Fox News' Laura Ingraham Feared Violence After Jan. 6, Text Shows: 'Calm Down and Pray for Our Country'

Fox News host Laura Ingraham feared more violence nearly a week after the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 — and pleaded with then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to help avoid further bloodshed, according to a newly released text message.

In a letter sent Wednesday to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy requesting his voluntary cooperation, Rep. Bennie Thompson, who chairs the committee investigating the events on and around Jan. 6, revealed a message Ingraham sent to Meadows on Jan. 12.

"Remarks on camera discouraging protest at state capit[o]ls esp with weapons will be well advised given how hot the situation is," Ingraham wrote, according to the letter. "[E]veryone needs to calm down and pray for our country and for those who lost their lives last week."

On Jan. 11, the FBI warned of armed protests in all 50 state capitals through Inauguration Day, according to an internal memo obtained at the time by ABC News.

When asked for comment, a rep for Fox News, which airs Ingraham's show The Ingraham Angle, pointed to her on-air remarks on the evening of Jan. 6.

"Those who breached the Capitol Hill security today, whoever they were, they were criminals," Ingraham said during her broadcast. "I'm praying extra hard for the country, for peace and healing, for discernment, for good information, for context and perspective, and for a sense that we're all Americans. We need to love each other a lot more."

In tweets the same day, she called the attack "disgraceful" and called on then-President Donald Trump to "order U.S. troops to secure the Capitol immediately."

Thompson cited Ingraham's message in the most recent letter because the House of Representatives committee is "concerned about the potential for continued violence after January 6th provoked by President Trump's false claims that the election was stolen," he wrote to McCarthy, adding that the investigators are "aware of communications among White House staff and President Trump's supporters regarding the potential for further violence."

McCarthy, who leads Republicans in the House, swiftly declined to cooperate with the investigation on Wednesday, calling the committee "illegitimate" and claiming it's engaged in an "abuse of power that stains this institution."

Ingraham's newly released text comes from a series of messages that Meadows provided to the committee, which show that lawmakers, administration officials and multiple Fox News personalities had close ties inside the White House and were among those who urged the former chief of staff to convince Trump to call for peace as the attack was unfolding.

"Mark, the president needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home. This is hurting all of us. He is destroying his legacy," Ingraham wrote Jan. 6, Rep. Liz Cheney — one of two Republicans on the committee — said during a December briefing announcing a recommendation to hold Meadows in contempt of Congress for failing to cooperate after he initially provided information to the House investigators.

Ingraham's Fox News colleagues Sean Hannity and Brian Kilmeade also pleaded with Meadows during the assault on the Capitol.