The Hannity Mess
By
Leonard Zwelling
It is clear that Sean Hannity, the “sort of” news anchor for Fox News and advisor to President Trump had something to hide. We just don’t know what. Everyone who hires Michael Cohen as his or her “lawyer” has something to hide. That is by definition as he is not a real lawyer, but rather a “fixer,” not unlike Ray Donovan on TV.
It appears that in the course of his investigation of President Trump’s campaign’s association with foreign operatives from Russia, Robert Mueller must have discovered some pretty strong evidence of a serious crime having been committed by Mr. Cohen. He took that evidence to Justice Department officials and a federal judge and passed the information to attorneys from the Southern District of New York and they, in turn, served a search warrant on Mr. Cohen’s apartment, hotel room, safe deposit box, and office. For judge to grant such a warrant means the evidence must have been compelling as this does indeed constitute a suspension of attorney-client privilege. This can only be done in service of proving that a crime has been committed. It is likely that this is the case.
Then the question arises, if Michael Cohen only had three clients, why was one of them a news anchor (or whatever he is) for Fox? And, by the way, when Mr. Hannity was commenting on all of the Michael Cohen issues on the air, why didn’t he tell anyone that he had this conflict of interest cooking? Hmmm….
Let’s also consider what Mr. Cohen supposedly did for his other clients. Pay hush money to women with whom they had extramarital affairs. Hmmm….
Don’t you wonder what exactly it is that Mr. Hannity is hiding? Don’t you wonder why he embraced this clear conflict of interest without telling his employers at Fox? And what does this say about Fox (that has not already been said)?
I think that James Comey liking the Trump presidency to the reign of a Mafia family is just about right. Mr. Cohen appears to be Mr. Trump’s Tom Hagan with Trump as Vito Corleone. OK, who knew that all Trump would have for sons is Fredos?
The United States government seems to be exactly as Michael Corleone described it to Kay Adams in the first film upon his return from exile in Italy. It’s just another corrupt crime empire and we put it in place.
And while we are making comparisons, look at Paul Ryan. See how the mighty have fallen. When I was in DC, he was a rising star and thought surely to be presidential material. Now he is running home with his tail between his legs knowing full well that if he stayed, he could easily become the minority leader in the House in November.
The fate of the country may turn on the speed and efficiency with which the Justice Department can do its work. What did Michael Cohen do and why? What has happened to what little integrity remains in broadcast journalism if a major network’s star can try to get away with a conflict of interest as Mr. Hannity clearly tried to do? But most critically, what is going to happen to all those promises Mr. Trump made that got himself elected?
Just to remind everyone (spoiler alert), it didn’t turn out well for Ray Donovan. And it usually turned out even worse for those who hired him.
