. This is another discussion,” Haniti wrote.
“I fought with them all week”
The text messages also shed light on Haniti’s tension with Fox. The Trump-linked channel angered the former president by calling Arizona for Biden on election night.
On December 6, Meadows sent an article to Haniti about then-Fox presenter Chris Wallace (who has since been hired by CNN), who interrupted Trump’s HHS secretary Alex Hazard when Hazard called Biden’s vice president instead of the newly elected president.
“Doing this to try to get a rating will not work in the long run, and I doubt it’s even a short-term winning strategy,” Meadows wrote.
Hannity responded with a blow to Fox and a suggestion of what Meadows should do after leaving the White House: “I fought with them all week. We will talk when we see each other, “Haniti wrote. “Also, if it doesn’t work out the way we want it to, Jay and I do three things together. 1- Guide to Legal Strategies Against Biden 2- NC Real Estate 3- Other Business I talked to Rudy. Thanks for helping him. “
Haniti again expressed her disappointment a few days later, telling Meadows that he had run an advertising campaign.
“I shouted that there were no ads from Labor Day onwards”, Haniti …
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