{"id":63244,"date":"2018-04-17T04:20:00","date_gmt":"2018-04-17T04:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=63244"},"modified":"2018-04-17T04:20:00","modified_gmt":"2018-04-17T04:20:00","slug":"sean-hannity-is-named-as-client-of-michael-cohen-trumps-lawyer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/news\/sean-hannity-is-named-as-client-of-michael-cohen-trumps-lawyer.html","title":{"rendered":"Sean Hannity Is Named as Client of Michael Cohen, Trump\u2019s Lawyer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sean Hannity Is Named as Client of Michael Cohen, Trump\u2019s Lawyer<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

From his Fox News pulpit, Sean Hannity has been one of the most ardent supporters of President Trump, cheering his agenda and excoriating his enemies.<\/span><\/p>\n

He has gone from giving advice on messaging and strategy to Mr. Trump and his advisers during the 2016 campaign to dining with him at the White House and Mar-a-Lago.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, Mr. Hannity finds himself aligned even more closely with the president.<\/span><\/p>\n

During a hearing at a packed courtroom in Lower Manhattan on Monday, he was named as a client of Mr. Trump\u2019s longtime personal lawyer and fixer, Michael D. Cohen.<\/span><\/p>\n

That revelation nudged the conservative commentator into the orbit of those who have lately come under legal scrutiny related to the investigations of Mr. Trump and his associates by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, and the United States attorney\u2019s office in Manhattan. Both inquiries have provided fodder for Mr. Hannity\u2019s prime-time cable show and nationally syndicated radio program.<\/span><\/p>\n

The host\u2019s closeness with the president may not sit well with media watchdogs, but the cozy relationship has been good for the Hannity business: \u201cHannity\u201d 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

The courtroom disclosure about Mr. Hannity occurred during the expanding criminal investigation into Mr. Cohen by the United States attorney\u2019s office in Manhattan. F.B.I. agents raided Mr. Cohen\u2019s home, office and hotel room on the morning of April 9, a move that President Trump called an \u201cattack on our country.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In a legal filing before the hearing on Monday, Mr. Cohen said that, since 2017, he had worked as a lawyer for 10 clients, seven of whom he served by providing \u201cstrategic advice and business consulting.\u201d The other three comprised President Trump, the Republican fund-raiser Elliott Broidy and a third person who went unnamed.<\/span><\/p>\n

The mystery was solved when Kimba M. Wood, a judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, ordered that Mr. Cohen\u2019s lawyer, Stephen Ryan, disclose the name of the client in question \u2014 who turned out to be Mr. Hannity.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Hannity denied on Monday that he was a client of Mr. Cohen\u2019s, saying that he had never paid him for his services and that his discussions with him were brief and centered on real estate.<\/span><\/p>\n

The surprise naming of Mr. Hannity took place after several minutes of back and forth among government representatives, members of Mr. Cohen\u2019s legal team and Judge Wood.<\/span><\/p>\n

Before the name was revealed, Mr. Ryan argued that the mystery client was a \u201cprominent person\u201d who wanted to keep his identity a secret because he would be \u201cembarrassed\u201d to be identified as having sought Mr. Cohen\u2019s counsel.<\/span><\/p>\n

Robert D. Balin, a lawyer for various media outlets, including The New York Times, CNN and others, interrupted the hearing to argue that embarrassment was not a sufficient cause to withhold a client\u2019s name, and Judge Wood agreed.<\/span><\/p>\n

After Mr. Hannity was named, there were audible gasps from the spectators.<\/span><\/p>\n

The hearing on Monday resulted from a challenge by Mr. Cohen\u2019s lawyers, who argued for the appointment of a \u201cspecial master\u201d to examine the records seized during the federal raid on April 9. The exact nature of Mr. Cohen\u2019s work for Mr. Hannity is unclear.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Fox News, the anchor Shepard Smith reported that his colleague had been named as a client of Mr. Cohen\u2019s, saying that it was time for him to address \u201cthe elephant in the room.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

At roughly the same time, Mr. Hannity, on his radio show, said it was strange to see his name appearing on Fox News and wondered aloud if he should release a statement.<\/span><\/p>\n

Just before 4 p.m., he posted a message on Twitter: \u201cMichael 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.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In a follow-up tweet, Mr. Hannity added, \u201cI assumed those conversations were confidential, but to be absolutely clear they never involved any matter between me and a third-party.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The reference to a third party seemed to be an allusion to one of Mr. Cohen\u2019s specialties: drawing up confidential settlements. The lawyer has acknowledged paying $130,000 to Stephanie Clifford, an adult-film actress known as Stormy Daniels, as part of a nondisclosure agreement to secure her silence soon before Election Day in 2016.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last week, it came to light that Mr. Cohen had arranged for Mr. Broidy to pay $1.6 million to a former Playboy model, Shera Bechard, who became pregnant during an affair with Mr. Broidy. After the confidential deal became public, Mr. Broidy resigned from his post as a deputy finance chairman of the Republican Party.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fox News declined to comment beyond Mr. Hannity\u2019s statements. On his prime-time show on Monday night, Mr. Hannity seemed to suggest that he had not disclosed his link to Mr. Cohen to his network, saying, \u201cMy discussions with Michael Cohen never rose to any level that I needed to tell anyone that I was asking him questions.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Old Friends<\/span><\/p>\n

On April 9 \u2014 the night of the F.B.I. raids on Mr. Cohen \u2014 Mr. Hannity, in high dudgeon, opened his show by telling viewers to \u201ckeep in mind that Cohen was never part of the Trump administration or the Trump campaign.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is now officially an all-hands-on-deck effort to totally malign and, if possible, impeach the president of the United States,\u201d the host added.<\/span><\/p>\n

Without mentioning his relationship with Mr. Cohen, he continued, \u201cNow, what that means is, Mueller\u2019s witch-hunt investigation is now a runaway train that is clearly careening off the tracks.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

There is on-air evidence that Mr. Hannity and Mr. Cohen go way back. In January 2017, shortly before the inaugural, Mr. Cohen was a guest on Mr. Hannity\u2019s radio show. The host described him as Mr. Trump\u2019s lawyer and then added, \u201cAlso, full disclosure: a personal friend of mine, long before this election ever started.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Cohen shot back, \u201cWell, there goes my reputation now, Sean.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The chummy conversation took place shortly after the so-called Steele dossier suggested that Mr. Cohen had visited Prague, a claim that Mr. Cohen has denied. Amid guffaws, Mr. Hannity discussed Mr. Cohen\u2019s alibi \u2014 that he had taken his 17-year-old-son to Los Angeles to meet with a baseball coach.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Hannity praised Mr. Cohen\u2019s son as an \u201camazing pitcher, a talented pitcher.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Before the chat was done, Mr. Cohen thanked Mr. Hannity, saying, \u201cSean, I got to be honest, in all fairness, you have been a beacon for Mr. Trump, for the campaign. It\u2019s very rare that people thank you, because everybody is so busy, especially now with the transition. But on behalf of, obviously, Mr. Trump, the campaign, myself \u2014 you actually deserve a thank you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Amid the banter, the two mentioned talking with each other during late-night phone calls and discussed how Mr. Trump\u2019s enemies would be gunning for him after he took the Oval Office.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou and I have discussed this \u2014 they are going to try to destroy Donald Trump,\u201d Mr. Hannity said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I\u2019m going to make this statement to your audience: There is no way in the world I\u2019m going to let it happen,\u201d Mr. Cohen replied.<\/span><\/p>\n

There for Trump<\/span><\/p>\n

Many years before Mr. Trump was a candidate, Mr. Hannity was there for him. In 2011, when Mr. Trump was making the media rounds to promote an unfounded conspiracy theory \u2014 the so-called birther theory \u2014 that President Obama had not been born in the United States, Mr. Hannity gave him a forum on his radio and television shows.<\/span><\/p>\n

Years later, his enthusiasm had not cooled. \u201cI\u2019m not hiding the fact that I want Donald Trump to be the next president of the United States,\u201d Mr. Hannity told Jim Rutenberg of The New York Times during the summer of 2016. After all, the Fox News host added, \u201cI never claimed to be a journalist.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As Election Day drew near, other conservatives turned their backs on Mr. Trump after the posting of the so-called \u201cAccess Hollywood\u201d tape, during which the candidate rudely boasted of \u201cgrabbing\u201d women by the genitals. That\u2019s when Mr. Hannity sealed his bond with Mr. Trump by committing even more fully to him. Although conceding that Mr. Trump\u2019s \u201cwords\u201d were wrong, he quickly changed the subject to Bill Clinton, adding that the former president\u2019s \u201cactions\u201d with women were \u201cfar worse.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

On \u201cHannity\u201d on Monday night, the Fox host offered a welcome \u201cto all you liberals in the media and across America\u201d who do not normally tune into his show, and went on to denounce the media speculation over his link to Mr. Cohen as \u201cabsolutely insane.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

To demonstrate this, Mr. Hannity aired a montage, culled from Monday\u2019s television coverage of cable news hosts saying his name over and over again. It lasted for 46 seconds.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Hannity did face an unexpected challenge from one of his guests, the lawyer Alan Dershowitz, who unexpectedly told the host that it would have been \u201cmuch, much better\u201d to disclose that he was a Cohen client.<\/span><\/p>\n

And when Laura Ingraham \u2014 who follows Mr. Hannity at 10 p.m., and recently faced an advertising boycott \u2014 appeared for the usual banter between hosts, she sent a somewhat barbed joke his way.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m glad for like a millisecond,\u201d Ms. Ingraham said, \u201cthat the heat\u2019s off me and on you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/04\/16\/business\/media\/sean-hannity-michael-cohen-client.html<\/span><\/p>\n

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