Sean Hannity’s “heartfelt” televised respect for the Seth Rich family’s request that he stop promoting conspiracy theories about the murder victim’s death vanished even before the Fox News cameras stopped rolling.
Sean Hannity announced on the air last night that “out of respect for the family’s wishes,” he would stop discussing the murder of former DNC staffer Seth Rich – “for now.” It's not clear what prompted Hannity's sudden sense of decency.
Earlier that day, Rich’s family had publicly pleaded for Hannity and other right wingers to stop politicizing Seth’s murder. In a wrenching column in The Washington Post, Seth’s parents described the “nightmare” of phone calls from reporters asking about the conspiracies and lies. The parents also debunked theories that Seth was killed after leaking DNC emails to Wikileaks. In Hannity's mind, this could "completely shatter the narrative" that Donald Trump's campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 presidential race.
Also before the show, FoxNews.com retracted its previous report on Rich’s death, saying, it had not been “initially subjected to the high degree of editorial scrutiny we require for all our reporting,” and subsequently had been found “not to meet those standards.”
During his Fox News show’s opening, Hannity announced he would honor the family's wishes:
HANNITY: Also tonight, the unsolved murder of former DNC staffer Seth Rich continues to get a huge amount of attention. I want to say something. I totally, completely understand how upset, how hard this is on this family, especially over the recent coverage of Seth's death.
I've been communicating with them. I got a very heartfelt note. I also sent them a heartfelt note back. I reached out personally today to Seth's brother, Aaron. I expressed my condolences over how hard, how difficult this has been for him and his family. As I told Aaron, my heart, my soul, my prayers -- everything goes out to them in this very difficult time.
I'm a father. I know I personally -- I don't think I'd ever recover from losing a child or a brother. I honestly don't think I would. I cannot imagine the pain that they are in. And as a father, when I saw the video of the parents on line saying they want answers -- and I know the brother Aaron started a GoFundMe page -- it truly pained me.
However, out of respect for the family's wishes, for now, I am not discussing this matter at this time. Let me explain this. There are so many issues here, not the least of which is the Democratic push of their Russia narrative, collusion, Trump Russia narrative, Trump Russia narrative. There's something clearly happening here. The destroy Trump media, the Democrats -- they have been pushing that Russian tinfoil hat conspiracy theory with zero evidence.
But even before the show was over, Hannity was done with honoring the family’s wishes. Media Matters caught him tweeting:
Ok TO BE CLEAR, I am closer to the TRUTH than ever. Not only am I not stopping, I am working harder. Updates when available. Stay tuned!
— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) May 24, 2017
Please retweet. https://t.co/IFiaBp9Tn8
— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) May 24, 2017
Not giving up at all. I'm working harder than ever to get to the truth the family wants and deserves. Stay tuned. https://t.co/dVjWT6PZyh
— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) May 24, 2017
Watch Hannity’s phony-baloney song and dance about his “heartfelt” understanding, concern and respect for the Rich family below, from the May 23, 2017 Hannity.
The Fox “News” suits will continue to lose ratings and advertisers as long as Hannie Pie is in the air.