Fox News is shrugging off Sean Hannity’s failure to disclose his relationship with Trump attorney Michael Cohen and closing its eyes to the bigger elephant in the room.

You know that Hannity’s lapse in ethics in failing to reveal that Cohen has provided legal counsel, even as Hannity raged against the FBI raid on Cohen last week, was severe because lickspittle Alan Dershowitz chided Hannity (albeit mildly and with great deference) over it.

But even that is a bridge too far for Fox News. The network issued a statement today:

FOX NEWS statement on Hannity: "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."

— David Folkenflik (@davidfolkenflik) April 17, 2018

But as I’ve previously reported, Hannity’s failure to disclose his “informal relationship with Michael Cohen” is probably a drop in the ethics bucket compared to what Cohen is likely trying to conceal by calling Hannity a “client,” with Hannity’s apparent consent or at his instigation.

Stormy Daniels’ attorney, Michael Avenatti, summed it up on MSNBC last night: “There is no question in my mind that there is one or more documents with Sean Hannity’s name on it that Michael Cohen does not want disclosed." By naming Hannity as a client, Avenatti explained, Cohen was almost certainly hoping to keep confidential, via an attorney-client privilege, a document or an email or recording that involves Hannity.

As I keep saying, Hannity did not have to have been acting as a client in order to have been involved in something Cohen has records about that he’d rather not be made public. The fact that Hannity keeps insisting Cohen never served as his own attorney suggests that whatever Cohen has involving Hannity is not related to any legal services provided.

So that raises a very important question: What material does Cohen have that involves Hannity? Chances are, if it’s something Cohen would rather not reveal, it doesn’t reflect well on Hannity, either.

Asking about Hannity’s other involvements with Cohen would seem like a no-brainer for Fox. But it looks as though the network would prefer not to know.

(Hannity image via screen grab)