Fox News Host Sean Hannity
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The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 invasion of the Capitol is seeking information and cooperation from Fox News opinion host Sean Hannity, a close ally of former President Donald Trump.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., one of nine lawmakers on the bipartisan select panel, confirmed to MSNBC on Tuesday that the investigation is turning toward Hannity.
“I think you’ll see an announcement about that very soon,” Schiff said, adding that it is “my understanding” that the committee is seeking Hannity’s voluntary cooperation.
Axios first reported earlier Tuesday that the committee wants Hannity to cooperate.
A spokesman for the select committee did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
Jay Sekulow, described by Axios as counsel to Hannity, told CNBC in an email, “We have not heard anything” from the House committee regarding its probe of the Capitol riot.
Sekulow had told Axios that “if true, any such request would raise serious constitutional issues including First Amendment concerns regarding freedom of the press.”
Last month, select committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., revealed that Hannity had texted Mark Meadows, then White House chief of staff, on Jan. 6 as the invasion was underway.
“Can he make a statement? Ask people to leave the Capitol,” urged Hannity, Cheney said.
Asked for comment on the committee’s interest in Hannity, a Fox News spokesperson directed CNBC toward Sekulow’s comments to Axios.
The latest development in the probe came two days before the first anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack, when hundreds of Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol shortly after Congress convened to confirm President Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory in the 2020 presidential election.
The rioters, many of whom were spurred by Trump’s repeated lies that the election had been rigged against him through widespread fraud, forced lawmakers to flee their chambers for safety, delaying the democratic procedure from being carried out.
“We believe that he was texting with the chief of staff, and that he has information that would be relevant to our committee,” Schiff said of Hannity on MSNBC.
“He was more than a Fox Host. He was also a confidant, adviser, campaigner for the former president. And I would hope that if asked by the committee, as in fact he will be very soon, he would cooperate with us,” Schiff said.
The committee, tasked with investigating the facts and causes of the Jan. 6 invasion, has issued subpoenas to dozens of Trump’s current and former associates.
This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.
