“He was intrigued by the pardon idea!! (Hunter),” Hannity wrote to McEnany, per the text messages released by the panel.
Sean Hannity of Fox News suggested that former President Donald Trump pardon Hunter Biden and drop all mention of a stolen election in an effort to "smooth things over" after the January 6 Capitol Hill riot in 2021.
Texts between Hannity and then-White House Press Sec. Kayleigh McEnany were released during the House Select Committee investigating the riot on Thursday, which reveal that Hannity and Trump were discussing ways to smooth over the potential fallout that would come after the so-called storming.
Among the solutions were to ditch "stolen election talk" and for Trump to attend the inauguration of Joe Biden.
One message from Hannity included the idea to pardon Hunter Biden.
"He was intrigued by the pardon idea!! (Hunter)," Hannity wrote to McEnany, per the text messages released by the panel.
Trump made the younger Biden's business dealings in Ukraine central to his campaign in 2020. The then-president's focus on the matter would eventually lead to his impeachment, due to his soliciting of a foreign government.
The Daily Beast reports that the idea to pardon Hunter was not Hannity's originally, but that he brought it to Trump because he "genuinely wanted some healing."
One source familiar with the conversation said that the idea was "never seriously considered" and that it "died on the vine."
Trump would go on to pardon a number of notable figures, including rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black, former governor of Illinois and Apprentice contestant Rod Blagojevich, and former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, among others.
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