'We're all helpless': Congressional reporter Jake Sherman says Mark Meadows didn't reply to his texts during the Capitol riot

• Some of the Jan. 6 texts read aloud by Rep. Liz Cheney were done anonymously.
• One of those in correspondence with then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows came forward.

One of the most jarring text message exchanges with former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows was read by Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming at Monday night's Jan. 6 committee meeting.

Lawmakers on the committee were meeting for a vote to hold Meadows in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena. Before kicking the vote up to the full House, Cheney read a number of messages Meadows received as the Capitol siege was unfolding.

"We're all helpless," she read from one text exchange.

"This thread stuck out to me," Punchbowl News founder Jake Sherman tweeted Tuesday morning. "That's because they were my texts to Meadows."

—Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) December 14, 2021

"Here they are from my phone," Sherman sad. "Anyway, I'm sure it will come out that this was me. Seems impossible that it will stay a secret. So out of transparency, here it is. I got no response, for what it is worth. And that's the end of the conversation."

In another message, Meadows wrote, "Do something for us. We are under siege in the capitol."

A longtime Capitol Hill reporter and former co-author of Politico Playbook, Sherman established himself as one of the most authoritative Congressional reporters with his investigation into former Rep. Aaron Schock. Sherman's reporting eventually led to Schock's resignation.