Fox & Friends host blasts Trump for opening Waco rally with J6 choir song: ‘Insane, absolutely awful’

Donald Trump is once again proving to be too much for Fox News’s hosts to defend after opening his rally in Waco, Texas, with a song performed by participants of the January 6 attack on Congress.

Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade laid into the former president on Monday after the moment in question occurred over the weekend.

Mr Trump "opened up with a January 6 video, which is insane,” Kilmeade remarked. “He should be running from that, period.”

He added: “I thought that was absolutely awful."

The song which opened the Saturday rally in Waco was created by a group of rioters charged for their actions in the January 6 attack; the lyrics are a version of The Star-Spangled Banner overlaid with audio of Donald Trump reciting the pledge of allegiance.

The piece has been viewed as a nod to the crowd responsible for maiming police officers in and around the US Capitol and storming the halls of Congress on a violent hunt for US lawmakers.

Proceeds from downloads of the music are being used by conservative activist Ed Henry to raise funds for the legal defences of January 6 defendants.

The location of his rally itself may have been another nod to that faction of Americans; Waco is famously the site of an armed standoff between a religious cult known as the Branch Davidians and federal authorities which ended in a fire killing dozens of cultists.

Mr Trump has pledged to pardon some or all defendants in cases related to the January 6 insurrection should he become president once more in 2024. The Department of Justice has charged more than 1,000 persons with crimes resulting from the attack on the Capitol.