CNN senior political analyst John Avlon on Tuesday explained how Fox News revealed itself as a propaganda outlet after Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) read text messages that the network’s stars sent to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows during the Jan. 6 insurrection.
“Please, get him on TV. Destroying everything you have accomplished,” Brian Kilmeade texted Meadows.
“Can he make a statement. Ask people to leave the Capitol,” Sean Hannity texted.
“Mark, the president needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home. This is hurting all of us. He is destroying his legacy,” Laura Ingraham texted.
Avlon said “the Trump/Fox feedback loop has been totally exposed.”
“All the people who have been trying to ritualistically downplay this attack on our democracy, saying it was a mostly peaceful protest, it was tourists on a — you know, in areas they weren’t supposed to be in times they weren’t supposed to be there,” he said.
“They were lying,” he noted.
“They knew instinctively in real time this was a desperate moment, that the capitol was being attacked, they were pleading to the president, showing that they were really functioning as political functionaries, nothing resembling journalists in that administration. And so all their public denials — both in Congress and on TV — they’re all lies,” he explained. “They all knew the truth in real-time because it was self-evident and they’ve tried to create a false impression going forward to protect the president, protect the administration, and protect their reputations.”
“They’ve played the audience for fools,” Avlon said.
READ: Liz Cheney reads bombshell Jan. 6th text messages — including panicked messages from Don Trump Jr.
Watch: