#Ex-Trump press secretary Kayleigh McEnany hands over texts to Jan. 6 panel

Former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany has provided text messages to the House Select Committee investigating last year’s deadly Capitol riot, according to a new report. 

ABC News, citing a source familiar with the investigation, reported that the Trump-era spokeswoman turned over the texts to the committee after being subpoenaed for records and her testimony in November. 

Some of McEnany’s text messages were quoted in a Jan. 20 letter sent to former President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka, asking her to cooperate with the probe. ABC reported that those messages came from documents handed in by the former press secretary.

The letter to the former first daughter from committee chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) quoted a Jan. 7, 2021 exchange between McEnany and Fox News host Sean Hannity in which the latter laid out what Thompson called a “five point approach for conversations with President Trump.”

“1 – no more stolen election talk,” Hannity wrote to McEnany, according to the letter. “2- Yes, impeachment and the 25th amendment are real and many people will quit…”

“Love that. Thank you. That is the playbook. I will help reinforce…” McEnany wrote back. 

Later in the exchange, Hannity told McEnany it was “Key now” to keep “crazy people” away from the 45th president. 

“Yes. 100%,” McEnany responded. (Hannity and McEnany are now colleagues, as the former press secretary is a co-host on the Fox News midday show “Outnumbered.”)

At the time she was subpoenaed, Thompson said McEnany had “made multiple public statements from the White House and elsewhere about purported fraud in the November 2020 election, which individuals who attacked the U.S. Capitol echoed on Jan. 6.”

Thompson also pointed to statements McEnany made alleging there were “very real claims” of voter fraud, as well as that Democrats were “welcoming fraud” and “welcoming illegal voting.”

McEnany, who worked as White House press secretary from April 2020 to January 2021, accompanied the former president to the “Stop the Steal” rally on the Ellipse near the White House that preceded the Jan. 6 riot. 

ABC News reported that McEnany sat for a virtual hours-long interview with investigators on Jan. 13.

Dozens of Trump allies have been subpoenaed for documents or testimony about the panel’s investigation into the riot. 

Some, including former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, have denied the request, citing their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. 

So far, three lawmakers have been asked to help with the investigation: Reps. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Scott Perry (R-Pa.). All three lawmakers have rebuffed the committee.

The panel is expected to extend a similar request to former Vice President Mike Pence in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, the committee met last week with Marc Short, Pence’s former chief of staff, after he responded to a December subpoena, two sources told CBS News. 

According to CNN, the meeting with Short was “lengthy” and took place after he turned over a limited amount of documents that were also subpoenaed. 

On Jan. 6, Short was present with Pence in the Capitol building as Trump supporters broke in during a joint session of Congress to count the electoral votes from the 2020 presidential election.