‘This is hurting all of us’: Trump’s circle urged him to stop violence on Jan. 6

WASHINGTON —  Members of then-President Trump’s circle of supporters, including his son Donald Trump Jr., pleaded with him to stop the violence on Jan. 6, 2021, indicating that they knew the former president had a key role in inciting the insurrection, according to evidence presented Tuesday by the House select panel investigating the Capitol insurrection.

Fox News host and conservative commentator Laura Ingraham texted Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Jan. 6 that “the president needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home.”

“This is hurting all of us,” Ingraham said in a series of text messages that day lambasting Trump’s actions. “He is destroying his legacy and playing into every stereotype... we lose all credibility against the BLM/Antifa crowd if things go south.”

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Donald Trump Jr. also texted Meadows, telling him that his father needed “to [condemn] this s—t. Asap. The Capitol Police tweet is not enough.”

In addition, Fox News host Sean Hannity texted Meadows, asking him if Trump could “make a statement...Ask people to peacefully leave the Capitol.”

Many Republican representatives including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California made public statements statements condemning the violence and asked Trump to put an end to it.

“He did not do so, until later, much later,” Jan. 6 committee Vice Chair Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said at Tuesday’s hearing. “At 4:17 p.m., Trump finally told rioters to go home, and that he loved them.”

The House panel played a clip of Trump, addressing the rioters.

“We love you, you’re very special, “ he said. “I know how you feel but go home and go home in peace.”