I am a bit amazed that anyone cares what Sean Hannity thinks or says. Hannity is a college sophomore dropout. But at least he got further than Rush Limbaugh, who flunked out his freshman year.
8
I'm baffled that one comment has received one of the only four gold stars awarded by the NYT. It's one thing to highlight an opposing point of view, quite another to highlight a comment that contains demonstrably incorrect facts.
It is well established and widely known that the DOJ Russia investigation has nothing to with the DOJ Cohen investigation.
The former investigation is headed up by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who reports to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. The latter is being conducted by the Public Corruption Unit in the Criminal Investigations section of the Southern District of New York of the Department of Justice, headed up by Deputy US District Attorney Robert S. Khuzami, whose regular boss is ad interim US Attorney Geoffrey Berman, appointed by Sessions at Trump's behest. For reasons unknown, Berman has recused himself from the Cohen investigation.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/15/nyregion/independent-new-york-prosecu...
8
fast talking Hannity.. In the end is he a client of Mr. cohen's or not?... apparently yes but not in the traditional way...LOL...so it looked like a no!!!! Didn t Hannity realize Cohen was giving him cover so they could claim attorney-client privilege?? don t worry they just can t listen to the,real estate chatter...but, watch out the other stuff will be enough, and it won t be about Bunnies.
6
The delights of schadenfreude.
7
Let's use some Trump logic with this client list of Michael Cohen, Donald Trump's lawyer and fixer.
Michael said he had 3 major clients, Donald Trump who he paid off the porn star Stormy Daniels for $130,000, and then there is this RNC fund raiser who knocked up a playboy playmate and negotiated a 1.6 million dollars payment to her, now comes the third client whose name was not released until the judge forced them to and low and behold it's Sean Hannity.
Now, using Trump logic Cohen must have paid off some other woman a large sum of money for silence for something Sean Hannity did, I mean that's the way Trump usually makes accusations.
5
The Fox is now guarding the colluders. FOX NEWS COLLUDING WITH THE COLLUDERS.
13
Fox News is colluding with the colluders. That's why I am a subscriber to all REAL news outlets, including the NY Times. Keep up the honesty NYT.
16
Well said--
7
At the trial, neither Cohen nor his lawyers depicted Sean Hannity as an acquaintance or buddy or pal in their court documents.
Hannity was specifically named as the third client. And thrown under the bus.
There is no loyalty in Trump World, as big meanie wise guy cretin Sean quickly discovered. They all deserve each other. Everyone now suspects Sean fathered a son and someone was paid off.
3
These are the public air waves we're talking about. They belong to the people, not to the polemicists, the profiteers, and their stooges. When blatant conflicts of interest are taken for granted, corruption has become the norm. Trump, Cohen, Hannity--it's like a vaudeville routine. These people! How in the world did this ever occur in the United States?
11
This is getting hilarious. That Michael Cohen is a real card, as the Brits would say.
I already got told off once before for trying to gently point people in the right direction, but let me try one last time.
There is absolutely nothing which Sean Hannity cannot explain away to his flock in all this. Fox has already forgiven him. He can just say that he forgot all about Michael Cohen being his lawyer because it was some really petty work for which he paid nothing or ten dollars maybe.
"Is that a big deal, folks?" he asks.
"No!" Roar the faithful.
That is it. As for the rest of you, he really doesn't care a hang.
On the other hand, if he had actually done something serious, like a paternity claim, and Mr. Cohen is covering up for him, he would have to be really stupid to disown his attorney now. The wretched documents would be in Judge Wood's safe.
The simplest explanation is that Mike Cohen is NOT his lawyer. Mr. Cohen is trying to divert a lot of people's attention and because they hate Sean Hannity so much, this is working. At the court later, he will simply confirm that he was advising Mr. Hannity on real estate. No records, it was all over the phone, you see.
The real question is what Mr. Cohen may be deflecting attention from. The answer is obvious but I guess people are so hung up on finding big time criminality that they can't see this scam.
1
Trump is becoming the new "Gulliver" felled with a thousand strings by the "little people".
6
Named as a Client?
While I find Hannity a poor journalist and hardly a sympathetic character; I am slower to judge than the NY Times. If he just got 'free advice' on some real estate deals, he barely meets the definition of a 'client'.
And three NY Times reporters to write this article about 'much ado about nothing' is truly pathetic.
We can only hope that Mr. Hannity has more to hide than real estate deals...
1
Gee, for a change, someone seems to be lying here. Every professional person knows that you don't call a "client" a friend you give free legal advice about real estate over cocktails. A client is someone who pays you for specified services. Since the Feds are looking at Mr. Cohen's private papers and he has claimed Mr. Hannity as one of his handful of clients, my money is on Mr. Hannity as the liar. Also, the comment was made by Cohen's lawyer that this client (Hannity) might be embarrassed by being identified. Mr. Hannity has no shame, so that is doubtful when considering his position as an independent journalist. He has already publicly stated that he is a good friend of Mr. Cohen so...what could be the cause of embarrassment? Methinks Mr. Cohen has fixed something for Mr. Hannity in a very Republican way.
10
Hannity said this revelation is proof that the Mueller investigation has gone off the tracks.
Wait... what?!
This revelation didn't come from Mueller. It came from an attorney for Trump's attorney.
These idiots have arranged themselves in a circular firing squad and are blaming others.
9
Hannity had a conflict of interest from day one of Trump's candidacy. Hannity hasn't shown an inch of daylight between himself and Trump. He even thinks he is a peer of Trump. Even though he is nothing more than a loyal lapdog that Trump throws a bone his away with 'exclusive' interviews with softball questions. With Cohen becoming an ever increasing liability who will turn first on each other?
9
A conflict of interest as large as Trump's ego. This is not normal. This is not normal. This is not normal. Please, this is not normal.
9
I am truly astonish that not one news organization I know of has picked up on the likely felonious behavior of Sean Hannity. If you are a NY Times reporter you have to be careful about libel, and if someone pays you to report something, journalistic standards require you to disclose it. HOWEVER: If you are on the air over an FCC licensed radio or TV station (Hannity is on multiple radio stations 5 days a week) and you receive consideration for airing something and do not disclose this fact at the time, you have just violated federal law and can both be fined $10,000 and sent to prison for a year. Hannity received free legal advice from Cohen. Hannity praises Cohen on the air. Hannity never disclosed on the radio receiving legal advice of value free. One can logically assume that Cohen does not normally give out free legal advice, particularly to someone unfriendly to him. Was their a quid pro quo? Maybe,maybe not. Even if Hannity felt obligated to give Cohen good press. . .No on air disclosure, big time felony.
It is called payola.
It is right under the Press's noses.
24
We don't know what, if anything, Hannity received from Cohen. If legal advice or services were provided, there is room to question the positive or negative value of such in light of the apparent negligence that went into the Denny Dennison non-disclosure agreement that seems likely to be unenforceable. On the other hand, Hannity mentioned real estate advice, which could indicate that he joined Cohen in investing in Trump real estate. That could lead to all sorts of pitfalls for everyone involved. But for now, we just don't know.
3
Yes, I smell a rat. Hannity - to use his own word - sold his perspective. I hope the authorities are looking into this.
5
Can America get any more bizarre ?
24
Here's my take. 1) Trump craves for praise. 2) Hannity is already head over feet with Trump well before his campaign. Trump love it so much that he "hires" Sean Hannity to praise him and more on Fox. 3) Cohen is the intermediary between Trump and Hannity to pay him discretely. Voilà! The link between THC.
16
Exactly, and how does he pay him? Maybe trump tower apartment? Hence, the discussions were about ‘real estate’.
8
Hannity probably didn't pay legal fees just as he said.
That FREE LEGAL ADVICE he received was HIS REWARD for all of the "free" advertising he and his show regularly donated to HIS and his buddy Donald Trump's divisive right-wing causes.
This is getting better and better.
31
Fox news, schmuse. So much for that network's claim of being a real news organization. It's flagship buffoonish opinion-maker doesn't reveal his connections to Trump's henchmen. Suggests he's part of Trump and Cohen's web of lies.
The layers on this onion are just beginning to be peeled away. Could Hannity have been involved in the various nefarious activities on Cohen's to-do lists beginning in 2016 or earlier--including payoffs to Russian Trump enablers? As they say in TV land, "Stay tuned."
19
I lost the link someone posted below but the article by a Mr Schindler, January 2018 in the Observer informs us that Mr Hannity is good buddies with Julian Assange, it also tells us that the Russian Lawyer who was only talking to Manafort, Kushner, Don Jr and the rest about adoption is in fact an operative of Russian Intelligence. This was shown by her convincing a Swiss investigator into Russian mob money in Swiss banks to travel to Moscow in secret. Once there she tried to recruit him as an inside man for the Russians. He had been explicitly told not to go to Russia by his bosses. He was fired.
7
You're correct, magicisnotreal, this should be widely published for citizens to read: John R. Schindler, Observer, 1/30/18
https://observer.com/2018/01/sanctions-nunes-memo-reveal-donald-trump-se...
4
The last paragraph of E.C. Scherer's link to the John R. Schindlerl article on this "Observer" web page reads as follows:
"Hannity is a propagandist, not a journalist, by his own admission, but if he has served as a witting conduit for lies crafted by Russian spies, Fox News needs to explain why they are airing Kremlin Active Measures aimed at the American public and calling it “news.” Intelligence Community friends have told me that Sean Hannity has been under counterintelligence investigation for some time, based on his clandestine ties to Moscow. Now we know why."
Is the N.Y. Times investigating this claim? It would seem to make everything come full circle for a Russia/Trump connection, if it's true.
4
Fox News is concerned about one thing - profit. They care not one iota about journalistic integrity, the rule of law or being "fair and balanced." Only about money. As evidenced by their numerous payouts for illegal sexual behavior of Roger Ailes and Bill O'Reilly and other staff; how they treat women in their network, the absolute asymmetrical coverage given to President Obama vs. President Trump and now - Sean Hannity. The network does not disseminate news, but propaganda - plain and simple. The FCC should bar them for their lies, their slander and the promotion of conspiracy theories detrimental to the public's good. But of course they won't because Trump, his cabinet secretaries and political govt. appointees and of course Fox personalities ARE the swamp that's sinking America. I'm sure Sean Hannity is as without shame as Michael Cohen and Roger Stone. They are all in a race to the bottom with President Trump in the lead. Sadly, they're taking our nation down with them.
20
I guess we now know what FOX and Friends mean by a "deep state" out to get Trump and Friends: a.k.a. democracy in action, holding people to the rule of law.
18
Every journalism school in the country should get up a petition, signed by every student and faculty member, demanding that Hannity be fired for a gross breech of journalistic ethics, and send it to Fox news.
24
Fox news is a joke. Who knew?
24
The President of the United States at war with his FBI and Justice Department.
Putin is getting a very good return on his investment.
17
Hannity: "I never retained him, received an invoice, or paid legal fees."
He didn't pay *legal* fees, but ... did he pay fees?
21
Do we know what Cohen did for Hannity?
Might it be another hush payoff?
11
And will it amount to payola?? Felony on Hannity's part if broadcast radio aired things Hannity said for favors and didn't disclose.
6
Cohen didn’t have to do anything. He just had to act as a conduit to shield communications between Trump and Hannity. They were all dumb enough to think the attorney client privilege would apply.
3
So last week it was all Zuckerberg why did you let the Republicans steal everybody's personal information. (When the Obama Dems did it they called it innovative) Now their all for releasing any information (Republican only) that they find from Cohen. So now Republicans can't talk to their lawyers for fear of that information being made public. Before they were targets of the IRS Now the FBI Wonder how the Dems would react if the shoe was on the other foot. Are you really ok with the Hannity information being released? I don't see why they felt compelled to release it. I just looks like weak political bias from an entity that should never be so.
2
Why, perhaps it's you who are biased. Why should the judge be biased? If she was biased in demanding the release of Hannity's name as a client, then we must presume the Republican tilted Supreme Court is entirely and always biased toward Republican goals. Indeed, all courts are always biased one way or the other toward political parties and their goals. sure, this occurs but we must have trust that judges and the courts uphold the law for the most part.
14
I’m having a hard time figuring out why I should care if Hannity was a client, friend or drinking buddy of Cohen’s. What possible difference can that make upon the issue at hand - Russian interference in our electoral process and possible collusion by America’s citizens?
6
It makes no difference at all, David. It's just more political noise...
1
David-
That's a ridiculous thing to say.
Why are you people so unbelievably dim?
That's like saying "what does this unpaid parking ticket have to do with the Son of Sam murders?"
15
What Hannity says is the very definition of "fake news"/propaganda. Who ya' gonna trust if not Fox News?
4
Hannity, Cohen and Trump have several things in common beyond arch-conservative political radicalism: They are all arrogant narcissists, they are all bombastic, and they are all bullies. As Jimmy Cliff sang, "the harder they come, the harder they fall, one and all."
25
Tit-for-Tat for a trio of idiot brats!!
They make a handsome threesome: Trump. Cohen, and Hannity.
What I DO NOT want my children to be!!
15
Once again, the question arises -- why did they try so hard to hide this fact? there are two possibilities. One is that they are just so stupid that they make stupid and unnecessary mistakes. The other is that there is a very good reason why they would not want to have any sunlight on this relationship between trump and hannity.
23
I am going to start contacting Humanity's sponsors and boycotting them. Who is with me?
26
Dang spell check. UGH. HANNITY not humanity. Egads
1
If Hannity didn't pay for legal services, how is he a client? If I ask an accountant a tax question at a party and don't pay for his advice, am I now a client? No. Yet, the court seems to think he is a client. The court must have some basis for that. Someone is not telling the truth. Which of them do you think that would be?
19
Uhh, if you were following the story, you would know, Cohen's lawyer claimed Hannity was a client, not the court. And likely did so because Cohen wants to claim client privilege regarding some damaging information about Hannity in the documents.
20
Please, Andrew. If you ever watched a single edition of Hannity's show you would know he is a chronic liar. He picks up what Trump sez and amplifies it. When he sez he is not a client and his attorney sez he is, Hannity is lying, that is what he does to a faithful audience that believes the world is flat, every scientist in the world is lying about climate change and the moon really is green cheese, all for a measly $36 million per year. C'mon, Andrew, why do you ask who is lying? All of them are.
11
Cohen seems to be the nexus between Trump and Russia. The Cohen-Hannity affair suggests two questions:
1. Is Fox News literally a Russian troll farm. Or,
2. Does it just play one on TV?
38
We have more than one foreign nation to worry about.
I can't figure out why this is an issue. Is there a problem with him being Hannity's attorney? Why do we care?
5
It is an issue because reporters are supposed to disclose potential sources of personal / corporate bias. For example, if a reporter's wife works for Amazon, and that reporter is reporting on work conditions at Amazon warehouses, the reporter will often disclose that information during their report. NPR commonly does this: for example they will disclose on the air if they are reporting on a company who donates to / advertises with them.
15
Cohen wants to claim client privilege regarding damaging information about hannity in the documents. He is hoping to keep them from the court, but these fools already gave up their ruse. As Hannity points out , he's not a client, but he may have handed Cohen $10 for client privilege. Fools.
10
You don't think that relationship would affect his news coverage? You don't think such blatant conflicts of interest shouldn't be revealed?
5
I wonder if Fox has retained fulltime counsel for internal corporate investigations.
13
I don’t think Hannity was a client in the usual sense. I think Trump and Cohen collaboratively decided what topic Hannity would be focused on and then the talking monkey would perform. Later on the talking monkey would fly down to Mar-a-Lago personally to get his marching orders. But early on it would have been Trump telling Michael Cohen and then Michael Cohen telling Hannity what to do.
Even better would be a tape of Trump telling Cohen “we want to go after Mueller, he is a disgrace to our justice system” and then cut to Hannity, the performing monkey rendering the message word for word.
32
Bingo.
8
"Real Estate" is an euphemism for laundering Russian rubles.
Trump bought a Florida property for $41 million, and sold it a year or two later to a Russian oligarch for $95 million -- money laundering/bribery. Of course Russia has plenty on Trump and his confederates.
48
Last year there were a number of articles about Sean Hannity trying to lure a female fox “news” contributor back to his hotel room. She referred to him as creepy and rejected his advances. Since, the legal work Cohen did for Broidy and Trump was the creation of NDAs it’s reasonable to assume that’s what he was doing for the “embarrassed” Hannity. Fox would be wise to find out if Hannity is a party to ANY NDAs before someone else does.
22
If Fox wants to keep any pretense of being a legitimate news source they need to censure Hannity for blatantly omitting his relationship with Cohen
18
Your question omits a question mark and well it should as FOX has no pretense of being legitimate in any sense of the word. It is a moron's enterprise directed at attracting and appealing to simpletons and cretins.
27
when is Alex Jones going to get a news show on Fox?
16
First Bill-O and now Hannity.
Keith Olbermann must think he died and gone to heaven!
21
I doubt, as some speculate, that money passed from Trump to Hannity. Deals are another story. I think that these guys use the "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine" currency. They are most like ants and aphids. Symbiotic.
10
If Hannity is telling the truth that his consultations with Cohen were few, brief and occurred in the context of a casual conversation, and not a formal meeting by appointment for an allotted length of time, and Cohen never charged Hannity or invoiced Hannity or signed a lawyer-client contract with Hannity, then it is unlikely that Cohen has any written documents about what he and Hannity talked about.
If Cohen talked to Hannity off the air for a few minutes when he made a tv or radio appearance, or at a restaurant, a political rally, a sporting event, or on the golf course, then it's doubtful Cohen has any written record of such conversation.
So unless Cohen secretly recorded his phone or in-person conversations with Hannity, I don't think Cohen has any records to give the prosecutors.
Also, is it possible that Hannity is the only person that Cohen had a brief,
informal, uncompensated conversation with about legal matters in the last few years? No such conversation with friends, acquaintances or relatives?
2
I suppose there might be some text messages or emails between them that the government might be able to obtain.
3
The point of this whole fiasco is that Cohen wants to conceal info regarding Hannity. That's why HE is claiming Hannity is a client despite the protestations of the latter.
9
It is just a matter of time before judge pirro shows up in this tangled web.
The worst of us tend to stick together!
It is true, everything that DJT touches dies!
10
What is the big deal here? All the dishonest media people are going crazy. Pathetic.
4
Next thing you know Sam they'll be hassling business owners for branding their employees. Isn't this a free country? If you can't buy and sell loyalty what can you trust?
8
the question is why they are trying so hard to hide what would appear to be no big deal. Any normal person would have made a full disclosure months ago. Maybe it is a bigger deal that you think.
7
You are missing the point. Cohen is claiming Hannity is a client in an effort to conceal damaging info, but Hannity already blew the ruse. These guys are idiots.
8
TrumpNation sleeps sweetly now....sleeps softly in the sleep of the just...but, far to sea and below.... a great wave is moving... shifting in deep waters toward a distant shore...and soon....do they wake or do they dream?
10
Look at the grammar: In the video that accompanies this article, Hannity says to Michael Cohen, "I'd hire you as my lawyer."
"I would hire you" ... note Hannity's use of the future conditional. That sentence doesn't make sense (or is a lie) if Cohen had already been hired.
7
Hannity states his interactions with Cohen were "MOSTLY" about real estate questions/advice... Doesn't this sound all too familiar? ... Like Don Jr. stating to the world his meeting with the Russians at Trump Tower during the campaign was "MOSTLY" about Russian adoptions, which turned out to be nothing short of a big fat lie to no surprise. What's Hannity hiding and no telling us?
17
Cohen and Cohen's lawyer should know better than to disclose the name of a client (Hannity) in open court. Did they both sleep through the class regarding filing information under seal? Pretty basic. Not even Hannity deserves to be outed publicly regardless of whether he "retained" Cohen's services. Amateur hour at the Mother Court.
2
Top three easiest jobs in the US right now:
1. Punter for the New England Patriots
2. Federal prosecutor in the Manhattan office ( with cohen files)
3. Writer for SNL (This stuff just writes itself)
14
Hannity never retained Cohen in the traditional sense of the word but rather in the non-traditional sense... what exactly is that? so that means,he thinks he indeed retained him.
forget traditional and non traditional and think legal and non-legal definitions... and in this case throw in illegal.
Hannity is clever with his words and expert in spinning alternative truths.
10
Sadly, Hannity's failure to divulge his conflict of interest to his audience is the least of his ongoing crimes against the nation. Unfortunately, now that they know, 99% of his audience probably won't even give it a second thought.
10
Sean Hannity is appears to be confirming that he gave Michael Cohen $10.00 to establish client confidentiality in his dealings with the erstwhile barrister. Well, at least we now know Cohen's fee structure: $10-Bucks an hour! Given Cohen's demonstrated legal skills that seems a bit high...
16
How long before Fox News has to fire Sean Hannity because he is now down in the Trump muck?
3
My personal opinion is - he should have disclosed (or mentioned) his relationship with Cohen while addressing his viewers on FOX during his session discussing FBI raid at Cohen's office. I feel, if Cohen had only 3 clients, then Sean would have had definitely more discussions than just talking about real estate. But that is just my personal perspective. The most interesting thing I found yesterday when he explained his viewers about his relationship with Cohen. Almost for the entire hour, he kept on saying it is coming next before the commercial break. He started addressing the topic at 58th minute. Made mockery of CNN and MSNBC of discussing his name over and over again for 90 seconds. The last 30 seconds he said he has no business relationship with Cohen and handed the show to Laura. Clearly, he was not coming clean. The thing that amazes me is - how can a person like him keeps pretending business as usual when he must be having sleepless nights since the raid at Michael Cohen's office....
13
To make hay while the sun shines...
4
If Sean Hannity is a journalist, his obligation is to his viewers, meaning he must divulge conflicts of interest. It's journalism ethics 101.
Even if he's not a "journalist" as he's fond of saying, his brand of "advocacy" should be rooted in sound arguments. Such a conflict of interest compromises his ability to offer up said arguments based on facts rather than personal predilections. (Of course, he was already "fact impaired" before this, and hence his arguments less then sound.)
Bottom line: No matter what your politics, Hannity is not a good source of information nor a good source of legitimate debate. He's a mouthpiece for Trump. If they want to actually be informed, conservatives should look elsewhere for their information.
15
Well, Hannity has always maintained clearly he is not a journalist. I am not sure what he is except an entertainer for the conservative base and of course, he brings his own biases to his show. So? So take Walter Cronkite, "the most trusted man in America" (if you remember) who was basically a shill for NASA (they even gave him an award). We all have our biases...perhaps (should i say it?) including the NY Times. But giving Cronkite his due and he title, does anyone or any media today deserve to be named "most trusted"? I guess it depends upon your biases.
Shill for NASA? Come on Mark. Please don't ever mention Cronkite and Hannity in the same context or sentence. One's a buffoon while the other is revered. I'll let you decide who that is.
1
Well,well, look at what the cat dragged in! Whodda thunk and all the cliches!
15
What I find amazing is the way Trump, Hannity and many others simply change the story attacking the victims (women who are sexually attacked), investigators who are doing their jobs, and dreamers & immigrants (screaming chain migration). And there's the nauseating whataboutism such as Hillary's emails and Benghazi. And so many disciples regurgitate these talking points making productive dialogue between those with different points of views impossible.
24
Never listen to anyone with different points of view. It will only confuse you and possibly give you a different point of view.
3
In regards to Hannity: Lock him up! Lock him up!
24
Maybe Hannity isn't a client of Cohen's. Maybe Trump is a client of Hannity's. Maybe Hannity's cheerleading for Trump amounts to services rendered. Cohen handles the payment. Maybe.
7
My speculation is that Cohen is how Trumo passed along Russian propaganda and Trump’s policy with Russia. That is why they all need privilege for what was not a legal consultation.
8
*ugh* It’s absolutely revolting to hear his viewership has increased by that much. Yuck.
16
Cohen appears to be a "fixer" whose specialty is covering up sex scandals. Might this be another moral scold about to be exposed?
10
So if hannity states publicly that cohen is not his attorney and the feds find otherwise is that the equivalent to lying to federal authorities?
The judge asked for the third and final unknown client and the cohen team indicated it is hannity.
Hannity said no it isn’t! (except for some real estate advice.)
What if the Feds uncover physical evidence to the contrary, has he perjured himself?
Move over Bill O’ Reilly.... there’s another Fox anchor about to be put on the shelf.
7
Fox is not news. Fox is entertainment. Hannity is not a journalist. Hannity is an entertainer. Sadly the one person we would expect to know the difference is the one person who hasn't got a strategy, an even temperament or a clue. He needs to take his "really good brain" out of that jar by the door, pull that comb-over to one side and and insert it into that really, really big head. C'mon Melania hide his remote!
15
Did Cohen hire Hannity?
7
This is easy to solve. Put Hannity under oath before a grand jury and question him. I'm all for Hannity getting what's coming to him for all the damage and outright lying he's done to damage the minds and pollute the discourse of this country. If he has done anything remotely illegal the remedy is simple. Charge him. Convict him. Cuff him. Stuff him. Lock him up! And let the further destruction of Fox "News" continue.
12
“But I want to say one thing to the American people. I want you to listen to me. I'm going to say this again: I did not have legal relations with that man, Mr. Cohen. I never told anybody to lie. Not a single time. Never. These allegations are false. And I need to go back to work for the American people dumb enough to take Fox News seriously”.
10
It smells to high heaven that journalist avidly-pro-Trump Hannity has the same lawyer as Trump himself, our President of the USA. Hannity has something to worry about.
6
Is it President Trump who is giving Hannity his tremendous advantage with Fox "News" viewers by feeding Hannity a special, select Trump flow of nonsense and lies?
15
If, as I suspect, the FBI took possessions of tapes of conversations between Hannity and Cohen, I think Cohen wanted Hannity to join him and claim that the conversations were between attorney and client and should be excluded from the FBI investigation completely, that is, not reviewed at all by anyone. Either Hannity didn't get the memo or doesn't want to appear to be lying to the court. so he denied that he is Cohen's client, because he's not. What Cohen wants to hide from the FBI is that those tapes are evidence that Cohen and Trump were directing Hannity's statements and coordinating with Hannity to help elect Trump president. Thats illegal, unless Trump reported the millions of dollars of free campaign media advertising that he he got from Hannity and FOX News on his campaign donation disclosure forms.
29
Lawyers have two different confidentiality areas
1. what we thing of as attorney client privilege. the client comes to lawyer for legal work. ie will you draft this purchase and finance agreement for the building.
2. general confidentiality. Client says in passing I think I would like to buy a building in downtown. or I might see about what they want for that building.
1
There is only one issue here and that is the SDNY and Judge Wood were wrong to demand the public identification of Sean Hannity. See SDNY alum and National Review editor, Andrew McCarthy's column here - https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/04/michael-cohen-raid-least-of-his-p.... As McCarthy states, "...it was inappropriate for the court to order him outed as a Cohen client. I think the SDNY and Judge Wood will come to regret that things were done this way (certainly, the SDNY wants to continue arguing for confidentiality when it suits the government’s investigative interests). And I’m confident that the media would be reporting with umbrage rather than glee if a liberal commentator were needlessly outed as the client of a lawyer under criminal investigation." Is it any wonder that Trumpsters and conservatives think all of this is a witch hunt? It just might be because it increasing is starting to look like one. There better be something serious on Cohen or this will look more and more like another version of that Carter Page surveillance ... well let's call it out for what is .... a scandal. Things are starting to look desperate and bad down there, and not just for Trump. Rights are being trampled all over the place by the state. Sorry days in the Land of the Free.
1
oh geez. no. Cohen kept records of these "no big deal" conversations and THAT means there is more to the story. You can call it a witch hunt but it smells to high heaven that journalist pro-Trump Hannity has the same lawyer as Trump president of the USA. David honestly be careful of the federal govt that you wish for because it sounds like a fascist govt to me where the rulers and the media are holding hands.
12
Yes! The wannabe pres is stomping all over peoples rights. Now these CRIMINALS masquerading as attorneys are in full display. Get used to having your feelings hurt by JUSTICE. It’s about time.
4
The National Review. Really?
Are we suppose dot think this is cutting-edge, unbiased journalism?
Try harder next time.
2
Apparently, Hannity consulted with Cohen enough to generate documents to be seized, but Hannity says he never paid Cohen. How do we explain that?
One possibility: Cohen was working for Hannity for free, or with the expectation that Trump would pay him.
Hannity is Trump's most loyal media person and Cohen knows Trump would want Hannity to tell Cohen his personal information and then get something without paying.
Cohen may not be the best lawyer, but he knows how to cultivate Hannity: legal or other advice for no charge. Would anyone put it past Hannity to accept a gratuity for his hard work for Trump?
19
It makes no sense to work for free when a buck would have kicked in the attorney/client privilege....
Fake news collusion!!!!!
One more alligator in the swamp.
My guess is that Trump has been paying Hannity to say good things about him and to promote whatever ideas Mr. Trump wants promoted. My guess is that this verbal agreement began during the campaign and Hannity did such a good job of influencing people to vote for Trump, that the president kept him on the payroll to keep bolstering Trump's image to the Fox audience. Mr. Cohen would have been the go-between with no formal documentation needed.
27
Sean Hannity has perfect USA politician hair.
10
When you have friends who are lawyers you ask them for free legal advice and often help you for free (I know I have). When you have doctors friends you ask them for free medical advice, What's the big deal. Hannity said on air he was friends with Cohen.
2
The issue is the word "Documents". The attorneys for Cohen wanted the judge to prevent the prosecutors from reviewing key documents that were seized in last week's raid. The judge asked for the names of the clients of Cohen to whom these documents pertain. It was at that point that Cohen's attorney revealed Hannity's name. So, if as you say, Hannity simply discussed casual legal matters with Cohen then why did Cohen a) have documents that he believes are protected by attorney/client privilege and b) try to keep the investigators from reviewing these?
I'm sorry but there is more here than just casual advice about real estate.
22
The big deal is that Cohen kept records of these "no big deal" conversations, and his lawyers specifically referred to Hannity as a client who wanted to remain anonymous.
27
well as a lawyer I can tell you two things
1. Doctors don't give out free advice other than to consult a doctor or don't worry.
2. Lawyer do not keep files on free advice.
29
"I never retained him in the traditional sense as retaining a lawyer. I never received an invoice from Michael [Cohen]. I never paid fees to Michael but I have occasionally had brief discussions with him about legal questions...assume that those conversations were attorney-client confidential." There was an occasion when a friend of mine, an attorney, asked a perspective client to give him a "dollar or quarter". Afterward, he stated, "Okay, now everything you tell me is considered attorney-client confidential." Since no fees were exchanged between Michael Cohen and Sean Hannity, doesn't that make Sean's assumption absurd?
11
No. It is not uncommon — believe it or not— for a person to speak with a lawyer, receive advice and not be billed...
This makes no sense at all. I am no fan of Sean Hannity. However, why would he go to such lengths to hide the fact that Mr. Cohen was his lawyer on matters pertaining to real estate? Unless he was trying to sell the Brooklyn bridge, what is there to conceal about this? Mr. Cohen's lawyer made the interesting claim before revealing his name that the third client was worried about the "notoriety of a search warrant". That fits Mr. Hannity, right?
Curiously, Mr. Ryan, while in the act of handing over an envelope with the client's name in it to the Judge Wood, stopped himself and announced it in the crowded court instead. This looks like a typical diversion usually used by Mr. Cohen. Throwing red meat to the media so that they go off on a false scent. The proper thing to do if you want to maintain your client's privacy is to hand over all the details to the judge and ask if the name cannot be kept confidential since that client has no connection with the matter in hand.
I can believe one of two things. Either Mr. Hannity needed legal assistance for far more serious charges (and is denial mode now) or Mr. Cohen is deliberately trying to create a false narrative. This could be to conceal the real identity of the third client or maybe there is no such client and he is just trying to muddy waters further.
I feel Mr. Hannity's response rings true. His subsequent absurd statements (such as the ten dollars etc. ) point to a man who is simply confused by friendly fire.
7
Hannity denied this because he doesn’t want to be associated with the debauchery that is Cohens law practice. Go ahead and make up your mind before the facts are in. Thank goodness you’re not on the jury.
2
He says he's not a client, but a friend. He said he referred to Cohen for legal advise. If there is a paper trail, then he must be a client. How else would the FBI know about him? So, his twisting of words in order to talk his way out, or deflect doesn't add up to the facts. It makes for good ratings on the State Run FoxNews Network. "Follow the money." Deep Throat said in 1973. Where does it go or come from for Hannity? This is possibly why he appears so blind in his devotion to the Don and the Don's Capos.
24
I knew it - Hannity and Trump are sleeping together! Too bad he is not as gorgeous as Karen McDougal or as buxom as Stephanie Clifford. If so, he might have been worth another six figures. Better luck after the plastic surgery, Sean.
36
First let's all remember that it was TRUMP'S LAWYER'S LAWYER THAT SAYS HANNITY IS COHEN'S CLIENT, because soon the right will be calling this claim liberal propaganda.
Second, there is a discrepancy between what Cohen claimed through his lawyer and what Hannity claims. Somebody is lying, but we don't know who.
Third maybe HANNITY FANS SHOULD REALIZE THAT THEIR MAIN SOURCE OF NEWS KEEPS SAYING THAT HE IS NOT A JOURNALIST, so that he is not responsible to disclose conflicts of interest, be objective or impartial, or even tell the truth. HANNITY CLAIMS to be an ENTERTAINER, not a source of accurate information. He, like Trump often quotes sources such as, "people are saying," or "I've been told." If you get your news from Hannity, you need some real journalists in your life.
I find it highly likely from my decades of research that our government has been hijacked by the mega rich, the same people the right calls crony capitalists, and that many establishment politicians, like the Clintons and Bushes are helping them undermine our Republic.
Hannity has no problem with the establishment politicians when Republicans start wars, pass tax cuts for the rich or railroad poor people in court, but now that his buddy Trump is trying to keep from being held accountable to the rule of law, suddenly Hannity is helping him with a massive propaganda campaign against Republicans, a disguised attack on the justice department.
Hannity is a propagandist for crony capitalists, including Trump.
29
FOX should simply be called to account before congress, as these are clear FCC violations, but that will never happen.
33
I sincerely hope Hannity didn't hire Cohen to help cover up some kind of romantic dalliance. I would hate to be forced to think about Sean Hannity having sex of any kind with anyone.
54
Best comment of the day.
2
Okay, it really is a which hunt -- as in, "which scandals did Hannity participate in?"
Was Hannity using Cohen to silence a sex scandal? Did he join Cohen in investing in shady real estate deals involving Trump Organization properties? Was he profiting from Cohen's phony taxi business? And/or did Hannity have some other illicit business with Trump’s fixer that he wants to keep hidden?
Fortunately, the FBI and the Special Investigator are on the hunt for answers. Hopefully they will be able to let us know which crimes Hannity is tied to soon.
16
Even if I were to give Hannity the benefit of the doubt, I couldn't believe him. He's never told the truth in his life. Just love this karma thing.
24
Who referred who to whom? How did hannity decide to use Trump's fixer?
6
Perhaps no other "real estate lawyers" in town?!!!!
1
Lord, this is all getting more like House of Cards every day. Stormy Daniels better stay away from the DC Metro for the time being.
12
Like everything else, let's just please calm down and wait to find out what this is about. We have NO idea yet what Hannity had to do with Cohen, this is all speculation. While speculation is fun, it is almost meaningless in this case
4
"let's just please calm down and wait to find out what this is about."
Would Hannity?
4
cohen - hannity link may involve revenue flowing FROM cohen TO hannity to pay for trump point of view.
19
Well. If Cohen is NOT his lawyer, as Hannity maintains, there can be no lawyer-client privilege regarding any communications found. And Cohen is a liar.
If Cohen is Hannity's lawyer, then Hannity is a liar.
Which is it?
20
While this may be so interesting, exactly who benefits by this disclosure?
The judge has demonstrated a problem in her ability to focus on the issues at hand and had no business sharing any info relating to clients outside the investigation. Shame. I thought this sort of thing was covered in law school.
As I recall (and I may be wrong), I think there was some question as to whether Cohen was actually a working attorney, and whether he had any clients other than Trump. I imagine that's why the question was asked. But I don't have the transcript and I wasn't there.
8
The American People do. Without this disclosure, Cohen’s team could pull a host of documents out of review by saying “oh, that’s related to client 3”.
No one, other than his team and Mr Hannity, knew who #3 was. It could have been John Smith. The goal wasn’t to embarrass Hannity. The goal was to ensure that Cohen couldn’t built a wall of cover with an unnamed client.
7
Who benefits from the disclosure? Anyone who listens to Hannity with an open mind because they will now be able to account for his bias.
2
Michael Cohen calls Hannity his client in a court of law but Sean is having none of it. He claims never to have paid Cohen, never to have used his legal services. Which is it? There was some mention of real estate - Cohen does not seem to have expertise in that area. What gives?
Don't tell me, years ago Hannity paid somebody off with a parcel of land?
17
Two words: love nest.
4
Mr Hannity was always "More aligned with the President". Mr Hannity just lacked any sort of journalistic transparency to tell the world that he was that close to Mr Cohen. It should make one wonder what else Mr Hannity is hiding, as well as his employers at Fox "News".
15
The truth be known -- Hannity is a Trump puppet! Fair and Balanced? Fraud and Bias is more like it.
25
So ... Michael Cohen paid $130,000 out of his own pocket to silence an adult-film star who in fact never had a sexual relationship with Trump, and this kind lawyer never told Trump about the exchange. It was a gift to a friend. In addition, Good Michael advised Sean Hannity for free, informally. No pay. And Trump and Hannity constituted 2/3 of Cohen’s client list.
Michael Cohen is really a generous guy! He must be living frugally if he’s been so busy handing out large gifts and free advice to two of his three clients.
I’m thinkin’ Nobel Prize.
42
Cohen is a modern day Scarlett O'Hara depending on the kindness of strangers ;-)
Blanche DuBois - not Scarlett O'Hara!
3
Even Saturday Night Live's writers wouldn't have come up with this plot line for a skit, one that reminds me of an episode of Perry Mason with the "audible gasps from the spectators". SNL staffers would have tabled this idea as too improbable and ridiculous. And yet it happened. It's all yours now, SNL.
20
Hmmm, someone not being truthful or forthcoming on the Fox Fiction channel, now there's a surprise!
16
Cohen has three clients, two for which he provides expensive NDAs against embarrassing disclosures, and the third (Hannity) goes to him for real estate advice? Honestly, how dumb is the audience expected to be?
23
Oh the Fox audience is STUPID. How else can you explain the faux pres with his former stripper model in our White House???
4
Hannity must to be fired. His tightness with Trump and Cohen is inappropriate now that we have learned he has been Cohen’s client and we cannot be sure what that means till it is investigated.
Furthermore he has recently been accused of sexual harassment and should have been fired them. Why wasn’t he? That woman should speak up. Was she too bought off?
15
Folks, it's just a coincidence!
10
The start of this entire affair dealt with collusion. Besides possible collusion with Russia, this is the type of collusion that we should doubly alarmed at. A dishonest President and his dishonest attorney have colluded with a dishonest "journalist" and by fiat broadcast network, to be the propaganda mouthpiece for them. Hannity's failure to disclose his personal connection with Cohen should completely discredit him - unfortunately to the rabid Trump and Hannity base, it will not - and this is even more disturbing than Hannity's omission.
11
It appears Cohen has a limited client base and also non-paying ones, so it's all the more surprising that he would be willing to spend $130,000 of his own money to help one of his clients.
18
A lawyer who does everything for free?
Why that seems as tenable as Trump not being in Putin's pocket.
17
Enough with the handwringing over journalistic ethics (right, an oxymoron) or the great wrongs or the attorney-client privilege. Follow the money!
Mr Cohen seems to live at the place where Mr Trump's (and others') money (or other things of value) pass to others. What is Mr Hannity doing there?
He says he didn't pay Cohen. He says he likes real estate, not stocks. Hmm? I hope your newspaper's reporters remain curious.
6
Journalistic ethics is not an oxymoron. Humans are not perfect but the majority of journalists are trying to live up to journalistic standards.
Attacking journalism is a way to weaken an institution that holds politicians and other power brokers accountable.
If you want to improve journalistic practices, look at the people that own mass news. I guarantee that most of the lies, usually by omission, that come from mass news is dictated from the top down.
6
If Williams has to go for fabricated flourishes, Hannity has to for double dealing. It's one thing to lie about the law going after the president, but entirely another doing it to cover for yourself.
But FOX never has problems with dupicity, just see Trump.
5
Dennison, Broidy, Hannity......
it now real clear how Cohen had the financial wherewithal to gift Stormy $130,000.00 on behalf (wholly unbeknownst to boot) of President Dennison
for absolutely NO REASON.
Don Donnie is quite well known for his charity, generosity, and selfless giving to those in need.
5
Two archenemies felled with one arrow. Mueller's fully loaded quiver is not going to leave a single Republican left standing at this rate. Maybe save one for Russia, however, just to validate why you have them to shoot in the first place.
5
Fox New's credibility just took a hit - fair and balanced? Really?
5
Fox News' WHAT?
3
Who needs Netflix when we have The Gang That Couldn't Get their Stories Straight. It's all too hilarious, no wonder Hannity rushed over to Trump's pad last weekend. I hardly think Hannity sought real estate advice from Cohen.
13
Sean Hannity is a perfect example of what happens to a cockroach when the lights are unexpectedly turned on. THERE IS NO PLACE TO HIDE!
14
The high school graduate entertainer conservative evangelical Republican Party partisan Sean Hannity is head of the Trump Administration Ministry of Propaganda aka Fox News prime time. Sarah Sanders and KellyAnne Conway are akin to those costumed sign carriers you see for store sale closings.
9
It seems like the swamp keeps filling. That's the opposite of draining. And the swamp is now America.
5
Imagine if instead of Trump and Hannity this had been Obama and Maddow... the right would have had a stroke over that.
13
And clowns continue to emerge from the tiny car.
12
Great mental image!
1
Trump was right about one thing; "Ask Hannity."
6
Hannity must be fired. He is personally involved in the Cohen case. He has lost all credibility as a newscaster and journalist. He also lied last night on live TV when he said he was not a Cohen client. He should have been fired for sexual harassment last year. Why wasn’t he? Was the “fixer” involved in that?
6
Cohen says Hannity is one of his three clients. Hannity disagrees. Who to believe? Easy.
9
Having Sean Hannity take a surprising nose dive splash into the cesspool that is the Trump crumbling presidency, is for me, the most thrilling and satisfying development yet - as a sideshow appetizer.
16
Hannity is a walking lie, just like Donald Trump. Everything they touch turns to rot. Our country is willingly marching to degradation in the eyes of the world and in the annals of history. The 39% of Americans who still support these evil, soulless men are, just as was said, truly deplorable.
12
Sean Hannity should recuse himself from making any commentary on the Cohn's case because he is now a party to that case and can not be considered to be impartial.
9
Donald Trump has a long history in New York of behind the scenes manipulation of journalists to burnish his public image.
Does that include Hannity?
10
It's a little off this article's subject, but has Cohen claimed his payoffs as business expenses on his tax returns? If he made them out of the goodness of his heart rather than on behalf of his client, it seems that they could hardly qualify as bona fide business expenses.
Not that I believe his story, presumably his reimbursement was buried in his overall legal fee from Trump and/or the Trump organization.
5
Shepard Smith must have delighted in revealing this information on his news program.
16
I look forward to the next article about this subject. Hopefully the headline will read: "Hannity Received Free Legal Services in Exchange for Spouting Pro-Trump Propaganda."
21
That is not free, it is service paid for by service of equal or greater value.
5
Time reveals truth.
10
time wounds all heals. :)
2
Oh, settle down people... Hannity was simply checking on the status of his pre-nup with trump...
19
Didn't Comey say something about mob behaviour, organized crime mentality, acid tests of loyalty? If it quacks like a duck . . .
The "c" words: conspiracy, collusion, corruption.
13
There is that other "C" word that describes the whole lot of them...
2
My guesss: Hannity retained Cohen to hush up a mistress. That’s the one thing that is consistant with Mr. Cohen’s work. But even so, why is it anybody else’s business? Hiring a lawyer to execute a nondisclosure agreement is not a crime.
4
@Freedomis Priceless: One of the hallmarks of ethical journalism is that if a journalist has any personal dealings with a figure he comments on in the course of his work, he must reveal that he has some personal tie to the figure under discussion. Remember the phrase: "In the interest of full disclosure"? There's a reason why real journalists use that phrase.
18
But extorting a party to use a lawyer who is in cahoots with your lawyer is! This is Cohen's problem, and now it's Sean's too. His "third party" is waiting for her chance to sing. I read Broidy's has been revealed. It's just a matter of time. If she's got the same lawyer as all the other Peggy Peterson's, this is a crime.
5
Makes me wonder who else DT and Hannity shared.
16
Alan Dershowitz, who sometimes defends Trump, reprimanded Hannity last night on his show. He told Hannity he should have disclosed that Cohen did some work for him. Hannity looked like a kid who got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Guess Dershowitz won't be on Hannity's show again for quite some time.
17
It's not a witch hunt if there are, y'know, witches.
15
Why does it matter? FOX is known to all as entertainment, not news. What matters is what is Cohen really trying to hide. Is Hannity a Russian operative? That would be fun.
8
The whole administration are Russian operatives!
3
Nah, I think it's Cohen's habit of extorting women to use a lawyer he's rewarding with clients for their own.
2
"Fox is known to all as entertainment not news."
Well you may want to remind the millions of regular viewers who seem to believe that Fox News is actually telling then the truth. Hannity keeps saying, "I'm not a journalist'" and quoting sources such as, "I've been told," and "people are saying," but everyday I talk to Fox viewers quoting him as if he has actual journalistic integrity.
Trump and Hannity and their allies are actively attacking all of the institutions of our democratic Republic, trying to convince the people that the FBI is full of liberals (lol) hell bent on a political coup, but it's all entertainment? Is Fox really just an Onion story run amok?
We are no longer supposed to believe journalists or scientists or the plain words of the Constitution. We are supposed to get news from entertainers and have a reality show host for president.
These people lie so much truth has become the enemy.
Rolling on the floor crying.
4
Cohen is a "fixer". Why would Hannity need his services if something were not "broken."
11
COHEN DESCRIBES HIMSELF as a "FIXER," another fact we need to remember.
A fixer is a mafia term for someone that covers up crimes. And this is Trump's personal lawyer.
You don't solve the problem of crony capitalists be filling up the Whitehouse with crony capitalists (unless of course they all end up going from there to prison, because they were too arrogant to realize that you don't work at the Whitehouse if you have committed crimes.)
4
Could Hannity have put up the $130k
10
Trump likely used Cohen to payola Hannity with sweetheart real estate deals in return/motivation for 100% loyalty on his show.
8
Hannity is now a liability to Fox News. He needs a long and permanent vacation from news broadcasting. He is a liar and probably complicit in some illegality.
12
I thought being a liar was the first requirement for a job with Fox. They don't call it Faux News for nothing.
8
Faux News cannot tell the difference between "liability" and "asset" That is their whole problem.
4
"You'll be the first to know, Sean!"
How funny is this? Hannity is Trump's fixer on FOX!
10
Even by the standard at Fox News, this is beyond pale. It beats me how they can keep Hannity on the program after this.
12
That rates him god-like status at that place! What inquiring minds would like to know is how many empty airplane bottles are in the wastebaskets in HR office every night!
This is exactly what they pay him to do.
1
Hannity claims that Cohen is lying. Why would Cohen lie and throw trump's biggest supporter under the bus? It's absolutely ridiculous to even think it. Hannity is probably the only person who lies more often and more easily than trump. So I'm waiting for the woman, or man, that Cohen paid to keep silent about Hannity to come forward!
This is better than Jerry Springer!
13
Just like I don't go to my orthopedist for dental advice, nobody goes to a Mistress Whisperer for real estate advice.
14
Not unlike the Stormy storm that brought us here, Hannity is caught between a rock and a hard place. If Cohen was never retained as Hannity's lawyer, there is no attorney-client privilege. If Hannity did hire Cohen as a lawyer, he's run afoul of an ethics violation much worse than anything Lex Haris might have done. By the way, who needs a confidential legal alias when consulting a friend for advice?
Sean-a-na-na, Sean-a-na-na, hey, hey, hey, goodbye.
11
It's almost an afterthought in all this nonsense, but the fact that the president of the United States actually solicits advice from Sean Hannity is astounding in itself. Hannity is a blustering meathead.
Birds of a feather, I suppose.
15
Who controls attorney/client privilege if a benevolent third-party pays for the legal advice?
"Don't worry, Sean...Mikey will take care of it for you. It's on my dime."
5
Another member of The Don's den of thieves and sexual predators. Did Mr. Hannity also need a "fixer" for anon-disclosure agreement complete with pay-off to silence a dalliance with a Playmate? The swamp keeps adding more and more crookediles.
7
Hannity paid Cohen the $130K hush money for Stormy Daniels. The home equity loan story is a ruse (but jibes with his story about asking real estate advice)
5
Is the Trump administration feeding Faux News and Hannity "talking points"?
4
It's the other way around...
4
Just illustrating the fact that Hannity should in no way be considered a "journalist," he's a commentator on an entertainment channel.
4
Will FOX have to publish a disclaimer or note after every Hannity show that there is most definitely a conflict of interest here? It seems Michael Cohen worked for a lot of people that never paid him.
4
LOL...you can't invoke attorney client privilege unless you are in fact a "client". Which is it Sean?
6
Hannity is listed as one of three Cohen clients thus he lied last night on TV. He is should be fired for conflict of interests for his personal involvement in this case.
4
Yes but he works at Fox News where that is exactly what he is paid to do. Why fire him for doing the job they pay him to do?
2
For John: Hannity is involved in the Cohen debacle. He lied last night on live TV when he said he was not a Cohen client. He is too personally involved in this case to be considered an honorable reporter. He should be fired for his suspicious relationship with the “fixer.” He is not a credible news reporter anymore.
3
He brags about the fact that he is not a journalist. That is how he thinks he is excusing his work as a propagandist.
Propaganda = promotion of fallacy as if it were truth usually for political or financial ends.
6
The gorilla in the room we must consider is "What type of lawyering does Cohen do?" He is the prototype slimy mouthpiece who allows his clients to circumvent the law. That has been proven by his many illicit activities (more to come) on behalf of Trump and the other wife cheater who was his second client. Its not a huge leap of logic to assume Hannity relied on Cohen's talents in similar matters.
5
Hannity said he never hired Cohen as his lawyer, never got billed for legal services, and never paid for legal services. Very well, then. Before the court accepts that their was an attorney-client relationship between Cohen and Hannity, it should ask to see evidence of such a relationship. If Hannity is telling the truth for once, the communication between Cohen and Hannity should not be privileged. And the fact that Cohen's lawyers want to assert such privilege suggests that evidence of criminal conduct may exist in communications between Cohen and Hannity -- which means those communications should not be protected even if they did involve an attorney and a client.
11
Alternatively, it might indicate that Hannity and Cohen instead intended to "exchange" or barter services to evade taxes. At a certain point, trading favors is a monetary value if there's an expectation of benefit or return. If there's an advocacy without disclosure by the media, this too represents a non-disclosed endorsement that flies in the face of FCC licensing.
3
If you have ever talked with a lawyer about a situation where you might need legal services that is attorney client privilege.
You might not choose to follow up with an appointment and agreement for services, but that first contact is often not charged.
This is a very common situation.
You must have lived a very privileged life with little need for legal services to have not discovered this for yourself.
1
I think your conversation is being infiltrated by Russian trolls. Some really weird comments, like you would see at Brightbart or Infowars.
8
Michael Cohen pays $130,000 to cover up Donald Trump's dalliance with a pornstar, Michael Cohen arranges a payment of 1.6 million dollars to an undisclosed Playboy Playmate for Elliott Broidy. Stay tuned for next week's episode, when the Playboy Playmate returns, after having decided not to have the abortion, and she is now raising the alleged love child of Sean Hannity, only the DNA will tell the true story. Will she be able to trick Hannity into giving her DNA sample? It will all be exposed in Days of Our Lives, the West Wing episodes, make sure you tune in., don't miss an episode!
3
Hannity is one of deplorables. We always knew we just could prove it until now.
3
When all is said and done at FOX "News", what's new?
3
There is nothing so efficient as watching sewer rats eat each other alive.
Hannity can deny a legal relationship with Cohen all he likes. Fine. That just begs the question of why Cohen went to such great lengths to hide Hannity's identity and, in turn, whatever damning info is on documents and tapes relating to Hannity and Trump, that were seized.
Tick tock.
12
One day, Michael Cohen and Sean Hannity were walking in the woods, suddenly a giant grizzly bear appears and starts to chase them, panicked the men begin to run, Michael runs in front Sean and begins throwing branches, rocks and any debris he can lay hands on, behind him "Hey!" Yells Sean "what are you doing we're trying to outrun the bear!!!" Michael yells back "No Sean I only have to outrun you"
8
The fact that evidence of Fox being complete garbage breaks on the same day the NYT wins three Pulitzers is just too delicious.
19
I hope that Sean Hannity will face the same fate as Bill O'Reilly did.
Assuming that Corporate Executives have more ethic, than Fox
Viewers have brain, they hopefully will cut Advertising at Fox like in the O'Reilly case. This will leave the Murdoch's no choice, but to give Hannity the
booth as well.
It is just so disturbing and frightening that most of the Trumps socalled Friends (just look at the bunch: Hannity, Broidy, Pecker, Mercer, Bannon, Murdoch, Michael Cohan, Stephen Miller, Sarah Sanders, Adelson, Wynn
and many others, like the Hypocrite, disguised as VP, are misleading the American Public and poisoning the Country.
I can look as hard as I can, I cannot spot any decent Guy around this
socalled President. What a Presidency?
7
What's that smell...., methinks something is rotting in Denmark?
5
These people would walk to the guillotine denying to the end that they did anything wrong.
2
Oh My God! This is an earth shattering revelation and changes everything!!!!
Not.
1
Several comments are accusing liberals of a double standard, saying that they are treating this situation differently than they would if it were happening to the blue party. Really? Let's look at a hypothetical situation.
Suppose Obama's personal lawyer was suspected of money laundering and his office were raided, and it turned out that he only had 3 clients, and one of them was Obama, for whom he had paid off a porn actress, one of them was George Soros, for whom he had paid a Playboy model $1.6 million, and the third turned out Paul Krugman, who denied everything.
Do you really think that would be OK with liberals?
8
This could be how trump makes America great again, by getting hannity kicked of the public airwaves. Finally feels like we're winning.
13
I don't quite understand. Why would Cohen's lawyer say that Hannity would appeal to prevent his name from being revealed if, as he claims, Cohen was not his lawyer?
8
To me, this smells of Watergate but only more accessible and in real time.
6
Who are we to believe? Cohen's lawyer agreed to allow Hannity to be exposed as a client. Next we have Hannity disagreeing saying he is not a client of Cohen's. The statement was made in federal court to a judge that he is a client.
On Fox News within a few hours of the disclosure we hear Hannity put on a circus act at the very end of his hour long show, again claiming he was NOT a client and wanted nothing to do with the federal court proceeding involving Cohen and his clients.
Why is Hannity so afraid to agree with a relationship with Cohen? Perhaps that will be resolved when the judge hears all the evidence in the US federal court case in New York.
Hannity is the Bull Dog of Fox News who routinely defends Trump against all comers. He did say he occasionally asks Cohen advice on real estate matters. Such matters could involve Russian oligarchs laundering money through real estate properties in New York, including Trump's. Not long ago, a wealthy oligarch in the fertilizer business appeared to be following Trump in his campaign when their private planes appeared simultaneously in various airports. That same Russian paid billions of dollars for a home in New York, which he then sold to Trump for a heavy financial loss.
Should we wonder if there was money laundering going on? which should be evidence for Mueller to prove that Russian oligarchs benefit Trump so he will rescind sanctions on Russia. Sounds like collusion.
5
There is sometimes justice in this world.
'You can judge a man by the company he keeps.'
6
Since I've come to learn of Michael Cohen, the biggest takeaway is that he's not very smart and appears incompetent as a lawyer. It truly is a surprise learning Hannity is his 3rd client. Why? is the big question.
A little sleuthing found this. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for this to bubble to the surface:
Per John R. Schindler, Observer, 1/30/18, Hannity does have curious connections...
https://observer.com/2018/01/sanctions-nunes-memo-reveal-donald-trump-se...
2
Not only does hannity share a lawyer with trump, he shares a barber with the lego guy (as Stephen Colbert observed last night).
5
Out of ALL the lawyers out there, why would someone pick a lawyer who isn't really a lawyer, but a "fixer"? Mr. Cohen was clearly involved in fixing things; that is evident by his two (!) other clients who have needed help paying off women they have wanted to silence. Now, the 64,000,000 dollar question is: Why did Sean Hannity need Mr. Cohen? But, Mr. Mueller probably already knows that - good luck Sean!
3
Interesting that Hannity himself brought up a "matter" between him and "a third-party," if only to deny that there was such a matter. Why mention a nonexistent matter at all? Maybe there are a few documents seized from Cohen that will shed a little light on that remark.
3
There are karmic consequences in this world for such people. This Trump circle.
Or in the next world.
Very hot down there I hear.
5
The sum of The Americans Homeland Billions The Affair Scandal all rolled into one completely unbelievable plot
Oh wait, it’s the real world...
3
The problem here is not – yet – whether Hannity has done anything illegal. It is a problem of journalistic ethics and personal morality.
Hannity has said on air in the past that he doesn't consider himself to be a journalist. But he has said it with snark in his voice and with a wink of his eye toward the under-educated, intellectually lazy viewers for whom he does their thinking. Ask his 3.6 million viewers if they think Hannity is a journalist and 3.5 million will say yes.
He has repeatedly had Cohen and Trump on his slobberfest shows and tossed them nothing but softball questions and attaboys. Now we may know why. We certainly know that real journalists would be severely disciplined, if not fired, for not revealing business ties to the people they interview.
And for Hannity to plead for privacy after spending decades tearing into the personal lives of men, women and especially children who do not live up to his right-wing political and moral standards is nauseating.
We have long known that "fair" is an oxymoron when talking about Fox News. Now we can undeniably insert "unbiased" into that category.
9
Michael Cohen is a fixer of problems. Sean Hannity must have had some problem he needed to be resolved. This is purely speculation....Sean probably didn't pay Michael Cohen because it was a Quid Pro Quo from Trump or from Fox News. Who Michael paid and obtained a NDA from will be interesting. Was it an affair? Was it harassment claims from an underling? Mr. Hannity has denied everything but with Mr. Cohen taping conversations, Mr. Hannity better be telling the truth. Otherwise he has an exorbitant amount to lose. Also, Mr. Cohen insistence that Mr. Hannity is a client will really through a wrench into Mr. Hannity's credibility too. With one side saying he is not my attorney, and the other side saying he is my attorney, both can't be telling the truth. So either Mr. Hannity takes it on the chin to protect President Trump, or Mr. Cohen will take it on the chin to protect President Trump.
3
So does your lawyer have a connection via his services to a politician (D,R), if so then you might just have your personal information shared with who knows who, when the investigators are searching.
As a video TV producer, I see that this audio of Hannity is distorted and the entire montage+sound track are manipulated to imply something shady and ominous. This is placed on the side of the newspaper reserved for news, NOT opinion! I'd say that as a journalistic malpractice, it is much worse than what is reproached to Hannity.
Audible gasps in the courtroom when Hannity's name was announced? When this is the most unsurprising piece of news - so far - in this whole sordid affair? Hannity is nothing but a loud-mouthed propaganda machine for Trump and Co. Why would he not avail himself of its "services" when he is so closely enmeshed in its success, as well as possible failure?
2
Now I wonder when the young man paid off by Hannity will come forward to disclose and describe their relationship.
1
I am going delve into pure speculation here, and guess that Hannity hired Cohen at Trump’s suggestion so Trump could leak information to him and have the fact that he did that be protected from disclosure by attorney / client privilege. Neither Trump nor Hannity have more than a dim understanding of it. Trump seems to think it means everything you tell your lawyer is a secret. Of course it’s not, and specifically that type of communication wouldn’t be.
Trump’s communications to Hannity via Cohen may never come out because it doesn’t really involve a crime. But it sure would be rich to expose Trump as the direct source of “fake news.”
Such a travesty.
3
A multi-millionaire is one of three clients of a lawyer who doesn’t practice law much, and his other two clients use him to silence mistresses.
The dots are so easy to connect even Hannity watchers should be able to follow.
1
Perhaps the relationship between Cohen and Hannity is not lawyer-client, but rather (along with Trump) partners -- partners in a Russian rubles laundering operation -- "real estate" as Hannity calls it.
7
It doesn't add up. Hannity says that he never paid Cohen, and the informal advice was just about real estate. But why, then, would Cohen even mention that Hannity was a client; he would be considered a friend, not a client. Obviously there must be documentation that indicates more than just a few friendly conversations between the two. Hannity probably wanted to find out dirt on one of his so-called liberal enemies. Both these men have filth on them, just like the president.
2
What on earth does any of it have to do with the governing of the United States?
Time goes by and every day the nation is bombarded by more sordid tales like these. Today it’s this sleazy lawyer and his clients. There are outrageous personal expenses being run up daily by various members of this administration while they dismantle regulations meant to protect the public in order to please big donors and further line their own pockets. International policy decisions suddenly burst out forth often loosely based on Fox & Friends "reports” or something from the internet. Luxury presidential golf vacations take place most weekends, policy is declared in crude tweets. Then there are the incredible lies, the cruel rudeness, ridiculous defenses of the indefensible and on and on and on. Underneath it all is the ongoing investigation into Russian meddling in the election. This is how the Trump administration spends its time, our time, the nation’s time.
Who are these people? What country is this? This is what we’ve come to? What a waste.
6
A former New York TV sportscaster once said, that "a true sports fan (of your favorite team) one who revels in someone else's misery..." (anyone you know who favors a rival sports team)...
The same could be said if you're a liberal. I, for one, is on the verge of giddiness, over this Trump/Cohen/Hannity "triangle.
This is called guilt by association. I guess the implication is that because Sean Hannity hired a lawyer who helped arrange payments to silence women that Don Trump was involved with, then he did the same thing. Or at least did something wrong. Although there is zero evidence of any wrong doing by Sean Hannity. Guild by association used to be viewed as a bad thing. Not any more. It is appalling that the NYT writes articles like this. And that its readers respond positively. Don Trump--and the whole terrible social media approach to discussing issues--wins when his opponents go down to his level to argue with him. The NYT especially should not be going down to that level.
At this point, there's no proof (beyond pure speculation and media hyperbole) that that Hannity is implicated in anything nefarious.
The only proven fault he has committed thus far is that he talked about Cohen on the air without disclosing that he had been advised by him.
I'm not a fan of his flamboyant conservatism but, last time I checked, he has a right to free speech & to his opinion. This is a family guy who is squeaky clean, so I do not think anything salacious is going to be revealed.
This tendency to destroy people through character assassination just because you disagree with them politically is sewing terrible discord and division among Americans. This is true for both the right and the left. Once upon a time, journalism was more objective in its reporting of stories.
These media lynchings with no proof whatsoever are disgraceful.
The NYTimes is guilty of sensationalism, hearsay & palace intrigue. Anonymous sources are the backbone of most of their stories. Basically...leakers who don't want to lose their jobs.
When high journalistic standards required people to speak on the record & things were fact-checked or corroborated before being printed, there was a higher caliber of print and media news. Now, in the hyper competitive click-bait digital world & 24/7 cycle of mindless television "news", that's all out the window. It's all about ratings, subscriber base & ad revenue. I gave away my television in 2003...one of the wisest decisions I ever made.
1
So if he never paid for advice but only sought opinions I'm not sure what the problem is here. And so what if he is a close friend of the president. Neither makes a crime but this story seems to suggests that something nefarious has happened. I don't think Hannity and Trump are great friends but does Hannity support the president over the top... yes just like MSNBC, NYT, CNN and the rest supported Obama over the top.
2
Another decade, another president... and the New York Times would be up in arms about this breach of lawyer-client privilege. Is America so traumatized by the election of Donald Trump that we're ready to throw out the Bill of Rights?
Put this in context. Isn't Hannity a regular guest of Trump's at Mar-a-Lago? This social affiliation with the Prez is more of a journalistic conflict than using the same "lawyer."
Yesterday, another FOX News "commentator" - "Judge" Napolitano - weighed in for FOX viewers and readers with his "analysis" of former FBI Chief Comey's comments that Trump is "morally unfit for office" on "Fox & Friends," Monday, Napolitano explained that most of the statements about Trump that Comey made in his new book and recent interviews are 'not significant' because they're Comey's personal opinion. Judge Nap did not explain that he, like Hannity has long enjoyed a business relationship or potential conflict of interest as an owner and seller of as series of Trump properties personally. But, I'm sure he'd be happy to explain that this is "not relevant" as he owns those properties "personally" and not on behalf of FOX therefore it has no bearing on his opinion. And how does this escape the notice of the ever horrible Main Stream Media? Will I have to have Sarah Palin point it out to the Times?
30
Really? I find it hard to believe that if this was true it wouldn't be documented common knowledge and Napolitano wouldn't have been taken to task long ago for this. Where's the proof?
1
https://a836-acris.nyc.gov/DS/DocumentSearch/PartyNameResult?max_rows=99
Here are the transactions "Judge Nap" has registered under his own name (as opposed to an "LLC") that have been in Trump owned or licensed buildings in NYC. There may also be some Miami ventures that he bought under from the Dezers in partnership with Trump.
It would be common knowledge if Judge Napolitano DISCLOSED his potential conflicts of interest. But, this standard appears to lie outside the compass of FOX News, Fox & Friends, and the Fox guarding the henhouse.
Have a nice day, Kim.
7
It seems of a clothe to me with all the rest of the Murdoch clan's corruption.
1
Sean Hannity is desperate now and his words and actions reflect it.
Namely, Cohen's lawyer tried his best to conceal the material fact that Hannity is Cohen's client. So WHY would Hannity immediately issue a clumsy denial of that fact??
How did Ryan know Hannity would be embarrassed to be known as Cohen's client, and why would Hannity be embarrassed in the first place?
And why is Hannity so desperate to distance himself from Cohen?
Could it be that Cohen had arranged a confidential agreement with Trump to make Hannity really really rich for being Trump's most strident promoter?
To Be Determined. But Hannity's desperation clearly displays "consciousness of guilt". The determination of that guilt should be swift. So should justice.
Have Don and Sean been using this fourth string law school graduate as an intermediary for nefarious purposes under the assumed cover of legal privilege???
1
For the last two years, I have been subjected to two sociopaths: my brother and Drumpf. Where I will likely not be getting any satisfaction in the matters where my brother is concerned, it just makes watching the slow implosion of the Short-Fingered Vulgarian and his cohorts all the more delicious.
Sean Hannity is totally honest and completely fair and unbiased. Trump never told a lie in his life. Cohen has never done anything dishonest. If enough of us believe these truths we will be able to re-elect Trump in 2020 and continue protecting America from the disaster it’s enemies (those embracing reason, and justice) are plotting. Amen!
Cohen claims to only has 3 clients: One client, Hannity says he never paid him and Cohen paid out $130,000 for Trump for which he was never reimbursed... How does this business model work? It's like the antique store that no one ever sees a customer enter, yet they've been in business for years and no one knows how...
2
I despise Trump and Hannity as much as anyone. But I have to say I am a little queasy about a lawyer being forced to name a client (??) in an open court where there is no (??) evidence that the client in question has anything to do with the specific matter for which the 'raid' was authorized.
Since Michael Cohen, might be "unavailable" to provide legal services to Sean Hannity, I have thre words of advice. "Better call Saul."
Saul Goodman, like Cohen, has a deep respect for the law and like Cohen adheres to the highest ethical standards.
2
I must step into defend Jimmy, because he gave me a dollar! Hannity adjusted his commentary to suggest he may have given Cohen ten dollars. That does not buy him ten times the confidence.
1
Sean Hannity is now on record to say that Mr. Cohen was never his attorney. Am I then correct to assume that since Mr. Cohen was never his attorney, no privilege shall attach to any information that the prosecutors may find in Mr. Cohen’s files related to Mr. Hannity?
Can’t have your cake and eat it, can you?
1
I don't think I would have liked watching "Michael Clayton," if Michael Clayton had never developed a conscience.
Why did H's name have to be revealed in public? Nothing has been determined if he did anything illegal at this point.
I wonder what Mr. Dershowitz's reaction would be if he was asked to disclose everyone he had ever represented. The one thing that has not been explained in any of the articles I have seen is the relevance of Mr. Hannity's alleged retention of Mr. Cohen.
One big happy family?
Truthfully, this isn't big or shocking news. But it is pretty darn good entertainment which is exactly what this presidency and Mr. Hannity's shows are all about. Entertain with one hand while we stab the Constitution with the other.
I have long felt and expressed here that Trump will prevail as long as Hannity and friends have his back. And from the looks of things, this won't be changing any time soon.
But if you could for a moment imagine what Hannity would be saying if the show was on the other foot? Let's say Obama's personal lawyer/fixer also had as a client say Mika Brzezinski, what would he be saying? If you care to fill in that blank, you can essentially transpose those words into what he must have to say about himself.
Mr. Hannity, you are a ring in the three-ring circus. You are monster from the swamp you claim is being drained and as such, you are revealed for what you are. Spin this anyway you want, but the one thing exposed by this actual "non-news" (as I expressed from the start, for me this is no biggie), your only deceiving yourself and unfortunately, all those that believe you are a beacon of truth.
1
Well fancy that...Sean Hannity giving Michael Cohen and Donald Trump "attorney-client privileged "advice on how to spin the stories (plural). I'll bet Trump supporters still thing everybody's out to get Trump. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him think.
The entire network is a clown car. Its low level of intellect is almost more insulting than its misrepresentations and political slant. Through certain speech analysis we know that Donald Trump speaks to his supporters on a 4th grade level (Obama on a 10th grade level). I’d suggest the same discrepancy between Fox and CNN.
Hannity’s tight relationship with Cohen and Trump represents a conflict of interest with his job as a neutral news reporter. Fox needs to fire him.
1
"Mr. Hannity denied on Monday that he was a client of Mr. Cohen’s, saying that he had never paid him for his services and that his discussions with him were brief and centered on real estate."
Real estate, as in best place to bury a skeleton?
1
It's no wonder Hannity has unconditional love for Donald Trump. He has supported Trump through every misdeed and disastrous decision made. He is Trump’s most devoted, aggressive cheerleader. It’s amazing how everything is now falling into place. Never give up hope on karma. It always has the last word.
1
I still trust Sean Hannity to report objectively on the Mueller investigation. After all, he works for a paragon of virtue, Fox News!
I suppose I understand why it's difficult for some to get it through their heads that either Cohen's lying in court about who his clients are, or Hannity's lying out of court about who his lawyers are, but it any case it is profoundly unethical to bloviate about how innocent Michael Cohen is and never mention their extended relationships.
Let’s be clear. Sean Hannity does not have a news show. He has a propaganda show. He is a lapdog for Trump and an intricate part of the web which makes up the swamp defining this administration. You know, the one our president was supposed to drain. But what no one seems to have figured out is that in our current connected world there are no secrets anymore and whatever Hannity’s relationship with Cohen was will eventually likely be known.
1
You'd think Fox News would fire Hannity just to keep up their pretense of being an actual news channel employing real journalists. If they don't, it means they're finally admitting the truth about themselves.
"“Hannity” is the most-watched cable news program, averaging 3.2 million viewers in the first quarter of 2018,.." This was the most frightening sentence in the entire article.
1
Hannity never had much credibility now he has zero. Why do so many people continue to watch this man spin and lie for an hour each night on what has become Fox State TV.
Is it time for a special prosecutor to look into DOJ practices to assure they are staying staying within the law? Congressional oversite seems to be getting stonewalled so a special prosecutor may be in order. We all have civil right and are entitled to equal protection under the law whether we are from the Obama admin or the Trump admin, or are ordinary citizen.
We have seen numerous people fired or redeployed in the DOJ, and examples of extreme political bias.
Does anyone think the investigation is about illegal collusion between Americans and Russians collusion based on the fruit it has born.
Is the investigation really about damaging Trump and his ideological supporter?
My understanding is that Congress shut down its collusion investigation and Mueller charged Russian for trying to interfere with elections without charging Americans. If I am not mistaken, not a single instance of American / Russian election collusion.
Yes, wrong doing has been found. However this is not a country where we search our enemies to see what can be found as and leaked.
Exactly why the president of the US should not be directing the justice department to investigate private citizens. On the other hand it is perfectly appropriate for the justice department to investigate crimes committed by public officials.
2
I got a feeling leaks are your worst nightmare. Too bad this is NOT in Mueller's hands as his are dry.
My understanding is that your political bias overwhelms everything else in your letter. Good luck with that.
Seems rather obvious to me that what Cohen was trying to do was claim that any of his conversations (recorded on tapes) with Sean Hannity were privileged and should not even be reviewed by the investigators, because he was providing legal advice to Hannity on those tapes. But of course, he wasn't. WHat Cohen was doing in those conversations was coordinating with Hannity for Trump's campaign. Probably giving Hannity Trump's personal directives about what to say on the air to promote Trump as the GOP candidate and later what to say about Hillary in the general election. If that's what Cohen was doing, he and Trump were violating campaign finance laws, since I'm pretty sure Trump didn't report the value of Hannity's free air time on his behalf.
13
Trumpworld is replacing The Terror as must-see, binge-worthy viewing. Every day new, compelling plot twists and characters. How will it all end? Stay tuned.
5
Cohen's lawyers never would have named Hannity as a client if they weren't aware of documents or recordings that potentially implicate Hannity in misdeeds of some sort. My question is why Cohen's team didn't check with Hannity before mentioning his name. And why did Hannity bother to say he never was a client? Why would he forego the protection of the privilege given even the possibility of something damaging about him in Cohen's files? The firebrand comes across like a naif. Very confusing and, I have to say, amusing. Fortunately, the future of the republic doesn't depend on Mr. Hannity's future.
13
They did check with him, and stated in court that he had told them not to reveal that he was a client. Hannity's denial does indeed destroy any privilege, but I expect he is more worried about his career at Fox than whatever might come out of his communications with Cohen. If Trump was using Cohen as a conduit to leak information to Hannity, it looks a lot worse for Trump than it does for Hannity. Having your source be the POTUS himself is a good thing for Hannity.
4
"Free" legal advice? No, I don't think so. Sean was paying for it in other ways.
25
All sound and fury and nothing but a tempest in a teacup. Trump will be president in 2020 and Hannity will still be on FOX! Grateful to FOX! Balanced and unbiased news reporting is refreshing; otherwise, all freedom would be lost - the long cherished wish of the left! Welcome to 1984! NOT!
1
Thanks for the laugh-out-loud moment, John! What a wit!
Headed for the exit in 2018: scores of Republicans including House Speaker Paul Ryan. Newly elected in 2017: Democratic Govs. Phil Murphy (NJ) and Ralph Northam (VA), state/city elections in 2017: Democrats Justin Fairfax (VA), Sheila Oliver (NJ), Danica Roem (VA), Andrea Jenkins, Charlie St. Clair (NH), Jacob Rosencrants (OK), Vi Lyles (NC), Yvonne Spicer (MA), Ravinder Bhalla, (NJ), Wilmot Collins (MT). In 2018, many more join the Democratic ranks at all levels of politics. If you ran for Dogcatcher in 2018, you would win as a Democratic. Mr. Trump is the most toxic element in campaigning I have witnessed in my lifetime.
2
I can't imagine being this gullible, but it apparently works for millions of low-info people.
1
So Cohen is Trumps fixer and Hannity has been running interference for Trump -and been the fixers fixer. All without a contract or client relationship (on the books). But I guess Hannity was paid with some valuable real estate advice. Its all good and under the table.
30
Cohen's trick is using real estate to hide the sources of payoffs. The dossier says he was in Prague to handle the payoff of hackers and to hide the financing.
5
It says a lot about both parties when a client is embarrassed to have the name of his attorney known.
59
How can Hannity claim attorney-client privilege if, according to him, he never was a client, never gave Cohen any money, and only had a casual relationship asking him for "advice" that didn't affect a third-party.
Huh? Any time you ask a lawyer for advice it involves a third party.
45
A lawyer who hands out free “advice”? Hmm.
1
This has people hyperventilating, but not the fact that Cheryl Mills - a witness, if not a subject, of the Clinton email investigation - was allowed to invoke attorney-client privilege on behalf of Hillary even when it was well know she was not acting as her attorney while at State.
The selective outrage is in itself outrageous.
3
Hillary is also an attorney. I supposed it didn't occur to you that Mills was the client?
Mixing apples and oranges is irrelevant.
1
It didn’t need to occur to me, that wasn’t the case. Mills suddenly claimed attorney-client privilege while on her staff at State, but only once the FBI interviewed her. Laughable.
Hannity is being paid 39 million dollars a year to destroy our nation? He belongs in prison.
90
With that kind of income, paying is not the problem. Concealment is the aim.
3
At least for slander.
2
The physicist in me says “Quantum Entanglement”.
32
Either Hannity is telling the truth or this is more FAKE news. I guess we will find out.
Sean Hannity
Verified account @seanhannity
18h18 hours ago
Michael Cohen has never represented me in any matter. I never retained him, received an invoice, or paid legal fees. I have occasionally had brief discussions with him about legal questions about which I wanted his input and perspective.
My theory is that Trump was using Cohen as a conduit to leak things to Hannnity, and thought that if he did that through Cohen it would be protected as attorney / client privilege. That is dubious in the best case, but Hannity's statement completely blows the whole thing up. Now let's hope the reason for Cohen's admission in court comes out. One way to get there would be for Comey to sue trump for defamation in claiming he leaked confidential information, then let discover of the records seized from Cohen establish that the real leaker is Trump himself.
1
After all of his denials that he isn't a Cohen client, Hannity stupidly asked for attorney-clent privilege.
1
So you are suggesting that Cohen’s lawyer might have provided the judge with something that constitutes “fake news”? Interesting perspective.
"....but first, let's watch this high speed police chase and car crash in California..."
24
It's weird to see liberals becoming McCarthy.
7
It's weird that the GOP would undermine our democratic institutions. They used to be better than that.
11
How about Republican Russian agents infiltrating our government?
Its frightening to see Trump become Mussolini.
Crooked and shameless birds of a feather....'play golf' together.
23
“When you guys put somebody in the car and you’re protecting their head, you know, the way you put their hand over?” Trump said, miming the physical motion of an officer shielding a suspect’s head to keep it from bumping against the squad car.
“Like, don’t hit their head, and they just killed somebody — don’t hit their head,” Trump continued. “I said, you can take the hand away, okay?”
The President and Fox news has been telling us for a very long time how corrupt law enforcement, prosecutors and Judges are. It's time for a perp walk with very tight handcuffs and a good wack to the head for both Hannity and Trump.
31
I don't see what difference it makes who Sean Hannity's lawyer is, what his legal issues might be or why it's the business of the public to know. Some commenters are saying it demonstrates a close tie to Trump and that therefore Hannity can't be an unbiased journalist. Well we all know he uses his program to express a point of view that he wants viewers to share, just like the columnists for the Times or any other newspaper do. Are Krugman, Dowd and Blow now obligated to disclose who their lawyers are and why they retained them?
5
In general, it should not make a difference who Hannity's lawyer is. But Michael Cohen is suspected of a lot of non-lawyerly corruption, hence the highly unusual FBI raid on his offices. The bottom line here is that anyone associated with Michael Cohen is now under suspicion, because Cohen is not your garden-variety lawyer. Business dealings with him are most likely corrupt and illegal. The fact that Cohen mentioned Hannity in court suggests they've had more than just "casual conversations". But you are correct about the Trump bias: he is allowed to be as biased as he wants on his own show.
25
If it's not an issue, why is Hannity making it an issue by denying it? And then saying, "well, the conversations were confidential?" If you had a legitimate business relationship with someone, would you be weaving and bobbing like that? Or saying it would be "embarrassing" to be identified as a client? Where there's smoke there's fire. Cohen's a fixer and Hannity's obviously just as dirty as Trump is. Maybe those "real estate" deals involve Trump transferring land for favorable news coverage? Why else would Hannity be so gung-ho for Trump? Follow the money, my friend.
Krugman, Dowd and Blow write in the Opinion section. Hannity claims to be a journalist reporting the news. Learn the difference.
Take note of the Stoneman Douglas High Schools student leaders' efforts to counter media manipulation - call on Hannity's sponsors to withdraw their advertising dollars. https://www.mediamatters.org/research/2017/05/23/these-are-sean-hannitys....
26
I wonder what Hannity would have done with the information after finding out a cable news host on CNN or MSNBC was the client of an attorney under investigation in a Hillary Clinton probe?
50
Hannity's head would have exploded! I sincerely hope someone is looking into his relationship and where it leads.
1
Birds of a feather flock together. Trump, Hannity, Cohen, ..., Gingrich, O'Reilly, ...
All those ethical(un), honest(dis), family values people. Obviously they have their own swamp, or rather, cesspool.
34
Hannity’s palship with Cohen reduces his credibility as a journalist to the point of nullifying it. He is now a liability to Fox News and should be fired.
31
his what?!?
as a what?!?
Hannity is NOT a Journalist! He is a commentator who is only giving his opinion. Listening to his ravings and giving them credibility is like being in a bar late at night and listening to an old drunk guy by himself at the end of the bar rambling on.
1
So you conspired to promote the Birther lie in with several other nefarious characters, Sean Hannity?
If this investigation should find something very uncomfortable about you, Sean Hannity, that casts light on your dirty dealings then I say, Carry On Investigators!
29
Did trump offer a bribe ( condo ) to Hannity in exchange for favourable coverage on his show, beginning during the campaign?
...,,Cohen would have been the fixer.
28
So Hannity talked real estate with Michael Cohen? Was that real estate in Moscow?
34
How much you wanna bet he's now a part-owner in some Trump real estate?
1
Man, I'm only in my forties, but I've never had to pay for sex. Cover up any trysts with non disclosure agreements, never hired a prostitute........ Is there something wrong with me? I mean I've had a couple awkward mornings here and there. But we both got over it like adults.
What is wrong with these self righteous, smarter, more important than you and I, ugly, and I mean ugly men in the world today?
27
Sean Hannity has been caught red handed - It is time for him to tell the truth now and bow out of limelight.
24
It's a disgrace -- how dare they make public PRIVATE information. Hannity and Trump should sue and sue big.
And, the NYT is so political - they will print anything to sell a newspaper. These proceedings are NOT news - they are a product of the witch hunt.
3
Hannity and Trump could sue for what? If you don't think this is news you must be drinking the water. There is no doubt Hannity is not a journalist, but rather a cheerleader. Nothing Hannity says about Trump has any credibility. Why has Hannity tried to distance himself from Cohen? These guys are all cut from the same cloth. Their primary concern is who they see in the mirror. Money is their god. Thank goodness more is revealed EVERY day. It is only a matter of time until this embarrassment of a president is gone. Unfortunately, many of the things he has done to set our country back cannot be undone immediately.
1
While they are at it they could sue the WSJ also.
The only disgrace here is POTUS, his lawyer Cohen, his Murdoch mouthpiece Hannity the Hipppocrite, the felon Mike Ryan, and the other colluders including his thieving children, aso McConnell, Sessions, Ryan, the EPA lowlife, et al.
PMac, I hope the justice system DARES to make public all of it. Because they are sworn to uphold the country.
We live in interesting times.
The Michael Cohen trial in NYC has exposed seriously shady issues; Hannity and Fox News are surely in trouble.
There are specific Federal Communication Commission payola rules:
"If employees of broadcast stations, program producers, program suppliers and others accept or agree to receive payments, services or other valuable consideration in exchange for airing material, federal law and FCC rules require broadcasters to fully disclose this fact to audiences at the time the programming is aired..." "
....If you suspect a broadcaster has violated the FCC’s rules, you can file a complaint with the FCC......
https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/fccs-payola-rules
29
It is somewhat hilarious -- as well as somewhat sad -- to see Trump cite Fox News and the National Enquirer as more respectable media than the Pulitzer Prize-winning NYT and WAPO.
31
Trump would probably say the Pulitzer prize was fixed.
So what Cohen's clients have in common? They tried to buy their mistresses silence.
14
Not that simple, CarolinaJoe.
What a surprise!
Guess Han had Mike draft a Will for him, eh?
So Han was one of those things under that Trump rock. And I am sure Trump supporters will have no difficulty with this situation.
PROSECUT RUSSIAGATE!
2
I bet Sean is in pretty deep with the Trump crime syndicate. Time will tell...
17
He "never claimed to be a journalist” and his network never claimed to be journalism. I frankly see nothing wrong with Seany boy sharing trumpty's lawyer. What's wrong is that it was never revealed until now and that all concerned sought to hide the fact. Embarrassing? Everything about this president and his ties to a propaganda network run by a mean-spirited oligarch are embarrassing. As for Cohen, he's everyone's dream team lawyer-- representation without renumeration. $130k to Stormy? No problem. Done. It’s on me. $1.6 mil to silence the Playboy bunny? Covered. Paying some thug to tell the porn star "nice little girl you've got there, would be a shame to see something happen to her mom"? There’s more coercion and thuggery where that came from. Can hardly wait to learn what the feds found when they executed their search warrant. So Mr. Mueller, when are we all going to get a taste of Muellertime? We're dying of thirst out here.
11
Better Headline = State TV Host in Collusion with Trump; Russia
12
NYC cockroaches came to mind this morning.
....Thinking back to the 1980s and cheap rent in a NYC cockroach infested apartment. .....Every night coming home and turning the lights in the kitchen to see cockroaches scurrying to hide from the lights. Time to call the exterminator.
Judge Kimba Wood to the rescue.
10
The Faux trolls are out today in big number. This Hannity news must have touched a sore point. Please ignore them and don’t feed them. They are not here to be informed or have any kind of rational conversation.
23
What better way could there be for "chief communications officer Trump" to pass inside information to Hannity and direct the effort to undermine law enforcement and the Russia investigations than under the cover of attorney-client privilege? This is classic Trump media manipulation - and until yesterday it was working pretty well.
25
Give until end of the week at latest until someone reveals who sean was paying off.
Meanwhile, although fox has near zero credibility, allowing him to stay on air after he spent days attacking the raid of his own attorney without revealing that it is his attorney, and having cohen on repeatedly without revealing he is his attorney is a violation of ethics even fox should not tolerate. Fire Hannity is more than just a slogan
25
This 'nattering nabob' makes Pat Buchanan look good by comparison. Pat went to the mat for his boss Nixon, ditto Sean.
6
Sean says he hasn't paid "legal fees" to his friend Mike. Has he made other payments? Has he received payments? Has anyone asked him that?
13
Hannity is indeed entitled to have had conversations with Cohen about real estate matter, but he certainly also should have included his self-exonerating statement during his reporting of the seizure of Cohen's papers. He could have separated himself from Cohen's political clients quite easily by making the same statement he ultimately made to deflect the public embarrassment. For that matter, had Cohen and his attorney simply allowed the DOJ to follow its the ordinary process of excluding non-targeted clients and attorney/client privilege discussions, his name would never have come up. It is very interesting, however, that Cohen lists only 3 "clients" in the last 2-3 years. Two are known sexual predators and poor little victim, Sean. Certainly that's the guy one wants to get real estate advise from.
10
Wasn't the republic party the conservative one? With so many of its leaders embroiled in extra marital affairs, it look like, to paraphrase what Reagan said about the Democratic Party when he switched to the GOP "Conservatives are no leaving the GOP, the GOP is leaving them"
5
Is it now a foregone conclusion that Fox news is nothing more than a state-sponsored media outlet that has been collaborating with the President and other top officials to dictate stories and to release untruthful narratives and false stories to increase the noise in the media environment? It appears Fox News is now part of the larger “deep state” conspiracy to undermine our democracy.
38
Hannity should be fired at once. There is a conflict of interest. He is personally and privately involved with Cohen and Trump. Thus he is not really a journalist in any sense of the term but a pal. He cannot report the news with the neutrality essential to fair news reporting.
36
Trump being a president of The United States has been like the brick that's thrown at us so we can see things differently or wake up, if you wish...
I am really hoping that a lot of us bled and woke up and from now then, we won't make a huge mistake like this one never, ever again...
12
Sean Hannity is an opinion journalist, not a hard news reporter and he is openly pro Trump. He is also very rich, makes 36 M per year (and earns his every penny). So I am not surprised at all that he is among Cohen's clients or that he is asking him for advice on any topic. I will continue to watch his show because he is reporting everything that the MSM and the NYT are committing. If he moves to YouTube, or anywhere else online, I'll watch him there.
3
I'm surprised that a guy making $36 million a year can't afford to pay his lawyers.
32
You seem impressed by his wealth. I’m impressed by his gross ignorance and fawning subservience to Trump.
27
Could you decide if the guy's "an opinion journalist," or a reporter? They're not the same thing, you know.
By the way, whichever you decide--it's extremely unethical for Hannity to yack the way he's been yakking, to make the bizarre claims he's been making, and to conceal his close personal, financial, and legal ties to the people he's claiming to speak honestly about.
3
So, if we take Mr. Hannity at his word, he was accepting free professional services from Cohen and then promoting/defending Cohen and his positions on Hannity’s show, without disclosing his receipt of the freebies. That should violate most corporate codes of conduct.
51
Spreading lies in general should violate the corporate laws of a broadcast corporation. But this is FOX.
1
What remains amazing is the fact that Hannity supporters will not be deterred by this at all. Fake news anything to protect their fearless commentator. I still remember the reprehensible. When he supported the birther movement and promoting Trump at the same time. That ugliness cannot be taken away
23
Michael Cohen supposedly paid off Stormy Daniels from a home equity loan. Now Hannity is named as a client of Michael Cohen, but says he "never paid" Cohen for his services. What Hannity did do (very publicly) was rail against the raid on Cohen's office to his 3.2 million viewers as well as defend Cohen's other client, Trump, vociferously at every turn, all while trying to conceal his relationship to Cohen. There's an old law enforcement adage, "follow the money". Though this trio seems to go out of it's way to avoid actually exchanging money (at least between themselves), these latest revelations show that there is certainly the appearance services being rendered in kind. It's a sleazy way to do business. We should soon find out if it's criminal.
23
“Michael Cohen has never represented me in any matter. I never retained him, received an invoice, or paid legal fees.”
This raises the question: What about the opposite? Who was the client in this business relationship? Very shady stuff...
7
He suggested he might have tossed him a Hamilton, just to cover for this miserable story. Cohen's lawyers said the client was going to appeal the judge's ruling! Is Hannity a client or isn't he? Only his hairdresser knows for sure?
1
It seems that while Cohen is a member of the bar, the work he does has very little to do with legal advice. I doubt that client confidentiality exists for a fixer.
14
Now would be a good time for the American consumer to demand quality cable news that is more than just a talking opinion page. That used to be CNN, before they resorted to breathlessly reporting sensational true crime, and giving Trump rallies an open mike. I sense a new opening to pierce the 24 hour media bubble.
6
Sean, my boy, we barely knew ye.
Remember, confession this weekend is at 3pm.
18
This is a non-issue. Sean Hannity and Fox News, and CNN, and MSNBC are not journalists, or news bureaus, they're "current events as entertainment." They are ratings driven, and always have been; they've never been about comprehensive, quality-driven news coverage. They're phony. They're the Trump University of journalism. Why anyone now would feign disgust that Hannity was defending Cohen when he appears to have had a personal interest in defending him (that personal interest bit is also kind of dubious), is beyond me. You legitimize their existence by suggesting that they have a duty to live up to some ethical standard. This would suggest that you recognized them as legitimate before and respected their place in journalism, or you're just as full of it as they've always been.
Again, non-issue.
3
Why did this take so long to become public knowledge? Why does Cohen have only three clients? What is Cohen/Hannity hiding? What "real estate transaction" is Hannity referring to? Cohen is know to be less of a lawyer and more of a "fixer"! I would bet my bottom dollar that, when all is said and done, the Trump Administration will be regarded as the most corrupt presidential administration in history and that we have only just begun to discover the depth of depravity and criminal enterprise these men are capable of.
14
How in the world did the fact that Sean Hannity got some legal tips from Cohen help this witch hunt. The fact that the judge allowed his name to be outed in open court is amazing. He asked for advice about real estate. Did not get a fee no invoice nothing. They simply spoke. Now look at the embarrassment. Sean Hannity just so happens to have the top rated cable news show. Hmm it that just a coincidence? Truly a witch hunt.
2
MARK OF IOWA "Did not get a fee no invoice nothing. They simply spoke. "
Interesting that you know so much! There`s a bridge in Brooklyn for sale -
interested. Real Cheap!
2
Since when is Hannity not a client of Cohen when Cohen himself and his lawyers say he is? Hannity himself says he is not a journalist and anyone with two ears knows FOX news is a pulpit for the Republican Party.
Why is it amazing that a court of law would make public disclosure of information in a criminal trial available to the public?
The only reason Hannity has the audience he has is because FOX has "bunched" all the right-wing conspiracy radicals and the left-wing thinkers are spread over CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, The Guardian, The Intercept, The Daily Buzz and a few more real news with real journalist outlets.
3
And where are the Mercers in all of this? Talk about collusion, there it is. Bolton's PAC hires Cambridge Analytica, for instance. He works for Fox, becomes Secretary of State, etc. What do the Mercers get out of this? A tax cut to be sure, but what is their vision of the future of OUR country?
10
A conspiracy so vast. Read up on Joseph McCarthy. The less information that you have, the wilder the conspiracy theories that you can construct.
This has got to be fattening.
I can hardly wait until the prosecutors find and show the evidence of Cohen having done legal work for Hannity.
I expect the payment Hannity wants us to think did not happen was part of a barter arrangement and explains this unambiguous support and use of Fox news to produce propaganda promoting El Trumpo on his show.
8
Sure is fun to speculate on the basis of zero evidence. Typical social media approach to "thinking." Remember: Don Trump is the King of Twitter. When you discuss issues in the same manner that he does--dopey Twitter messages--he and his world win.
According to Hannity, his discussions with Cohen were, "almost exclusively about real estate". In the vernacular of a professional liar, such as Hannity, "almost" is a door the size of the Grand Canyon.
20
According to Hannity, he was never Cohen's client, never hired him, never paid him anything, etc. Isn't it great to know that, as Hannity himself has declared, there can be no attorney-client privilege claims in his contacts with Cohen! There is no privilege if there is no attorney-client relationship. . . .
17
Notice a trend? Everyone associated with Trump, their lives are being mangled. This list is very long of those who have suffered humiliation or more damaging, legal problems. Guess this should be expected when you align with a morally bankrupt criminal.
Their solace, at least they all have loads of money to soothe their frazzled nerves.
27
It certainly sounds like a conspiracy to me. With Hannity running one-sided interference for trump on his entertainment show. We'll see the details at some point. Perhaps Fox news is in on the conspiracy to disrupt our elections.
21
There is an issue. Hannity was using his power as a celebrity and an influencer of public opinion to help derail the investigation into Trump's and Cohen's potentially illegal activities.
Because Hannity is entangled with Cohen and failed to disclose that in his broadcast, he may be complicit in willfully obstructing justice.
13
"Perhaps Fox news is in on the conspiracy to disrupt our elections."
This was the case from day one at Fox.
1
Not a Hannity or Trump fan but what's the real issue here outside of the rampant speculation?
3
Ari
Its not the speculation but the lack of transparency when he was talking about Cohen and Trump. When he was interviewing Cohen, he should have be forthcoming in informing his audience that he had a relationship with the lawyer. It also makes one wonder what else Sean Hannity is not telling us
24
The real issue is can you trust the media to be independent.
Mr Hannity has been hiding that he was a client of a man he was reporting on. Mr Hannity is still trying to deny that he is a client of that man.
If you need the wrong in that explained, you may need a keeper.
I'm surprised that Judge Kimba Wood, in response to being informed that the 'third client' of Mr. Cohen, would be embarrassed by disclosure of his name, in relation to Mr. Cohen, did not respond by saying:
'That doesn't help me out or narrow the universe of people it might be.
Who would not be embarrassed by disclosure that Mr. Cohen was their attorney?"
14
The Russian oligarchs had a lot of stolen cash to launder starting in 1990. Real estate, hotels, and golf resorts are good places to take care of that. Sean says he turns to real estate because he does not like the stock market.
42
'“Hannity” is the most-watched cable news program, averaging 3.2 million viewers in the first quarter of 2018, up from 1.8 million in the early months of 2016.'
This is frightening - the fake news machine which helped elect Trump has 3.2 million viewers. I wonder what's next.
40
The average viewer at Fox News is 68 years old....the people who vote in midterms. The problem they have this year is that "Kids, Women and minorities" are "Fired up for the Midterms". Kids want "gun control", women want equal rights and protection against "sexual harassment"...and minorities hate Trump....i.e. the victories in Alabama and Red District Pennsylvania.
1
Sean Hannity may be able to fool his audience. But it’s clear that he is a close informal adviser to Trump, who has urged the the public to watch Hannity’s show.
As Trump’s mouthpiece the firebrand commentator regularly attacks Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 campaign and other people, who draw Trump’s ire.
Last week, Hannity criticized the raids on Cohen’s office and residences as “an unprecedented abuse of power,” never mentioning his relationship with the Trump lawyer, although there is evidence that the two have a chummy relationship.
Indeed, investigating Cohen, one has to "follow the money" and see where the trail ends.
54
Cohen said he was a client in Federal Court in response to a direct question from the Judge. Hannity is a client. I expect the payment is this hyper version of Fox's normal fake news GOP propaganda machine.
1
Well the tress are falling and it is not surprising that Sean Hannity's name was the third client and his involvement with Cohen. Every GOP talk show host believes that they are next to God and yesterday I am sure it was a very strange experience for him to be on the receiving end of the questioning. He should call Bill O Reilly and Laura Ingram. Apparently there is more to this story than meets the eye and in a few days we will all know. Now is the time to put pressure on his advertisers as we did before unless the public who adore him start to get some answers that make sense. He should of taken a lesson from his deceased boss Roger Ailes , that no one can escape from the truth there entire lives.
35
The warrants specified documents of other clients. Cohen and his lawyers wanted to protect the names of his clients. This isn't about if Hannity was or was not a client. It is about the documents that Cohen has, which he presumably would not have unless he was Hannity's lawyer.
19
A profession should have a code of ethics devised and enforced by peers. Journalism aspires to being a profession, but falls short when its practitioners do not discipline someone like Hannity.
26
...or like Mike Barnicle or Brian Williams... As Ted Koppel said when you mix the news divisions back into the entertainment divisions nothing good, (except maybe for cash flow) comes of it. This lack of journalistic ethics/standards did not start with Fox/Hannity and as long as news (and the lack of segmentation between biz divisions) is treated as infotainment and people such as Andy (Bring Him on Back) Lack allow for slack in those standards, this problem is only going to intensify.
hannity is not a journalist; he is an entertainer
true. though no one should identify Fox as "journalism"
As a lawyer, I think it more likely than not that one of these two men is lying. I certainly do not list a person whom I have had a casual, even law related conversation with as a "client" without more. In this instance, I think it is more likely of the two to be Hannity who is dissembling. Now we watch the slow dance of death as he twists in vain from confronting the truth.
97
Hannity himself has stated different positions. Hannity could not have instructed Cohen to initially try to keep his name confidential unless Hannity thought he was a legal client.
It Hannity and Cohen may have had multiple relationships, friends, journalist-source, business deals, coordinators of public relation strategies, interview-interviewee & attorney-client. In some states, a casual oral inquiry along the lines of and an oral response establishes an attorney-client relationship for some purposes. Paying a nominal fee to make sure that the attorney does not let the COOP board people know about the question would certainly establish a relationship. Trading "free" legal advise for favorable news coverage would probably establish an attorney client relationship as well..
It is possible that Cohen named Hannity as a client out of an abundance of caution; or try to keep some communications, perhaps even those that involved the non-attorney part of their relationships, confidential. If so Hannity's confusing characterizations and claims that the matter did not involve any third person, would limit the claims of privilege. For instance, Hannity helped Cohen publicize his denials of certain allegations in the Steele reports. If Cohen and Hannity had preinterview communications, those may not fall within the privileged scope.
2
You'd be surprised. I had dealings with a financier, who called all sorts of people business partners after a few explorative talks. I learned this, when someone called me and said, hey - you are a business partner of this guy. And I was, ooops. No. Why do you say that.
Regardless, Hannity is a manipulative monster. So he for sure is also capable of lying straight faced.
1
Let us hope the court of public opinion, at least the small one represented here, isn't going to decide what is legal or not. Mr. Hannity is a national treasure. He has remained so for a long time. Many people dislike him, if not actually hate him. This is because he has reported news this paper (and CNN, and ABC, and CBS, and NBC etc.) have refused to print. Their refusal isn't based on any high minded adherence to a high standard, but rather because they are one-sided and biased, catering to the view expressed in many of the postings right here.
We can be sure some here are plotting to use this whole issue to remove Mr. Hannity from his work, to silence his voice. Such are the morals of the left.
11
Please, Len, please don't conflate the name Hannity with the concept of "national treasure." It degrades all of us.
7
What stories (real stories, not his conspiracy theories and bloviations) has Hannity "reported" on that other news outlets have ignored? Name me three real stories.
6
Sooo...in your mind.....It is "Our Fault" "We're the problem"....that Sean Hannity was hiding his relationship with Michael Cohen as one of his "Clients"...while railing against the Governments Legal" raid of Cohen's office, home and storage unit. Because they didn't Trust Cohen to hand over the documents without "altering or destroying them"....And it's our fault....in you mind.
8
An interesting question, why would Hannity supposedly be embarrassed to have sought Cohen’s legal advice if it was only about real estate?
61
It's because the advise was "almost exclusively" about real estate. Big difference.
16
Because the real estate in question was part of the Russian mob's money laundering machine.
I'm not sure they can have this both ways. Cohen labeled him as a client, Hannity says he isn't one. So is Cohen embellishing in order to appear more as an actual attorney with some expectation of privilege, limiting the scope of the prosecutor's material, or is Hannity obfuscating because his relationship with Cohen could uncover something he'd prefer remained hidden? I don't see how it isn't one or the other, but I would expect them to get their story straight by this afternoon.
30
Was Cohen supplying Hannity with text and topics? If so, bye bye Sean!
19
You can't make this stuff up
27
What did Cohen "fix" for Hannity?
44
A lawyer has only three clients. The first client uses him to pay hush money to a porn star. The second client uses him to pay hush money to a model and also pay for her abortion. The third client uses him for some real estate advise. Nothing unusual here.
97
Hannity said he IS NOT a client.
Cohen said he IS a client.
Coming soon to a NYT near your house, Hannity was paying Cohen by a third party to avoid paying him directly.
Again for what? I cannot think faster than the facts here.
I cannot imagine better than the real deal here. Sorry to disappoint you.
7
Off course, Hannity isn't a Journalist, he's Trump's propaganda Minister,
68
Netflix needs to get on the act. I hear the team behind Narcos is considering a series based on Brazilian politicians and Petrobras corruption scandal. But no need to go that far. Here we have all the spice and ingredients of a great new series: Russia, Hannity, porn stars, Trump, the family, Cohen, payments, secret meetings in Prague, Middle East....
25
I think "House of Cards" took an unexpected turn when Clinton lost.
Cohen is not a lawyer you consult for real legal problems,he is a payoff cover-up artist just remember that.
47
If this were a game of Clue, the answer would be “Sean Hannity, in the Playboy Mansion, with a secretly-funded abortion.”
57
Don't worry Sean! Hustler Honeys cost a lot less in hush money than Playmates...
This thing about Cohen and Hannity being "so fond/loyal" to Trump is fishy. Normal people don't act that way. Something strange is going on.
21
Reminds me of the "loyalty" between Joe McCathy, Roy Cohn, et al.
Finally, the first evidence of COLLUSION.
It may only be COLLUSION with Fox News, but at least it is evidence of COLLUSION.
So, how far off can be evidence of COLLUSION with Russia ?
What think you?
11
Not a, "crime," per say, but OMISSION, is the glaring most obvious journalistic sin. Also, hypocrisy, of portraying himself as a honest broadcast journalist and appearing every night on his show railing on Mueller and the FBI raiding a lawyers office by the name of Cohen, who he never mentions is his lawyer as well.
So many many people don't take Hannity's journalism seriously, and neither, Hannity, but millions of people watch his show condemning "liberals" for all the worlds problems. Last night, there was no apology from him or Fox, he just came out swinging against the forces of justice.
What's telling now is that he knew Mr. Cohen's entire office and even his cell phone was raided by the FBI and days went by without him disclosing the fact that Cohen was his lawyer. Was he so steeped in his own dogma that he assumed a real fact would not be revealed? What does a real journalist have without credibility?
11
If he wasn't a client, why would Cohen have files on him?
31
Fox News is state t.v. And if, as Hannity said, "I never retained him, received an invoice, or paid legal fees" then WHO did pay for the "advice" Cohen supposedly gave him? Lawyers charge for ten minute phone calls. By the minute. So, Quid pro quo? Trump? The deep state? What tangled web...
14
The article reads:
“Hannity” is the most-watched cable news program, averaging 3.2 million viewers in the first quarter of 2018, up from 1.8 million in the early months of 2016.
After this news story revelations, Mr. Hannity should be having 3.2 million fewer viewers each week. He can call Trump and tell him that he is free for lunch or dinner any time, now.
8
So, how much has Trump, or Cohen, or donors, been paying Fox News for corrupting the body politic, relinquishing even any idea of truth-telling, and supporting this corrupt regime?
There are all kinds of prostitution. These are of course illegal and unrecorded campaign contributions, and continuing payments to prop up the Presidency via Fox News, which has become a propaganda organ for this administration.
Sound familiar? Sound like it's happened before? It can and is happening here.
19
Am I the only one to notice that in Hannity’s denial that he is Cohen’s client, there is an implied accusation that Cohen (through his lawyers) lied to the Court?
17
Trump and Hannity will hang Cohen out to dry.
2
The undisclosed (now disclosed) benefit of free legal (or other) advice or services from a lawyer in exchange for a reporter's months of sycophant coverage on a "news media" is called in a normal world : bribery. And in a normal world, it warrants immediate dismissal.
16
Sean Hannity is a contemptible human being. He knew full well when the FBI executed lawful warrants upon the residences and offices of Michael Cohen" there might be documentation of his relationship with him. Yet, he went on his Fox show and disparaged law enforcement before his audience without disclosing that he is an interested party. Which explains his wild-eyed rants, misrepresentations, and advocacy against due process. Fox news should require him to make a statement and apologize for not doing so. Whenever Mr. Hannity discusses the matter on his show, he should also be required to remind the audience of his relationship with Cohen. But, I won't hold my breath.
28
So the latest to be brought out of the Justice kitchen is roast Hannity!
Paraded around on a platter, apple in his mouth.
I can't wait for the main course to come out of the court room, but they are going to have to find a huge apple to fill that yap.
18
Sean Hannity is the most-watch cable news program? This news truly is shocking.
7
Who makes a good living off of three clients? Must be a goodly amount of money moving through.
16
Sure Sean. Just like the meeting between DT Jr and the Russians in Trump Tower was really about adoptions.
I'm waiting to read about Cohen and Hannity trying to convince investigators that, for some inexplicable (or suspicious) reason, Cohen has been working pro bono for one of the wealthiest no talents in the misinformation business.
Come to think of it, that’s no more absurd than Cohen’s claiming he voluntarily paid out $130K of his own money to help cover up a client’s scandal, without expecting to be repaid, bothering to bill the client, or even let the lucky client know.
Given Cohen’s history and Hannity’s vitriolic outbursts over Cohen’s office being raided, I wouldn’t be surprised if their meetings involved fixing one or more Hannity scandals with payments in the form of real estate (as a favor to a famous client who Cohen might, or might not, bill).
Fixing is what Cohen did. Past tense. Which is how he got into a fix he’ll never slip out of.
49
Maybe Sean Hannity's definition of "real estate" is not what we think it is.
61
I think it may involve huge rolling hills and damp moss covered valleys LOL
9
could he be an anchor for hire?
Liz, you win the internet today!
Excellent!!
1
Why was Hanity wanted his name to be kept secret?
29
Just one thought, I hope the tax payers are not footing the bill for all this insanity. What a waste of time and resources before this administration can even get to work. Dark times.
12
Defending democracy takes resources. No way around it considering the behavior of the current administration. You will eventually thank all those in the fight.
7
This administration has certainly gotten to work serving the rich. If you are not benefiting reconsider your vote.
Are you concerned about taxpayers footing the bill for 25 years of manufactured Clinton scandals? Don't expect to be taken seriously.
4
This "administration" has been an administration for almost a year and a half--how long do they need to get to work? Dark times for an "administration" that campaigned on draining the swamp.
Would this be considered not seeing the forest for the trees perspective?
Hannity's use of the word "matter" is interesting in that it was carefully used by someone recently to avoid the word "case", as in legal case. Also I believe I read elsewhere that Hannity claimed that he might have paid Cohen ten dollars for some advice. Talk about a cheap date! What "matter" is worth ten dollars?
15
dear god, if Trump paid Hannity for favourable coverage on TV, both of these men would be gone in one fell swoop. That would actually bring down this president and Hannity all at once. Oh to dream....fingers crossed!
64
Hannity claims he didn't retain Cohen, but that attorney client privilege applies and that there were no invoices. That statement could be true, though.... if Cohen was making payments to Hannity. Just saying.
22
Cohen negotiated with the National Inquirer (AMI) to catch and kill stories. I wonder who paid back AMI for the hundreds of thousands doled out to people to keep quiet?
Here we have another influential media outlet in contact with Cohen. And Cohen never billed him anything! They just discussed "real estate". Perhaps they were discussing Trump Tower apartments or similar, I can't wait to see Hannity's real estate portfolio and find out how did he pay for it with his TV talk show salary.
25
So the last two clients of this bottom feeder lawyer were Trump to arrange a $130K payment to a porn star who had an affair with the President who still claims no such affair existed.
A similar arrangement only this time for $1.6M to a former Playboy Playmate who had an affair then an abortion after getting pregnant by Elliott Broidy a top GOP fund raiser and former member of the RNC. (I guess the GOP family values pitch does not count when you get your girl friend pregnant and she has a abortion).
And for some reason Sean Hannity. One can only wonder what that may have been for.
America is getting a first hand look into the most corrupt President this nation has ever seen and the low life bottom feeders who surround him. Stay tuned, I'm sure there is more to come.
47
Hannity says: "Mr. Hannity, in high dudgeon, opened his show by telling viewers to “keep in mind that Cohen was never part of the Trump administration or the Trump campaign.” There are hours of videotape, since Trump announced his candidadcy, where Michael Cohen was on TV, defending and promoting Trump and his candidacy. Thus, a lie (shocker) from Hannity which says his claims are to be looked at skeptically.
21
A client doesn't have to "pay" for legal advise to be a client....any attorney who is asked for legal advise will avoid giving it, unless there is a contract of if its clearly very "generic: advise. So is there a contract? If so, Hannity lies (not foreign to Hannity), If not, then did Cohen give advise to Hannity? Possibly, considering the bumbling fool Cohen is. Regarding getting paid for services (the passport alibi for getting into the Czech Republic)...(of course Hannity ate it up) ...proof both are out of control....BTW....where's Hannity's lawyer in all this? He certainly needs one now, and none are forthcoming! And what about Murdoch, Hannity's employer? Will he fire Hannity? Probably not since O'Really? is still employed by him...Trump denies he gave Cohen money for hush money, leaving Cohen as the fall guy, thus completing the gangster-like circle of lies and deceptions....so much for draining the swamp...."slimeball" it's Trump...."fake news"...It's FOX News...age old trick: blame your opponents for exactly what you yourself are guilt of.
20
Or perhaps Trump paid for a Hannity NDA with some woman and we see the eternal gratitude on FOX.
13
I think that once again Trump used Cohen to pay a prostitute but this time the prostitute was a man: Sean Hannity.
50
Michael Dean Cohen assures the world that he took out a 130,000 line of credit loan against the security of his home to pay Stormy Daniels to clam up about Trump committing adultery with her out of the goodness of Cohen's heart and because of Cohen's intense devotion and loyalty to Cohen's capo Donald Trump and family.
Trump has responded by insisting that he had no idea that Cohen had made the payment on his behalf because Cohen didn't tell him. And in any case, Trump did not have sex with that woman. So there was no reason for Cohen to pay Stormy 130 grand in the first place.
But wait! There's more! We now learn that Cohen has also provided Sean Hannity with legal and business advice pro bono. Such largesse! Such generosity! What a kind-hearted, altruistic guy Cohen must be. To help out two of the nation's richest men for nothing in return. And there's me thinking that Cohen was just a cold-hearted thug lawyer for the mob.
50
Goes to show, we mortals have no clue.
Sean Hannity to Alan Dershowitz -- "It was just minor, it was some things about real estate."
Yeah, like I was trying to flip some money laundered property I got from Manafort so I could invest in a condo at a Trump property in Florida and rent it to Russian crime figures to have anchor babies.
Sure, Sean. The whole Trump corruption cesspool is just a thing about real estate. Now tell us what her name was and we'll leave you alone.
33
Hannity... embarrassed to seek the council of this fixer?
What could hannity want from this guy, then just claim it’s not true?
The Swamp gets bigger and deeper.
15
Certainly not conservative with their libidos.
11
Can’t one of these bazillionaires buy out fox media and shut the thing down. Then, another one buy out the gun bullet manufacturers and shut them down too. Two big stains on society gone in a blink. One can dream...
25
But which billionaire would that be?
Mr. Hannity has constitutional rights just like the rest of us. What happened to the right to privacy? Judge Woods has allowed her Court Room to be turned into a 3 ring circus where the rule of law appears to be governed by mob mentality. Sean Hannity unlike other members of the fake dishonest press is an out of the closet, Trump supporter. He is not a journalist like for instance the reporters on MSNBC and their frequent NY Times contributes who never express a personal opinion about Trump. lol. That is the difference. The NYTs wants it both ways. They pose as unbiased journalists when we all know they have an opinion about Trump and it is one of utter disdain and hatred. Stop the hypocrisy please. It is palpable.
2
The Constitution (Amend VI) states the accused in a criminal case has a right to pa public trial, which has been viewed as a public right to observe court proceedings. There is no constitutional right to have evidence in a court proceeding sealed. The identify of someone who has sought an attorney is usually not considered privileged. Apparently, Mr. Cohen's attorneys argued only that Cohen had a duty to not voluntarily disclose the client's name under New York State's ethical rules for attorneys and the Judge ruled that her order for him to do so relieved Mr. Cohen of that duty. So technically, whatever your think of the Judge's ruling, it was not a clear violation of Mr. Hannity's constitutional rights.
And it does't look to me that Judge Kimba turned the court room into a mob. If it it was Cohen's intent to protect Hannity, he could have had a an appeal brief in hand (as his attorneys threatened) or tried to quietly negotiated privilege review protocols with the US Attorneys.
15
Replace "Court Room" with "White House" and you'd paint a more accurate picture. It's typical to blame the press for reporting what you don't want to hear but it doesn't make it any less true. The bias is not within the media you despise but rather with those who hear Trump's words and don't acknowledge them and see his actions and brush them off as inconsequential when in fact, had ANY other political figure done the same, they would have excoriated him or her. I agree with you. Stop the hypocrisy! It IS palpable.
ps. I accidentally recommended your post. My bad
2
There is no hypocrisy. We have a public judicial system. It is called transparency. And there was no mob mentality in that courtroom.
This is not a manufactured Clinton investigation and projection will get you nowhere Steve.
1
I don't imagine, I expect that Cohen fed Hannity info on behalf of Trump for his Fox cable editorial show... If it's classified or sensitive concerning certain terminations.... this will be an American political nuclear meltdown.....
16
sean hannity would prefer to be known by his legal name, david dennison.
He also has an LLC in delaware that he uses to deposit money for um...entertainment expenses.
19
Sean Hannity has his own lawyer so what did he need from Michael Cohen? My bet is, Hannity needed a fixer.
32
A swamp certainly seems to be getting drained. Just not the swamp Mr. Trump expected.
I’m not one to laugh at others’ misfortunes, but Mr. Hannity certainly elicits from me a certain unique sense of schaudenfreude. HA!
19
What skeletons does he have in his closet?
12
Wouldn’t you just love to hear the conversation between Hannity and his wife as to why the services of Mr Cohen were requested?
17
If anyone finds news coverage of this on The Fox News website, please post.
12
As Fox news keeps insisting how guilty this president is not and how the FBI is corrupt and in the tank for HIllary. Well if you keep believing them, in spite of conflict of interest case like here, if you are listening to Hannity or Judge Jeanine as to how "good" Trump is and how bad the FBI is if this does not sway you to realize the kind of liars you are dealing with then, you are willfully blind and have a lot in common with the president as you also are completely untethered to truth.
10
So what does this have to do with Russian Collusion? How far are we going to allow an EX FBI director to investigate into the lives of Citizens on a Citizen at the time having sex with a porn star?
Didn't Mueller hound 2 citizens in the 80s-90s over ridiculous evidence until one killed himself for ruining his life? I think this is embarrassing for our Country...
Whats next Mueller going to investigate everyone that didn't vote for Hillary? Gimme a break......
What a bloody three ring circus this entire story is. If Trump didn't have the nuclear codes, it would be funny as opposed to terrifying.
I hope that "Mad Dog" can keep us safe.
How absurd is that?
12
If being willing to lower yourself for money is a definition of prostitution, what does that say about Hannity?
I think that in this case, Trump used Cohen to pay another prostitute.
4
Hannity can't even parse "Is you is or is you ain't?" honestly. America the Exceptional Nation - we do banana republic well here!
4
Hannity: “Michael Cohen has never represented me in any matter. I never retained him, received an invoice, or paid legal fees. I have occasionally had brief discussions with him about legal questions about which I wanted his input and perspective.”
Question: Why does Mr Cohen think you are a client, placing you in the top three of his client list, along with Mr. Trump and Mr. Broidy? The top three!!!
Hannity: “You and I have discussed this — they (Mr. Trump's enemies) are going to try to destroy Donald Trump.”
Answer: You mean the way you and your colleagues at the Fox Ministry of Propaganda did immediately after Clinton and Obama were elected?
Hannity:“I never claimed to be a journalist.”
Answer: Duh
15
Wouldn't it be great sweet justice if Sean Hannity goes down in all this!? Some lurid, criminal, fraud scheme or something....thick as thieves holds true?
12
How do you spell "collusion"? Hannity and the Russians? No, that's a stretch. How about Fox's beating the drums for Trump? That is no stretch.
9
Hannity is a propagandist and Trump sycophant. Fox is reality TV, and definitely not news. You are what you eat, and Fox viewers are gorging themselves on an unhealthy diet of misinformation. To have a discussion with an ardent Fox viewer is to enter an alternative, and deeply disturbing reality.
32
Since Michael Cohens talent seems to be to act as a bagman, the next question would seem to be, what bagman services did he render to Hannity. Did Hannity require Cohen to threaten some one, some women, some children about? FBI needs to examine Cohen and Trumps tax returns.
11
So many people are ready to throw Cohen under the bus, we're going to have to expand the fleet. The only obstacle to Cohen flipping is that he must have dealt with people even more unsavory than himself and knows what they're capable of. He might end up getting the Russian journalist treatment.
5
The clay feet of Trump and all his buddies is beginning to show. These guys are all just small time crooks who got thrust into the big time. Putin must be laughing his socks off at the bonus he got...or did he know how small time Trump really is and THATS the joke he has pulled off on America?
13
If a crack den gets raided, the crack-heads don't get to sort through the evidence and pull out anything that might incriminate them, unless the crack den is owned by an attorney, in which case it becomes client of attorney privilege. This is a nation of laws.
8
This is Poetic Justice, Karmic Stew; Hannity has gobbled down a scoop or two...
8
I take issue with calling Hannity a journalist. He is a modern day propagandist/conspiracy theorist in my opinion.
18
Notice Hannity never said Cohen wasnt paying HIM.
11
Don't worry
All will be leaked to the NYT and the Post
the "neutral" readers will direct the investigators where to look and what to look for
1
Just so I understand, Hannity denies ever paying Cohen for the legal advice. So he's just another playmate on Trump's payroll?
10
A lawyer that "fixes" the mistresses of rich, white, conservative men is a person Hannity gets "informal advice" on "legal matters" from? Hmmm
19
Mr. Hannity, a familiar face and voice here in the Deep South, is our home-grown version of a man in full. Give him a little slack here. If he had problems with meddlers, investigators or women, Cohen, the ultimate fixer, would have been a good choice among lawyers ready, willing and able to clean up messes. If this self-righteous fellow fathered a love child, no better lawyer than Mr. Cohen to strike a deal: cash for the woman, continued fame for the TV news star. Consequencies? That's at best an irritant for such God-fearing men who are busy protecting America from corruption by liberals and Democrats
8
Sorry Doc. No slack from me. Liberals and Democrats stand for good governance and the common good. Bad taste and judgement in the Deep South is not as compelling as rule of law and democracy.
1
Now we know what the real-face-of-fake news looks like.
14
I wonder what else Hannity and Trump shared.
7
Has Hannity been fired? Actually the Pravda is an example of independent journalism compared to Fox News.
7
If this whole thing was a script for a movie it would be rejected as too absurd, too far fetched. The criminals are too stereotypical, too much like cartoon characters. The plot with it's money laundering, mobsterism, made cabinet members, influence peddling, obstruction, collusion, payoffs, embezzlement, silencing witnesses, burying of news articles, crime-boss codes of loyalty, prostitutes, playboy models, love children, secret meetings in Prague, secret meetings in the Seychelles, right wing fascists, neo-Nazis, fixers, etc. etc. etc. It is as though the trump clan and their ilk watched the god-father movie over and over and then felt that they could do it one or two better in terms of criminality. We are living not in a movie, but in a cartoon. The sooner we can get out of this horror show the better.
22
What a waste for our country. This is a circus while there is real work to get done that is on hold while Trump is in the White House. The only good thing is that these people are being exposed so that maybe soon we can be rid of them and get back to proper business.
335
Excellent point. While both are major problems, the real shame isn’t the circus itself, but the neglect due to the distraction the circus causes. I disagree with Mr. Comey on one thing. We can’t afford to wait until 2020. We need to get back to the business of serving those who need it ASAP.
2
Don't forget the last quarter century of fake Clinton scandals and investigations. This is the essence of the Republican party.
2
Unfortunately, Trump is the JOKER in this circus.
1
If Hannity had chosen to use the present tense in his public statement it might have been something like "Cohen is preparing an NDA for a third party for me now" or "Cohen is planning to represent me soon".
Instead he chose to use past tense and said the following which may be true:
"Cohen has never represented me in any matter. I never retained him, received an invoice, or paid legal fees. I have occasionally had brief discussions with him" and "they never involved any matter between me and a third party.”
3
Wow.. and big deal...nothing burger. Who in this world didn't thing Hannity/Fox was not a shill for Trump.. the man and the network are such tools of the current version of the formerly named republican party...I don't think I would be shocked by the fact that Fox/Hannity have a welcome booth in the lobby of the white house.
8
In view of the unquestionable fact that most of the main-stream media is shilling for the Trump-haters, perhaps it contributes to the country's political health that one, and only one, channel sticks up for the Administration.
Those who agitate for shutting down Fox will just have to wait: While your Brave New World rides roughshod over freedom of speech at many colleges, it has not yet entirely eliminated political discussion.
And yes: Hannity is not much of a newsperson. But neither are the self-promoting clowns at CNN or MSNBC.
1
Welcome back to the spotlight Judge Wood. Who else remembers when Judge Wood was denied the position of Attorney General because she once had an undocumented person babysit? At the that the undocumented worker was in her household, it was not illegal to hire such persons. But, wow, the Republicans went full tilt! And now they sit back and allow our Democracy to be dismantled, brick by brick, sending the spoils to their billionaire enablers.
13
No matter how much my love and affection for the NY Times grows each day - and it does - please, please NY Times, don't quote Trump's Tweets as having any bearing on, well, anything. His personal attacks, unending raving against the media, "policy" changes (he actually has no policy) and constant self- aggrandizement, should not be used as a counter balance in a serious article about the forward movement of justice. That Trump, referencing the seizure of Michael Cohen's documents said it was "an attack on our country" when he really meant 'it's an attack on ME," which is what he always means - is not a quote worthy of repeating.
13
The biggest "problem" with Sean Hannity's denial that he was not a client of Coen is the fact that Cohen's attorney's labelled him one. Legal terminology matters.
11
Hannity is a propaganda stooge for the 'rougher-talking' neocon 'R' Vichy Party of this Empire to delude 'lower-information' citizen/'subjects' of the Empire, while guys like Freidman, the Wall Street Journal editorial page, and Joe Scarbough's "Mourning Joe Show" are the 'smoother-talking' neoliberal-con 'D' Vichy Party's softer pitch-men to fool self-confident liberal and better informed 'subjects' of precisely the same Empire.
It's quite likely that the rougher side of the Vichy Empire's facade will fall apart before the later is even perceived.
2
I suppose Bernie Sanders is the Charles de Gaulle in this analogy, non?
2
Bernie's biggest lapse, by far, is not defining an 'object' of his own two-word 'sound-bite' campaign slogan "Political Revolution" --- and not defining a short, but complete 'action sentence', as "Political Revolution Against Empire".
No guts no glory, --- nor presidency, eh?
2
Lorem, at least de Gaulle did not, like Marshall Petain, agree to front for the "Occupying" Nazi EMPIRE, while it was trying to hide behind an old-style single party Vichy regime.
While Bernie lacked the courage to overtly 'expose' this far more modern and sophisticated dual-party Vichy-political facade, which has co-opted "Democracy in America?" [Gilens and Page], at least Bernie was not seeking office in order to profit by keeping this last Empire quietly obscured from 'we the American people'.
BTW, Lorem, I'm less concerned with Sinclair's type of 'Must Read' propagandist "Editorials", than we should all be concerned with the type of 'Can't Read' Editorials in much of the MSM, which does not have the courage to ever allow anyone to voice that most taboo term, "Empire" in America.
Over time, many informed Americans will come to understand the courage of the "Times" in not knuckling over to Empire.
1
There is nothing illegal with using Cohen as a lawyer. As much as Cohen would like to flatter himself, he is no Tom Hagen and a real mob boss would have thrown him in the lake for incompetency long time ago.
The troubling aspect with the Trump circle is that lying and secrecy are their second nature. It is troubling how many people are willing to be suckers and believe in people like Trump and Hannity. It is funny to read these comments defending Hannity and Trump, until you realize these comments were not satires.
9
I wonder if Hannity will soon be taking some time off to spend with his family or maybe go on a “pre-planned” vacation that no one knew about.
8
Trump and his crony inner circle appear more and more like Putin's oligarchs.
9
Well, finally I understand what the Trump supporters mean when they complain about a ''Deep §tate.'' Its actually them and the corrupting money, ideology, and propaganda which manufactures their beliefs. It's time to go on the offensive and expose all of this for what it really is, anti-democratic bunk brought to you by the likes of Fox News and Friends.
14
When they fall, they will fall harder...
4
Cohen reminds me in a way of "It's all Good man" but he is way more incompetent.
Fans of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul will understand.
3
In 2015 Hannity said “I never claimed to be a journalist.”
Very convenient, normal standards don't apply, and Fox doesn't need to fire their best horse for breaking them.
6
Hannity's dealings with Cohen were 'almost exclusively' about real estate.
...But then Cohen uses real estate and mortgages to fund payoffs to pornstars.
It's the Trumpian form of banking.
13
And a love nest certainly qualifies as real estate.
Sooner or later, we'll find out who's in it, and that's why he was embarrassed.
5
Could be Hannity just discussed "laundry" facilities in regard to the real estate, just like little Donnie Jr discussed 'adoptions 'with the Russians.
I've heard that Russians have lots of laundry to do in their real estate.
It's starting to look like Hannity is a part of The Family.
11
And lurking behind all of this, a man who has been overtly influencing and shaping the outcomes of wars, elections and much else in multiple countries for decades. All almost completely unchecked. All whilst propagating his own brand of righteous economic and social conservatism. Ladies and gentlemen, may I present Mr Rupert Murdoch.....
9
Rupert Murdoch. A man as loathsome as they come. Whose employees hacked into the voicemail of a murder victim and deleted messages so they could sell copies of his filthy tabloid.
The man has nothing to be righteous about. In this world or the next.
6
Hannity is of low moral character if he can not see the clear fact he should have disclosed his relationship with Mr. Cohen before opining on the issues at hand.
9
Can't disagree with the 'low moral character' but "dumb" would also suffice. And knowing his listeners are dumber.
1
Mr. Cohen's other two clients are in the "Pretty Naughty Boys" league. Just how did the newcomer earn his spurs here?
5
Ya gotta have bone spurs to be a client? Wow.
Cohen was supposedly taping conversations with his clients.
3
Look on the bright side, Mr Hannity. This will not diminish people's confidence in your journalistic integrity one iota.
6
That Hannity didn't reveal this relationship as a matter of course totally discredits him as any kind of member of a news organization, even one as sleazy as Fox News. I don't care if he was consulting Cohen over a jay-walking ticket.
I don't know how my estimation of Fox News could have gotten any lower, but Sean, you managed it.
15
It's problematic. Hannity should be fired.
3
Cohen, trump and hannity embody all that is wrong with humanity.
9
Trump, Cohen, Hannity...is this that Deep State I about which I keep hearing?
3
I have been wondering for a while who exactly is setting the agenda and writing the endlessly repeated and magnified talking points at Fox News these days? After all, Roger Ailes is no longer with us....it raises the question of who is the "scriptwriter" these days....a question worthy of investigation that probably includes Hannity.
5
Defying all laws of physics and morals, Trump’s poll numbers seem to rise with every bit of negative news (scratches head, trots off to get a big glass of wine). Fox viewers will now send them soaring as their boy Sean will be smugly confirmed as being close to God.
2
I really haven't able to watch Sean Hannity since Hannity & Colmes. Sean by himself is too obnoxious and biased. But I really enjoyed the first episode of Hannity & Cohen. This looks like it is going to be a big hit.
7
Why is this news? So what if Sean Hannity is a client of Micheal Cohen. I don't see a problem. If anything, this is merely a coincidence. Let's get back to reporting the news that truly affects the nation, the world, and beyond. Thank you.
1
Let's presume that Cohen did not bill nor get paid in actual money for services rendered.Scrape the dirt off the bottom of the shoe and you will probably find a quid pro quo ,favor. ordered by trump for Cohen to help out his pal and chief propagandist Hannity.
Further, Fox Faux News should fire Hannity for his not revealing his relationship with Cohen particularly in light of Hannity's scathing rants about the FBI seizure of Cohen's records and files. Of course, the ethics issues at a network like Fox are questionable to begin with.
6
Well,well, well, now we know why hannity was such a big trump cheerleader. I wonder what the "fixer" fixed for him?
4
Hannity's ratings continue upward as real estate deal advice could be revealed, as a free advertisement for all on how to prosper in real estate. One big infomercial for Hannity.
The trump-fox-hannity base will no doubt hold together through this. I'm well past wondering if Fox or Hannity are sources of legitimate information. I'm well past wondering if Trump is a unfit as President and dangerous to our country. My concern now is the 36% of voters who are still supporting this obvious fraud. A large group of unhinged people could really do serious damage.
6
We are all anxiously waiting to hear what this hypocrite really did. He is the president's cheerleader and his has a lot of sheep that follow him without ever questioning his motives.
It is as though those that work for Fox "news" work for and advise this administration.
Boycott the companies that advertise for Hannity.
3
I’ve always found Hannity repulsive. He should be fired from FOX for misleading his sheep. If it were Anderson Cooper’s name or Lester Holt’s name revealed in that courtroom, they would have gone the way of Matt Lauer. Hannity is a stain on his network. But then again, I don’t watch FOX.
5
"On his radio show, Hannity said Cohen was never involved in any matter between him and any third party." Sure, because we all go to lawyers to settle disputes with ourselves.
8
Hannity is another dissembler in the long list of Trump supporters. Why the shock to anyone?
2
Enough. Just create a new government agency, the Department of Trump Worship, and put the staff of Fox News on the payroll.
2
Together, might Trump, Hannity, and Cohen know how and when to fix America's ailing infrastructure?
1
Tuned into Hannity last night just to see if, after yesterday's events, his face would be wearing its usual, insufferable smirk, and yes, there it was just as big and unwatchable as ever. Immediately, changed the channel and made myself a cup of tea to settle my stomach. How do people watch this guy night after night after night?
5
This is gonna be an amazing movie some day.
2
Hannity is Trump's faux news attack dog and he does not keep his association with Trump secret. Why did he want to remain anonymous.
2
A ship of fools. Having spent more than a year obfuscating, lying and obstructing, they expect no one to have noticed their activity and use it in judgment of their contemporaneous words and actions. Given the camaraderie amongst the three main players I think it is likely that Cohen was getting paid by Trump to assist Hannity in exchange for Hannity being the Trump mouth that he is. When all is said and done, that will possibly be what brings down the whole house of cards. Hope it does, and soon.
3
An ethically challenged entertainer masquerading as a journalist, an ethically challenged fixer from a minor league law school masquerading as an attorney for the President of the USA and an ethically and morally challenged con artist and pathological liar masquerading as the president of the USA.
What could possibly go wrong?
The Three Stooges redux.
7
Except that the Three Stooges were funny and beloved by hundreds of millions of fans.
These guys...not so much.
1
Watergate all over again.
2
Wait a minute. Did Stephenapolis, the obama and clinton panderer, interview Patrice Comey about being devastated by Hillary's loss? I love partisan media with a mission.
Don't worry, Sean. There's always Dancing with the Stars. And I think there are openings for announcers for the afternoon grain and hog prices in Nebraska.
5
And here I thought special counsel Muller was all about a legitimate investigation into Trump's supposed collusion with Russia's interference in the election.
Now, with that failed investigation under Mueller's belt, what we do know is that it's really all about Trump haters on both sides of the aisle having set in motion a 'Ken Starr' type of unlimited prosecution machine with the sole unspoken political purpose of sabotaging Trump's Presidency.
2
Sweetie - Mueller isn't finished yet. (I'm sure much to your dismay....) These investigations take time.
3
I don't see how Hannity is guilty of a crime. He may have committed journalistic malpractice in not disclosing his relationship with Cohen if he reported in a news report, however most news nowadays is open commentary which is not journalism. I don't see how his status as a client was not protected by lawyer- client confidentiality. You won't likely hear this expressed by anyone else writing to or for the NYTs because instead of real news it is "all Trump all the time". For instance, how does the FBI connect the pornstar with Russia, to justify this search of Cohen's office?
36
Let's let Mr. Mueller do his job, shall we?
5
who said he committed a crime? Names of clients have never been protected by attorney-client confidentiality. The privilege only covers content of actual communications and then only to extent the communications contain legal advice. Perhaps you should learn to at least use Google if you did not go to law school. Also, if you have been following the news you would realize that Cohen is suspected of being a liaison between the campaign and Russia, especially its now clear that he lied about meeting Russian in Europe
10
Have you seen any evidence? No. No one has. Don't jump to conclusions or make preemptive judgments. Wait for some evidence. Hannity may be completely innocent of any crime. Then again he may not be.
4
The rage and disgust engendered by Fox News' and Hannity's entanglement with Trump and their ongoing manipulation of public opinion via pro-Trump disinformation cannot be adequately expressed. I regard it as subversive and treasonous when any person or entity seeks to undermine the rule of law via our public airwaves. It is past time that the FTC do its job and investigate these two treasonous forces who serve Trump to the detriment of our nation.
589
What if Hannity isn't really associated with Cohen in legal matters and only offered himself as a shill to give Trump cover. He says he never had him on retainer or paid him any fees so there may not be any record of transactions with Cohen and Hannity. In either case if he isn't truly a client then there's no attorney client privileges.
4
A huge issue for our democracy in ALL of what is occurring is that it has become normalized--certainly by Trump supporters but even by those who would rather see him gone. There is such a disconnect from government and a sentiment that what government and its officials do really has no bearing on individual citizens. It is almost like a reality show for both Trump supporter, who think the man and is minions are great leaders, and for Trump opponents, including citizens who would never have voted for him. The Trump supporters think his behavior is normal; the Trump opponents think his behavior is normal for Trump.
Sometimes it feels like a (very regrettable and somewhat desperate) game: turn on the news or consult online MSM to see and hear about the latest act in a farce. Unfortunately, this is not being performed on a stage in a theater that we can exit after the final curtain. This REALLY, REALLY, REALLY is abnormal. Though understandable, reacting with glee to the Hannity/Cohen reveal shows how low they, and maybe we, have fallen.
7
RE: " saying that he had never paid him for his services"
It seem that, according to Cohen and Trump, that such payment isn't expected or received. Out of the goodness of his own heart Cohen will take actions to protect "friends" and pay for out of court settlements. He is truly a great guy and of independent and enormous wealth to have so many non-clients for whom he is willing to spend his own money and time.
32
Mr. Hannity says he "never received an invoice" from Mr. Cohen, indicating what?
Since when is Mr. Cohen in the business of giving out free advice? Or is it possible Mr. Hannity took out a $130,000 mortgage on his house to pay Mr. Cohen, without an invoice? The "no invoice" is as unbelievable as the Donald Trump who says he "didn't know" about the huge payment from Mr. Cohen, allegedly, to Stormy Daniels. A big propaganda TV star makes a good salary, enough to pay his lawyer.
29
Hannity has protested that, “Predictably, without knowing all or frankly any of the facts, the media went completely insane.” I guess the irony is lost on this man who helped Trump spread insane birther theories about President Obama and who disgustingly spread the false conspiracy theory that Seth Rich was killed for alleged ties to Wikileaks.
72
Very simply Hannity was obligated to disclose that Cohen was his legal counsel during every story he has ever done that included him by the most basic journalist or opinion pundit standards.
Alternatively he NOT a client and therefore there has already been perjury by the Cohen legal counsel by lying that he was a client.
Either way the quality of these people on the Cohen team is of the lowest standards and either Hannity needs to be suspended by Fox or Cohen should face charges of lying.
A lawyer that has one client, with a free lance favor for the RNC does not have a practice, he is a full time Donald Trump employee.
73
Long live the independent journalism that beacons through darkest moments so far! Bravo!!
81
I wish there were some kind of cosmic camera that could take a composite shot of all faces simultaneously recording their shock at the revelation. To say it was priceless watching the news last night is an understatement.
Stormy's lawyer--invariably entertaining, but not always objective for obvious reasons--described the moment in the courtroom as a "bomb going off." He had nearly instant confirmation as I changed the channel and a female reporter in court that day used the phrase "a bomb going off."
When is it going to get through to this country that everything that evident during the campaign--grotesque sexism, financial chicanery, a known criminal record, endless lawsuits, bullying, threats and mob tactics--is what this is all about? It is what it is. This criminality is reductio ad absurdum to the nth degree.
It doesn't get better or go away or become benign with the passage of time. We have a deeply dangerous man in the White House. We have equally corrupt men surrounding him. We have in Hannity and FOX a corrupt propaganda machine, and it is precisely that mechanism --propaganda--that propped up all of the dictators of the past.
The window for safe action in containing the menace this administration poses to world stability is closing fast; it was only ever propped open an inch or two anyway when this country chose the man who brayed about shooting someone in the street without consequence.
It's time to prove we're a nation of laws, not threats and bullies.
105
Every single day for months, there has been some incredible revelation in matters relating to this administration. I just hope that our democracy survives the final act.
68
In fact, and most unfortunately, the daily revelations you rightly, if w/o particular reference, address, are, as you surely mean, credible revelations.
Please excuse the pedant in me. I just can't stand the near universal use of "incredible" as if it meant credible (and the use of "unbelievable" where the subject might be shocking -- but all too believable). (While I'm at it, I can't resist registering my pique at the near constant use of "between you and I"-- where, as the object of the preposition "between," 'tis not rightly I, but "me" -- by people in the business of media and communications, nor the near constant offerings by these same, supposed-to-be professionally-educated 'communicators,' of an impossible qualification of "unique" as, e.g., "very" unique.)
Sorry ... I may very well deserve excommunication from commenting; but I hope that a "rejected for publication" of this rant in needless (or non-reply) "reply", as expected, will be my only punishment.
2
While attorney-client privilege protects most communications between a client and attorney, the crime-fraud exception to the privilege means that a client’s communication to an attorney is not privileged if he gave any indication of an intention to commit or cover up any criminal activity or fraudulent activity. As a former prosecutor, it is impossible not to conclude that Hannity was required to disclose his relationship with Cohen. It is telling that even Alan Dershowitz, who forever kowtows to Fox, Trump, and Hannity, criticized Hannity for not disclosing his relationship with Cohen. As was stated in the Atlantic today: "We now know, however, that his coverage represents a huge conflict of interest. By concealing-not just by omission, but by commission, in requesting that his involvement be kept anonymous-his relationship with Cohen when he made these comments, Hannity misled his viewers and listeners." Hannity in no way gets a pass if he tries to pretend he's only a commentator. As Kathleen Bartzen Culver, director of the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin stated you don't escape "the realm of ethics" just because you "move into the realm of opinion." Commentators" are "still be expected to maintain independence from subjects they covering and disclose relevant ties…This is not a small matter ...We're talking about one of the most important new stories of this time and he (Hannity) did not disclose his connection to it while commenting on it."
80
Wow, who would have guessed that Sean Hannity would have overshadowed Stormy Daniels?
34
The Kings of fake news: Hannity and Fox, along with Sinclair!!!
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If Hannity admits to not being a journalist, than what exactly is he? A blowhard with no idea of what's true or false who doesn't really care what he says since it's all about his ratings, money and access? A Patriot Pretender who sees cash in rallying the Midwest disenfranchised and jobless yet does not have anything of substance to say that will really help them? Fox is a sorry joke that cannot find its way back to serious and honest debate so it keeps doubling down on false perceptions to mislead its viewers. Hannity, Cohen, Trump...slime-ball "birds of a feather..." There is a taint now for anyone who associates with any of them and our government is engulfed in their self-dealing swamp gas. Money laundering is the ultimate final straw before impeachment. Vamos a ver...
1
In some ways, it's hard to know what's going on here. Could be a bit of legal advice on innocuous matters, could be fixer work, could be some mix, could be something else that we don't expect.
What's comparatively clearer is that government agents are in charge of some people's confidential communications with Cohen, whether privileged or not. I just got back from visiting the homes of Anne Frank and Corrie ten Boom in Holland. I thought we were better than this. Not so sure now.
8
Are you seriously trying to claim some equivalence between the innocent Anne Frank and the powerful people under investigation here? People with known histories of shady financial dealings and friendly contact with enemies of the United States?
Shaking my head.
89
And what is your point? That the characters engulfed in this deepening scandal are “helpless” victims of radical regime represented by the law enforcement? I think you probably did not understand the Anne Frank tragedy at all. Neither Mr.Trump nor Mr.Cohen nor Mr.Hannity have become targets for the investigations because of their race or heritage or religion. We are not living in a fachist country - but comments like yours seem to reveal that there is a certain part of the population that is sympathetic to that idea...and that includes unfortunately the current President....in my opinion.
35
Kosher Dill, did you forget that Anne's dad and family were said to have shady financial dealing and friendly contacts with enemies of the Dutch state?
I think It is important to remind ourselves that Hannity instructing Cohen, in itself, does not constitute anything improper whatsoever. Neither is it an indication of anything improper. Rejoicing or speculation are quite out of place here.
9
Transparency and disclosure can be expected, at the least, if there are what appears to be very special relations.
18
As a former journalist, I can tell you what is quite out of place is Hannity frothing over the raid on Cohen's offices without disclosing his links to the man. That is an unambiguous lack of ethics. That is worth getting angry about.
73
The improper act was that Hannity goes on the air nightly and rails against Mueller, the DOJ, the FBI and anyone that is investigating the credible and serious allegations of wrong doing by Trump. But perhaps part of the reason he's such and ardent defender of Trump isn't because it's justified by improper actions on the part of the government, but because Hannity is in some way caught up in this. Perhaps it's merely embarrassing items but it's something that Hannity should have disclosed to his viewers so they could make a decision on whether his own personal interest in this case was clouding his judgement.
11
Cohen clearly did not want to reveal Hannity was a client. Hannity likewise
did not want Cohen to reveal he was a client. So they both preferred their relationship be kept secret.
Yet, Cohen for some reason felt compelled to identify Hannity as a client.
Why?
My guess is that Hannity's relationship with Cohen was more extensive
and professional than Hannity claims. And, Cohen has written records of
his meetings/conversations with Hannity. Finally, Cohen was told by his
attorney that he (Cohen) would be putting himself in legal jeopardy if he didn't acknowledge Hannity was a client.
That's my explanation for why Cohen outed Hannity.
And, if I'm right, it means Hannity is not being honest
about the amount of legal services Cohen did for Hannity.
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Cohen said that he had had three actual legal clients recently. Was he asked by the judge, vis-a-vis attorney-client privilege? Or did he just volunteer this information? If he was asked then he had no choice but to answer truthfully keeping in mind that the Feds have the documents. So in these documents there is proof that he worked as a lawyer for Hannity. Fascinating. Will the details be revealed? Probably only if there was something crooked about it.
18
Sean Hannity not honest? I’m shocked I tell you, shocked!
2
It means that Cohen knows they seized either recorded conversations or lots or documents that would make Hannity out as a liar, and most likely a co-conspitaor in the treasonous actions of Trump and friends. You can't really believe Cohen's lawyers are so stupid as to have actually lied to the judge do you?
Attorney-Client privilege is OWNED by the Client. who can decide to forego confidentiality. If the Client speaks to a 3rd person, Attorney-Client privilege is gone. If 3rd party overhears the Client and the Attorney, the privilege is gone. Hannity is a cheapskate if he sought legal advice from Cohen without paying him. 10 Clients for Cohen? I think they are "padding the list" with Hannity. What exactly does Cohen do for "his clients?" It MUST be legal advice to maintain the confidentiality of Attorney-Client privilege. Business advice is NOT covered under the privilege.
28
I have been a practicing lawyer for more than 38 years. The attorney-client privilege protects the content of communications from the client to the attorney. It also protects the content of advice and communications from the attorney back to the client, to the extent that the attorney's advice and communications contain or reflect (or could be inferred from) information that the client gave in confidence to the attorney.
It's true that if the client gives the otherwise-privileged information to a third party or allows a third party (who is not a co-client) to attend a meeting or listen in on a phone call with the attorney, the attorney-client privilege does not apply or is lost.
As for "business advice": Sometimes, it's difficult to draw the line between "legal advice" and "business advice." If a lawyer gives advice and if the content of that advice includes or refers to information that the client gave in confidence to the lawyer, or if what the client told the lawyer can be inferred from the content of the lawyer's advice, it does not matter whether the advice is labeled "business advice" or "legal advice"; the attorney-client privilege will apply -- not to the advice itself, but to the information that the client gave to the lawyer in confidence.
Sean Hannity's example muddies things further. He may have considered himself to have no attorney-client relationship at all with Cohen. No attorney-client relationship means no privilege.
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The principle of client-lawyer confidentiality is given effect by related bodies of law: the attorney-client privilege, the work product doctrine and the rule of confidentiality established in professional ethics.
The attorney-client privilege and work product doctrine apply in judicial and other proceedings in which a lawyer may be called as a witness or otherwise required to produce evidence concerning a client.
The rule of client-lawyer confidentiality applies in situations other than those where evidence is sought from the lawyer through compulsion of law.
The confidentiality rule, for example, applies not only to matters communicated in confidence by the client but also to all information relating to the representation, whatever its source. A lawyer may not disclose such information except as authorized or required by the Rules of Professional Conduct or other law.
3
Ten clients. Wow, the pick of the litter. There are lawyers in the South Bronx who may be flipping burgers now, because they had only ten clients.
Now the ball is in the court of the Fox News execs. Will they preserve their ratings and revenue or their already laughable pretense of journalistic ethics? What a terrible choice to have to make. Maybe Hannity could be shifted to a job commenting on sports or religion.
67
Yes on Religion! Sean Hannity - the next "Man of God" after Roy Moore! A man the Evangelicals can rally 'round!
4
People here seem to be responding to the legal case, whether Hannity is a client, whether his communication with Cohen should be protected. That is pertinent and important.
But there is another issue, and it is journalistic, not necessarily legal. He went to lengths to conceal his personal involvement with one side of a news story while passionately supporting that side and castigating the other side.
That would be a firing offense in any honest news organization I know of. From a journalistic viewpoint, Hannity is crooked.
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"That would be a firing offense in any honest news organization I know of."
Well this *is* Fox News-Entertainment we're talking about.
1
Sometimes journalists have personal relationships with those they cover. After all, that can happen with those who travel in the same social sphere. Hannity's ethical lapse in this matter is the failure to disclose those relationships, hence depriving his audience of accuracy assessing his agenda. If Hannity worked for the Times, CBS or most any other legitimate media organization, executives would demand an explanation and require public disclosure at minimum and most likely fire him. Thankfully for Hannity, he works for Fox, so unless it poses costly legal problems for the network he has nothing to worry about since standard journalistic ethics are apparently not in the manual.
You can't make this stuff up! But lord it's getting wearying.
90
The only reason Hannity's name came out is because there are documents (e-mails, tapes?) in Cohen's possession and today's performance was a desperate attempt to attach attorney/client privilege to them.
44
And Sean Hannity's immediate and strong rejection that Cohen was ever acting as his attorney blew that chance. Classic.
Absolutely no other reason.
1
But Hannity said he didn’t get legal advice from Cohen - no legal advice, no att’y-client privilege. Sorry Hannity, you can’t having it both ways...but not to worry, your audience believes whatever DJT says so they’ll believe whatever you say.
What is a client seems to be at the heart of this issue. My non legal understanding is that a client is a person who pays you for your services. One is not a client if no money is exchanged and the advice is given freely, whether it is at a dinner table or office. The exception would be a Pro Bono client. SO the question here would appear to be, did money change hands. If Sean paid for services he's a client. If he did not, he is not. Which begs the question, why did Cohen say he was.
55
Douglas, your are close to the nub of it. There are circumstances in which lawyer client communications will be privileged, even if the lawyer is not paid for her work. The clearest case would be pro bono work. Hannity's problem is he claims both that he is not Cohen's client, 'in the formal sense' as he puts it, but that their communications are also privileged. He can't have it both ways. Also Cohen has told the court Hannity is his client, only to have that assertion called into question by Hannity himself. And of course the FBI assert what Cohen does for his 3 clients is not legal work at all and very little if any of his papers would be privileged. Finally if the communications are in furtherance of a crime or fraud, privilege will not protect them. Ultimately Judge Wood will decide the question and supply a fascinating case study for law students for decades.
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Hopefully Cohen's bank records and offshore accounts (Bank of Cypress, Panama, Deutsch Bank, etc.) are traceable and will reveal how he got paid and by whom.
42
Apparently this all started with a gimmick: if I give you, Mr. Lawyer, some small sum of money voila! our conversation becomes privileged and we can discuss all manner of illegal actions with impunity.
Not a lawyer but I doubt the Law can be trifled with in this manner.
7
This is interesting. It appears that it is more important to Hannity to distance himself from Cohen and more important to Cohen to have Hannity as a client with client/attorney privilege. What is going on? The Judge should drag both of them into court to sort it out.
104
This makes little sense. Cohen only listed three legal clients. I assume there is evidence showing Cohen did legal work for said clients. Cohen also attempted to hide Hannity’s name, because Hannity *was* Cohen’s legal client. If hannity was not Cohen’s client, there would be no need to hide Hannity’s name!
Yet some conservatives sound as though the court *forced* Cohen to label Hannity a client, when it only forced Cohen to release names of clients—names of people that Cohen admitted were clients.
Now Hannity says Cohen was not his lawyer and only provided minor legal counsel. If that is the case, wouldn’t Cohen potentially have dozens of “not-really clients” he is also providing with advice? And if it was such minor advice, why would Cohen try to hide their relationship?
Conservatives are claiming this is a normal, friendly relationship that has been blown out of proportion. But if that is the case, wouldn’t Cohen have more than 1 relationship like this? And why would Cohen be forced to divulge Hannity as a client if Hannity wasn’t?
The only way this makes sense is if Hannity is lying. If Hannity was Cohen’s client and if what Cohen did for Hannity was troubling.
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And how did Mr. Cohen pile up so much money with only three clients, one of whom is renowned for never paying his bills? I'm sorry but even with three very rich clients, with a lot of "business" deals to sort through, I don't see how Mr. Cohen could have been employed full time for all of these years. Something is not making sense.
19
Joanna, the article says Cohen listed 10 clients in 2017. Your focus on his work for all of these years is misplaced.
Not only a client who is known for not paying bills, but for whom Cohen paid $130,000 to Ms Daniels without any reimbursement out of 'the goodness in his heart' obtaining the funds from another mortgage? Your last sentence says it all.
I don’t see how this is anybody’s business except Cohen and Hannity. This “investigation” is now totally out of control. For those who disagree, consider the shoe on the other foot test. Would it be a scandalous abuse of power if the FBI had raided Hillary Clinton’s lawyer’s office and it was subsequently discovered that Rachel Maddox was also a client? Of course it would. The real life scenario is just as abusive.
10
Come on. Hillary Clinton has been investigated for over thirty years now. Not a single civil or criminal charge has ever been filed against her. That's why her offices have never been raided. The reason why Cohen's office and house and hotel room were invaded is because a judge ruled that there was probably cause for the raid based on the information provided by the FBI. This is the real life scenario.
172
If Hillary Clinton's lawyer had also been implicated in criminal activity, then yes, that lawyer's other clients would be of interest. And please, let's not be disingenuous: ANY famous client of Hillary Clinton's lawyer would be seen as fair game by a substantial percentage of the American people.
67
Well if said FBI raid was to execute a valid search warrant, that would tell us that a Federal Judge thought the lawyer was quite likely to destroy evidence.
I imagine that you would tell us that that's terrible slander on a fine, upstanding lawyer, Michael Cohen. But the judge saw some evidence that said otherwise. Apparently no judge has seen such evidence about any of Mrs. Clinton's lawyer. Are you in possession of such evidence? No, actually ravings by the likes of Hannity or Limbaugh do not constitute evidence.
As for it only being Cohen & Hannity's business, they could at least get their stories straight, client or not a client? Also if there's evidence of crimes committed it becomes very much the business of the US Attorney, the judge and the FBI.
It is absolutely possible for Mrs. Clinton & Ms. Maddow to have had the same lawyer. If it was so it would likely be a matter of public record and there would be nothing even remotely scandalous about it unless Ms. Maddow had spoken about Mrs. Clinton & the lawyer on the air while not disclosing her involvement with the lawyer which would be a journalistic issue.
In any event, Mr. Hannity did not want his relationship with Mr. Cohen disclosed. Don't you wonder why?
42
It is astonishing that the talk-radio hosts did not even wait for a day to go after the judge in the Cohen case! Some of them seemed to be close to a massive heart attack basically screaming that this “liberal” judge is out there to get Mr.Trump. I am no sure what it will take to get the country back to normal after these radicals will be flushed out together with Mr.Trump - but I am sure the damage these people generated will have a long term impact.
145
I think the next POTUS will be the key. Whoever she or he is, whether Red or Blue, has to be a paragon of everything. Not some media celebrity (sorry Oprah fans) or some self-serving Ted Crux style maggot.
We will need someone who has spent a lifetime in public service and who has considered that to be a privilege and an honor to be of service.
After watching these hyenas have at it for the past two years we don't need someone to restore our faith in government or democracy. We need someone to restore our faith in humanity.
How can Hannity claim he thought his conversations with Cohen were confidential if he wasn't a client? Attorney/client privilege does have the word client in it.
139
David, the answer is very simple. Sometimes a person calls up a lawyer for a free consultation. The lawyer gives the person advice. This person never hires the lawyer. He may be considered a potential client or possible client but he never becomes an actual client. Perhaps he decides not to go forward with his case or he has a different lawyer.
Hannity wants it both ways - not a client (for his Fox audience) and he is a client to keep his activity, whatever it is, secret.
2
Nothing profound from me, just thank you for a terrific article!
75
So Hannity says that he is not a client of Cohen's, yet claims attorney-client privilege.
No wonder this guy is such a lame newscaster.
214
Pat, on many occasions, a person contacts a lawyer for advice only. A person may speak to the lawyer to see if he likes the lawyer and wants to hire him, but never actually hires the lawyer. That discussion should be privileged and confidential even if the lawyer is not ultimately hired.
"FOX News" is one of the reasons I no longer have a television. The other broadcast media is bad enough, but FOX is abysmally putrid.
I don't know a single lawyer who gives that kind of advice in an initial free consultation. It's mostly kept very broad and general, in the context of "If we go further, this is what I could potentially do for you." If that were the case, if that was what happened, then Cohen would have no reason to name Hannity in court as a client, if he wasn't. Fatso, you have to get over your cognitive dissonance, make up your mind and pick between supporting Hannity here, or supporting Cohen and Trump's other lawyers -- it can't be both.
People are focused on a Russian tape. The Russians are smarter than that. They spied on Trump in other countries, and maybe they spied on his family. So maybe it's Eric or Don Jr. with a prostitute in Brazil or Panama, or Donald Trump himself in the Philippines...
47
So basically, if Hannity's telling the truth about never having really been Michael Clayton's--oh, sorry, Michael Cohen's--clent, he's been getting onna TV and screamingly defending a lawyer who's a massive liar.
Okay, makes perfect sense.
42
Cohen graduated from Thomas Cooley Law School-Lansing Michigan. A 5th tier law school at best. Bottom of the barrel really. So much for Trump hiring only the best. LOL!!!
Anthony Gair represented the mother of Amadou Diallo.
Gair went to Cooley Law School.
Go ahead. Have another laugh.
30
It was reported on several news sources that Hannity spent Easter at Mar-a-Lago with Trump. Plotting and planning future propaganda? Was Cohen there too?
103
Even if it’s true, so what? That’s not a crime.
3
A price must always be paid to enjoy freedom. The notion of freedom is not a mere cliché or platitude!
2
Not criminal, but for a journalist it's unethical without full disclosure.
7
If Hannity insists he is not a client of Cohen, why does Cohen think he is?
115
Have you listened to Sean Hannity's inane babbling explanation for his relationship/non-relationship with Cohen? It's just precious to hear him twisting in the wind!
119
He did everything but say that his dog ate the homework.
Another classic was Cohen's appearance on Hannity's show, where he just happened to have his passport on him, and insisted that he couldn't have been in Prague because his passport didn't show that he had. Of course, he traveled in such a way that his passport would not have been stamped.
I also like the fabricated "conversation" that he supposedly had with Trump, where he reassured Trump (who sent him there) that he hadn't gone there.
What a Dog-and-Pony show.
The tough thing about lying is remembering your story.
2
Don’t close Guantanamo yet.
91
Was Hannity with Stormy Daniels? In the Moscow hotel room?
Am I watching TV news, or a new David Lynch mashup of House of Cards and Twin Peaks?
66
Did Trump pay? What does Cohen have on Hannity - the progenitor of fake news?
48
So if I understand all this correctly, and I do, the teensiest and flimsiest connect between Hillary Clinton and whoever (once stopped at the same farm stand as Karl Marx' third cousin once removed grand-grand nephew!) leads inexorably back to Saul Alinsky, but hey, Hannity, nothing to see, move along.
Okay. Personally, I couldn't enjoy the shrieking more if the fourth client were Rush Limbaugh's pharmacist. Okay, all his pharmacists.
100
“I never claimed to be a journalist.” Maybe the only honest words that have ever passed his lips.
177
Why would Cohen's team name Hannity as a client, if he wasn't? They must know the new evidence will disclose this. And if Hannity was a client, why is he denying it? There must be something he wants to hide. Sex payoff, probably.
Some people say (copyright Fox News) Hannity may be guilty of colluding with the Russians. I know of no direct evidence of that, but if Hannity and Fox can run a "News" network on speculation then I can speculate about Hannity.
101
exactly. what's so wrong with the world knowing cohen is your lawyer? :)
Could this explain the white house leaks? Has there been secret back channel conversations between Trump and Hannity facilitated by Cohen as a way for Trump to get a message out to the public and even Russia without ties to the White House? Could the tapes and files prove that Trump himself is the leaker?
58
This was my immediate question as well. It makes perfect sense, given how the President - as recently as last week - has touted Hannity's show on twitter as a "must watch." I wondered when I saw that tweet last week: how does he know what is going to be on Hannity's show? Well, if you're telling your attorney to tell Hannity the spin you want promoted, it makes sense. And, perhaps Cohen has Hannity on tape discussing what to say, thus the lame "he's my third client" idea.
Back during the campaign, Hannity made a big deal on his show that he was willing to allow any GOP candidate to be interviewed on the show, but he never seemed to find time for anyone but Trump. Makes sense now. The deal was already struck between Hannity-Cohen-Trump.
31
Agree 100%. The Tweet telling people to watch Hannity meant *something*, for sure. It was totally out of the blue, unrelated to anything else the president was doing at the time. Helping his ratings perhaps? Keeping eyeballs of the faithful away from a story on other networks? Giving Hannity leverage with his bosses at Fox? Some sort of message?
Wow, now that would be a bombshell !
You can’t make this stuff up’
42
Cohen was supposed to be a king in "Confidentiality Agreements"...
He seems to be as good as Trump in his work.LOL
39
A cynic might see a conspiracy theory developing...
20
I can see the following conspiracy: Mueller and the FBI going after Hannity because he’s been so critical of them.
Mueller's investigation of this corrupt buffoon and man baby masquerading as the accidental president on training wheels is not why Cohen's house, office and hotel room were raided.
The raid was conducted legally by the office of the Southern District of New York.
I wish people would better understand what happened in this instance.
But I guess they can't if they are watching Fox News or listening on the radio to that drug addict Limbaugh.
1
All this messy stuff is really going to turn into a true-life crime novel, the kind of which we have not had since the NYTimes best seller "Naked Came the Stranger" by Penelope Ashe. Remember that one, folks?
8
Anyone who watched "Breaking Bad" knows that all you need to create an atty/client relationship is $1.00. Hannity was into Cohen for $10.00. Like Jessie said, "We need a CRIMINAL attorney." Life imitating art. Ya gotta love it.
21
Hope Hannity gets brought in for questioning. It would bring to mind the famous Wanda Sykes line at the Correspondents Dinner ...... " I could break Hannity by making him sit in a middle seat in coach ".
44
Thank you Barry for the best laugh of the day.
discussing real estate pro bono with Trump's mouthpiece/cheerleader. Yep, nothing to see here....
25
My guess: Hannity and Cohen discussed foreign adoption rules.
119
LOL - Perfect!
"Fair and Balanced."
Fair as in very white, and about as balanced as a water slide.
Just in case you never thought FOX was part of the right-wing deep state, there's a little more grist to chew on.
29
"After Mr. Hannity was named, there were audible gasps from the spectators."
_____
Would have loved to have been there to see it.
This has got to be the both the most frightening and most 'entertaining' presidential administration in US history.
52
yeah, a whole democracy's worth of entertainment.
The wheels of justice are slowly turning.
Democracy has a slow, steady yet faint heartbeat.
God Bless America
57
"The wheel is turning and you can't slow down,
You can't let go and you can't hold on,
You can't go back and you can't stand still,
If the thunder don't get you then the lightning will."
22
The wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round,
'Round and 'round,
'Round and 'round.
The wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round...
And then, they fall off and the bus runs over everyone who was on it.
3
The majority of TV journalists are mostly guided by fame and money. The best way to get both is thru appeasing your base and increasing ratings while on-air by any means possible. I bet his ratings will now go even higher since this association with Cohen is out. Many "journalists" don't just want to read the teleprompter, they want to BE the news. Celebrity and money rule. 24-hour news programs are not news in the helpful informative sense, they are shows trying to keep you glued to their show. And each show has its base to keep happy.
8
I don't think you understand the difference between what a journalist is and what a news presenter is....Hannity is neither, to be clear.
1
Hannity is not a journalist and he does not have a News show on Fox. News required facts and stories need to be true and factual. Hannity has an opinion show on Fox. It's an entertainment show where Hannity says whatever he wants without having to provide any facts, support or backup to all of his ludicrous statements. The 3.2 million people that view Hannity should know that Hannity is not real. All of it is just Sean Hannity's opinion, nothing more. If people want the real and hard news they need to look elsewhere because Hannity is the furthest away from journalistic news.
58
Watching from afar I think opinion show is a bit of stretch only his opinion matters he talks over the top of people who disagree with him on his favourite subject "President Trump" well his defence of him.
12
Lest we forget, Trump has other "friendships" with Fox hosts. "Judge" Piro, for instance, is an old family friend who is writing an "authorized" book about his Presidency.
The revelation about Hannity begs the question: just how deep do the connections between the "real news" Fox and Trump run? Has money been exchanged? I'm beginning to wonder.
17
I wonder how firm that 'friendship' will prove if there is any threat to Hannity's freedom? There is no honour among thieves.
4
There is no stone that will not be turned over. Fox New and Sean Hannity are the mouthpiece of Trump's State Propaganda. Thanks to them, America is becoming totalitarian. Shame on Trump supporters, the GOP Congress looking the other way, and anyone who is part of this treason to our Forefather's Constitution!
73
The only Totalitarian examples are coming from the left....
This is just so great. Now that Hannity is denying the client attorney relationship he is also removing all impediments to the government lawyers perusing anything they wish ...too, too funny.
49
A well crafted denial that probably conceals that Broidy or Fox paid for his legal representation by Cohen. Perhaps that is a question Cohen would answer if asked him by the judge.
11
So what? I presume my attorney has more clients than just me.
5
Then you should probably call your attorney and have them explain all of this to you.
What are the odds that this is a veil for Trump getting positive coverage in exchange of some real estate?
1. Sean Hannity and Donald Trump share the same attorney.
2. Donald Trump owns plenty of real estate and likes positive coverage.
3. Sean Hannity talked to Michael Cohen about real estate and refuses to criticizes Donald Trump on air no matter what Trump does.
I'd say the odds are not zero.
33
Sure. That makes perfect sense. Because Fox wouldn't give favorable coverage to the Republican President unless he paid them.
2
Rather than performing service as an attorney, Cohen seems to be running a couple of rackets.
In one, he and another lawyer work as a team to make women who have had sexual involvement with one of Cohen's clients believe they are being represented in negotiations over non-disclosure agreements that are prefabricated right down to the fake names on the contract. So far Trump and GOP fundraiser Broida have been identified as parties to that fraud.
The other involves investments in Trump’s real estate, which Cohen encouraged his family to buy into. There seem to be some unusual profits flowing from these secretive deals.
At first, Hannity denied any attorney-client relationship with Cohen, which seems plausible. Later he suggested he asked for some real estate advice, nothing that he may have paid $10 to establish attorney-client privilege. That sounds like he may be invested in shady real estate with Trump, which would explain why he has been such a faithful cheerleader.
I am intrigued by the possibility that Hannity is also party to one of the Denny Dennison agreements. If so, I am guessing we will soon learn about the lucky lady Hannity thought he had silenced.
Because criminal activity is not eligible for attorney-client privilege, all of this shady business should come to the surface once the FBI connects the dots. To the extent that there could be civil and state tax collection lawsuits stemming from the same activities, Trump pardons will not cover up these crimes.
37
The Trump administration's collaboration with Fox News to spread pro-administration propaganda to the American public is well recognized. However, the details of how the WH communicates with Fox, the nature of their planning and strategy sessions, remains obscure. It is not inconceivable that Mr. Cohen is a vital go-between, an important vehicle for colluding with Fox to promulgate public broadcasting of the often false and misleading hype that has so effectively propped up the president for Fox viewers. Now that we know about the direct involvement of Mr Hannity with Mr Cohen, we may speculate that the the details of how the Fox/WH propaganda machine works may come to light in the documents now seized from Mr Cohen by the Justice Department.
If so, it is not surprising that the attorneys for Mr Cohen would put out Mr Hannity as being a legal client of Mr Cohen, the purpose being to suppress public knowledge of communication between the two because it is privileged. However, the relationship is most likely not attorney/client, in which case the public may eventually get valuable insight into the workings of the Fox propaganda machine, an insight that Fox will lament but that some of the rest of us will find most interesting.
63
If you assume that everything Hannity says about his dealings with Cohen are literally true (no representation, no retainer, no invoice, no payment, no involvement with any third party, occasional conversations, insights and perspectives re real estate) it still leaves a very large set of possible interactions between Hannity and Cohen that could be of interest to the investigation, and not covered by legal privilege.
44
Hannity said. “But I have occasionally had brief discussions with him about legal questions. I wanted his input and perspective. I assumed those conversations were attorney-client confidential.”
Sean has been dealing in nonsense so long that he expects everyone to believe his story. Why would this adult assume there was an attorney-client arrangement if he never gave M.D.Cohen money for his service? Did Cohen front the fee for Hannity? This is just too sleazy!
54
Let's get this straight. Hannity says he never paid Cohen. Which means one of Cohen's three clients never paid him anything. And Cohen himself says he - Cohen - spent $130K of his own money for another of his three clients to fund a non-disclosure agreement which that client, the President, says he didn't even know about.
Uh huh.
92
Maybe Cohen takes his fees in real estate. I read that he bought a building worth $58M.
2
The photo of Hannity at CPAC says all you need to know. Can you imagine the foxnews feeding frenzy if it was Anderson Cooper at the DNC? Hannity, bias much?
48
Sean Hannity, a muckraker who manufactures his own muck.
57
Do not think Hannity, especially in light of all the inanity he has engaged in while on the air, is capable of embarrassment. There has to be more to this story regarding why he did not want to be identified as a Cohen client. What was the "fix" Cohen did for Hannity?
56
Fox is not a news channel. It's a propaganda machine, run by people who have a stake in the game, such as the politicians (Trump et al), rich donors (Mercers, Kochs etc.) for the 'I can't think for myself, so I listen to the gospel of Hannity and Limbaugh' individuals that also tend to be highly energized voters in this country. What is even more astonishing is the fact that every single thing that Fox and conservative politicians and their rich donors do goes squarely against the best interest of their electorate. But you know what, outlawing abortions is much better than taking care of children and of young women who made the mistake or were raped, taking healthcare away from the poor and downtrodden is much better because we don't want the pennies we pay in taxes going to the welfare of others and remaining ignorant and uneducated is a whole lot better than actually studying and learning to think for yourself. Why? Because Hannity and Rush said so. It must be true. It's so much easier to blame others for my problems than taking any kind of responsibility.
103
It makes me wonder just how much Trump and Hannity have in common. I wonder if there's any recordings of the conversations Cohen and Hannity had? Curiouser and curiouser.
30
Of course there are.
9
I think Cohen listed Hannity as a client in order to get attorney/client privilege and keep the conversations under wraps. I have to think if they were colluding big time that Hannity and Cohen would have worked this out before the trial. Hannity seemed surprised to be listed as a client. Maybe it was Cohen who was up to no good and Hannity was unaware. I hope the judge requires both Hannity and Cohen to appear in court and clear the matter.
12
Dangit, there goes fair and balanced again spinning out of control.
Again.
This is so absurd, it's hard not to ridicule. As in 'there goes Fox fair and balanced spinning out of control. Again.'
30
That's easy ... so there's no client-attorney privilege (by Hannity's attestation) ... clear the tapes ... Next.
24
I literally can't think of a single legal topic one discusses with a lawyer that doesn't involvesone sort of third party.
32
Transactions one does with oneself to avoid third party involvement. Transactions one does with one's lawyer, where the lawyer is acting on his own behalf, or as if on his own behalf, or on behalf of undisclosed third parties.
2
And they don't give free advice.
7
Money laundering. Cohen is the other party.
11
So all this is really IS a vast right-wing conspiracy. I'll be darned.
87
That's one smart woman we could have had as President.
We can imagine a few reasons for Hannity and Trump to share Cohen’s services. They might need to more closely align Hannity’s role as state news spokesman with the state, aka Donald Trump. They might need Trump to more closely follow Sean Hannity’s lead, since Trump seems to get many of his (best?) ideas from Fox (wow, talk about an echo chamber.) Hannity might need Cohen’s help with women. Hannity might need Cohen’s help with geography (Prague - LA. What’s the difference?) Maybe they just share a common bond as Trump’s fixers.
Oh, well. Couldn’t happen to two nicer goodfellas, oops, guys.
46
Seems to me either Hannity didn't disclose his large conflict of interest to his employer... in which case he should be fired. Or he did and FOX didn't care. I will give FOX the benefit of the doubt... but it's time for them to fish or cut bait. They need to immediately fire Hannity now if they want to be considered a serious journalistic outlet.
32
I think that ship has long since sailed.....
14
What? The only people who have ever considered Fox a "serious journalistic outlet" are the 62,979,879 deplorables who voted for Donald Trump. And Rupert Murdoch doesn't care about being considered a "serious journalistic outlet" by anyone else. The likelihood of him firing Hannity is about the same as the likelihood of this GOP ever, ever impeaching Donald Trump. Zero.
16
"They need to immediately fire Hannity now if they want to be considered a serious journalistic outlet."
They want to make as much money as possible. Journalistic ideals or ethics? Meh
7
My take is that Cohen needed a "mystery client" and Hannity fit the bill because when the news came out, he would know how to handle. I'm doubtful that there was anything resembling an attorney/client relationship. If the federal prosecutors come across anything "real estate" related with Hannity, I'll give my dog's first born away.
14
My take: Hannity knows almost as much about where the bodies are buried as Cohen does, and the only way to keep that hushed up was to make Hannity a "client" of Cohen's.
14
Well, not so. The attourneys were trying to halt anyone fromseeing the records. They wouldnt make up hannity as the client when they know it would eventually come out when reading the records. It is hannity.
This is better than Melrose Place. Too bad democracy is at stake.
49
Welcome to truth or consequences, Hannity. You gave Big Ups to Cohen and Cohen paid you back by throwing you under the bus in court to justify his client-lawyer privilege argument- solely to protect Trump. Guess you thought you were a made man, huh? You're just a means to an end like everyone else. Welcome to our world.
Couldn't happen to a more deserving guy.
47
I'm wondering if the other client is Michael Flynn or Rudolph Guilianni
27
Oh good, Hannity never paid Cohen either? Because Donald also never paid Cohen the $130,000 that went to Stormy Daniels, of course. So claiming he never paid for Cohen's services clearly puts Hannity on the high ground. Maybe Cohen took out another home equity loan to pay himself for his Hannity non-work, because that's a great business model. Something's rotten in Prague, zounds!
50
You nailed it - Cohen took out another home equity loan to pay for work done for Hannity, who “obviously” is not a client of Michael Cohen.
Who else in DJT’s orbit did Cohen take out a home equity loan to help?
Hannity is in on something with Cohen and trump. He says they talk real estate? Russian funded real estate? Absolutely nothing would surprise me from what is now The Three Stooges. Dumbest crooks ever.
44
National Enquirer, Fox " News", Sinclair Broadcasting ...... the bastions of fake news. Now, we need to see if they are involved with collusion with Putnin as well and treason.
40