As supporters of then-President Donald Trump were storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, Mark Meadows received dozens of panicked text messages from lawmakers, administration officials, Fox News personalities and even the president’s eldest son, according to members of the House committee investigating the insurrection and the events that led up to it.

The messages the panel members disclosed had a common theme: They urged Meadows, then the White House chief of staff, to have Trump say something publicly to quell the situation.

“POTUS has to come out firmly and tell the protesters to dissipate,” one Trump administration official told Meadows, according to the committee. “Someone is going to get killed.”

The committee members disclosed the messages just before voting unanimously to recommend Meadows be charged with criminal contempt for defying a subpoena to testify. The House Rules Committee voted along party lines Tuesday morning to pass the measure along to the full House, which will meet later in the day to vote on the resolution. The Justice Department will make the final decision about whether to prosecute Meadows.

A former North Carolina congressman, Meadows at one point was cooperating with the panel and turned over 9,000 documents before changing his mind, alleging information the investigators want is protected by executive, attorney-client or other privilege. Committee members say Meadows did not claim privilege on the documents he already has provided and has no legal basis for avoiding their questions about them.

Committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., read several text messages sent to Meadows on Jan. 6, naming some of the senders but not all.

The messages included:

• “We are under siege here at the Capitol.”
• “They have breached the Capitol. 
• “Mark, protesters are literally storming the Capitol, breaking windows on doors, rushing in. Is Trump going to say something?”
• “There's an armed standoff at the House chamber door.”
• “We are all helpless," someone from inside the Capitol wrote.

Punchbowl News’ Jake Sherman admitted on Twitter on Tuesday morning that he sent at least some of those texts. He said Meadows never responded to him. 

Cheney also revealed that three Fox News personalities also texted Meadows. 

“Mark, the president needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home,” wrote Laura Ingraham. “This is hurting all of us. He is destroying his legacy.”

“Please, get him on TV. Destroying everything you have accomplished,” Brian Kilmeade wrote. 

“Can he make a statement?” texted Sean Hannity. “Ask people to leave the Capitol.”

In the months since the assault on the Capitol, Fox News hosts have sought to downplay the events of Jan. 6, including Ingraham who said on her show hours later that “there are some reports that antifa sympathizers may have been sprinkled throughout the crowd.” 

During a House Rules Committee hearing on Tuesday morning, committee chair Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said it was "notable" that "there has been zero mentions on Fox News of their hosts’ texts to Mark Meadows" since the start of their meeting.

"Not one," McGovern added.

Texts from unnamed Trump administration officials, according to Cheney, told Meadows:

• “Mark, he needs to stop this now.”
• “TELL THEM TO GO HOME.”
• “POTUS needs to calm this s*** down.”

Donald Trump Jr. texted Meadows “again and again” on Jan. 6, Cheney said.

“He’s got to condemn this s*** ASAP,” the president’s son wrote. “The Capitol Police tweet is not enough.”

Meadows responded: “I’m pushing it hard. I agree.”

Later, Trump Jr. texted again: “We need an Oval Office address. He has to lead now. It has gone too far and gotten out of hand.”

More than three hours passed between the time the pro-Trump mob breached the Capitol and Trump tweeted a video saying, “Go home. We love you. You’re very special.”

“These text messages leave no doubt the White House knew what was happening at the Capitol,” Cheney said. 

“These non-privileged texts are further evidence of President Trump's supreme dereliction of duty during those 187 minutes,” she added. “And Mr. Meadows, his testimony will bear on another key question before this committee: Did Donald Trump, through action or inaction, corruptly seek to obstruct or impede Congress' official proceedings to count electoral votes?”

Dr. Casey Burgat, director of the legislative affairs program at George Washington University, said the text messages are valuable because of the unique position Meadows held at the time.

"He is the closest to the president, given his job," Burgat told Spectrum News. "He was kind of that intermediary to tell us the all important questions of: Who knew what? When?" 

Committee member Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., also read three other messages sent by members of Congress to Meadows — one from before Jan. 6, one during and one the day after. He said their names are being withheld because of the ongoing investigation.

In the days before the attack, one lawmaker wrote: “On January 6, 2021, Vice President Mike Pence, as President of the Senate, should call out all electoral votes that he believes are unconstitutional as no electoral votes at all.”

Said Schiff of the text: “You can see why this is so critical to ask Mr. Meadows about about a lawmaker suggesting that the former vice president simply throw out votes that he unilaterally deems unconstitutional in order to overturn a presidential election and subvert the will of the American people.”

Another message sent to Meadows during the Capitol riot echoed the tone of the texts Cheney read: "The President needs to stop this ASAP."

In another message Schiff read, a congressional member wrote on Jan. 7 to Meadows: “Yesterday was a terrible day. We tried everything we could in our objection to the six states. I'm sorry nothing worked.”

Schiff called the message “chilling.” 

“The day after a failed attempt to stop the peaceful transfer of power through violence, an elected lawmaker tells the White House chief of staff, ‘I'm sorry nothing worked,’” Schiff said. “That is chilling. We would like to ask Mr. Meadows what he thought about that.”

White House press secretary Jen Psaki responded to the revelations during a Tuesday press conference, saying the administration was not surprised by the new details. 

“It's disappointing, and unfortunately not surprising, that some of the very same individuals who were willing to warn, condemn and express horror over what happened on January 6 in private [...] were totally silent in public,” Psaki said, adding: “Or even worse, were spreading lies and conspiracy theories and continue to since that time.”

When asked if the White House believes Meadows should be prosecuted for his alleged role in the Jan. 6 riot, Psaki said: “We’ll leave that to the Department of Justice.”

When asked if he personally contacted Meadows on Jan. 6, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said that he did not, but added that it "will be interesting to reveal all the participants who were involved."

"I was not," McConnell said about contacting to Meadows, adding: "But I do think we're all watching, as you are, what is unfolding on the House side, and it will be interesting to reveal all the participants who were involved."