Today, Trump attorney Michael Cohen revealed that the client name he had previously tried to keep secret was that of Fox’s Chief Trump Propagandist, Sean Hannity.
Cohen had been seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent prosecutors from viewing material seized in last week's FBI raid of his home, office and hotel room. Cohen had claimed that the material was subject to an attorney-client privilege. Federal prosecutors disputed the claim, saying that Cohen does “little to no legal work” and that Donald Trump is his only real client.
Think Progress wrote about the hilariously inept (and now fruitless) efforts of Cohen’s attorney to keep Hannity’s name out of the public court proceeding related to the request for a temporary restraining order.
From 2017 to 2018, Cohen said he was back in private practice and had only 10 clients. Seven of those were not legal clients and Cohen didn’t disclose their names. Two of the remaining three clients were Donald Trump and Elliot Broidy. Cohen’s relationship with Broidy was disclosed last week by the Wall Street Journal, which reported that Cohen helped negotiate a $1.6 million hush money agreement between Broidy, a top Trump fundraiser, and a Playboy Playmate who he impregnated.
Cohen refused to reveal the identity of the third legal client because the client “directed Cohen not to reveal the identity publicly.” Cohen’s lawyer, Stephen Ryan, writes that this client’s matters “are responsive” to the search warrant, but it appears to be a typo. Ryan seems to have forgot to include the word “not.”
Today, we learned that that third client is none other than Chief Trump Propagandist, Sean Hannity.
Personally, I think it's unlikely that Hannity had Cohen pay hush money to any porn stars. More believable is Gabriel Sherman's reporting that Hannity hired Cohen last year when Media Matters worked to have advertisers boycott his show:
Person familiar w/ says Hannity hires Cohen around time leftwing groups called for boycotts against him last year
— Gabriel Sherman (@gabrielsherman) April 16, 2018
(We did not take part in that effort. Here’s why.)
Presumably, Cohen helped the attempt to hit back by going after Rachel Maddow, Stephen Colbert, George Stephanopoulos and others. Watch it below, from the May 31, 2017 Hannity. Not only has that effort seemingly gone nowhere, Maddow has since overtaken Hannity in the ratings.
(Hannity image via screen grab)
UPDATE: Hannity said he has never paid Cohen any legal fees.
UPDATE: Hannity said he did not consult Cohen about the boycotts:
Through a Fox spokesperson, Hannity says retaining Cohen was not related to advertiser boycott or a “third party”
— Gabriel Sherman (@gabrielsherman) April 17, 2018
Happy day to the lovely Antoinette :)