Fox News Channel executives said they would give primetime host Sean Hannity the network’s “full support” despite being blindsided by news that he may have had a business relationship with Michael Cohen, the controversial Trump Organization attorney, that he did not disclose even as he offered commentary on the network about current events involving the lawyer.
“While Fox News was unaware of Sean Hannity’s informal relationship with Michael Cohen and was surprised by the announcement in court yesterday, we have reviewed the matter and spoken to Sean and he continues to have our full support,” the 21st Century Fox-owned network said in a statement.
Variety reports the ties between Hannity, the most-watched host on cable-news, and Cohen, a longtime Trump associate and lawyer, were revealed Monday in U.S. District Court in New York, where Cohen was ordered to appear after the FBI raided his office last week. Among the documents seized was information about the $130,000 porn star Stormy Daniels said she was paid to keep quiet about allegedly having an affair with Donald Trump in 2006, before he was elected President of the United States. Cohen has been described by the adult actress as a key player in negotiations to keep her quiet about her relationship with the candidate before the 2016 election.
The disclosure raised hackles in many journalism circles, where reporters, anchors and hosts are supposed to disclose relationships that may prejudice their coverage or commentary.
Fox News has reason to keep Hannity – the only one of its primetime anchors who has been with the network since its debut in 1996 – on the air. Hannity was the most-watched cable-news host in the first quarter of 2018 (MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow commands the most viewers in the demographic most coveted by advertisers, people between 25 and 54).
Meanwhile, Fox News’s Judge Andrew Napolitano hit Hannity over his comments on attorney-client privilege between him and President Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen, saying that Hannity can’t “have it both ways.”
The Hill reports Napolitano said on Fox News’s “Outnumbered Overtime” Tuesday that Hannity can’t both claim that Cohen never represented him and still have attorney-client privilege with Cohen.
“I love him. I’ve worked with him for 20 years. He can’t have it both ways,” Napolitano said. “If he was a client, then his confidential communications to Mr. Cohen are privileged. If Mr. Cohen was never his lawyer, then nothing that he said to Mr. Cohen is privileged.”
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