- Sean Hannity claimed Donald Trump is "the one person that looks good" after the first Jan. 6 hearing.
- Hannity repeated debunked claim that Trump had called for National Guard troops to secure the Capitol.
- Fox News chose not to air the hearing, despite texts from Hannity read out as evidence.
Fox News host Sean Hannity claimed former president Donald Trump is "the one person that looks good" after the first January 6 committee hearing on Thursday.
Hannity, a longtime Trump ally, sought to frame the riot as a security failure for which Congress was responsible.
"This is now about a security failure of incredible magnitude and they don't even seem to want to talk about it. The one person that looks good is Donald Trump," he said.
—Caleb Howe (@CalebHowe) June 10, 2022
Hannity repeated a widely debunked claim that Trump had called for up to 20,000 National Guard troops to secure the Capitol before the insurrection.
The myth originates in a claim previously made by Trump that he asked for 10,000 National Guard troops to be at the Capitol, which he claimed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected.
Pelosi's spokesperson has said that her office did not receive any requests for the National Guard ahead of January 6, per PolitiFact.
Hannity and other Fox News hosts have since apparently inflated the number of troops that Trump allegedly requested to 20,000, without any evidence, according to Media Matters.
During Thursday's hearing, lawmakers said that Trump took no action on January 6 to deploy law enforcement to protect the Capitol.
"Not only did President Trump refuse to tell the mob to leave the Capitol, he placed no call to any element of the United States government to instruct that the Capitol be defended," Rep. Liz Cheney said.
Fox News' prime-time shows chose not to air the hearing on Thursday, even as text messages between Hannity and former Trump press secretary Kayleigh McEnany were read out as evidence.
In the texts, Hannity advises McEnany that there should be "no more stolen election talk" and "no more crazy people."
The January 6 committee previously released panicked text messages from Hannity to Trump's inner circle before, during, and after the Capitol riot.
In the texts, Hannity expressed concern about Trump's actions and urged Trump's then-chief of staff, Mark Meadows. to get him to make a statement asking the rioters to leave peacefully.
Despite his apparent private concern, Hannity has maintained support for Trump on the airwaves and has sought to downplay his role in the Capitol riot.
