Sean Hannity thinks that Special Counsel Robert Mueller timed the indictments of Paul Manafort and Rick Gates Monday in order to distract from Hannity’s super-awesome (but totally bogus) Uranium One “scandal” that he managed to drive all the way to Congress. Hannity also suggested that the guilty plea of Trump adviser George Papadopoulos is insignificant because “I never heard about Papadopoulos until today.”
Hannity’s 17:32 monologue of self-importance and deflection began by calling the Manafort indictment “pathetic” and also lying about it. Hannity claimed that it only pertained to acts from 2008-2014. In fact, the indictment states that it’s related to activity “from approximately 2006 through at least 2016.” None other than Fox’s own James Rosen corrected a similar falsehood earlier that same day on Fox.
Apparently, our American system of justice is just not good enough for “patriot” Hannity. He moved on to attack the jury that handed down the indictments:
HANNITY: It’s important to point out that this grand jury was empaneled in Washington, D.C. Let’s see, one of the most liberal cities in America where over 90% of the people there voted for Hillary Clinton. Mr. Mueller, do you think that’s fair?
Next, his pronouncement on the unimportance of Papadopoulos:
HANNITY: Now, I knew everybody in the Trump campaign. I never heard about Papadopoulos until today and I think I knew everybody.
Well, maybe you should have done a bit of research rather than just bragging about your insider bona fides, Sean. Then you might have learned that Papadopoulos was indeed a foreign policy adviser and he had a lot of contact with Russians. Vox explains why his guilty plea could have more impact on Trump than the Mueller indictment.
But if the “destroy Trump media” is too much for Hannity to bear, perhaps this photo, tweeted out by Trump in March, 2016 will persuade Hannity that maybe he should refresh his memory. Papadopoulos is on the left, one seat away from Jeff Sessions.
#MakeAmericaGreatAgain #Trump2016https://t.co/aANxirUJJD pic.twitter.com/VlMynYN3sd
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 1, 2016
Hannity went on and on about the Clintons and the phony Uranium One scandal, of course. As if to prove that Fox secretly wishes Hillary Clinton were president so they could impeach her (instead of defending the misconduct of Trump), Hannity actually called her “President Clinton” before correcting himself.
In the middle of all that, at about 8:50, Hannity suggested Mueller indicted Manafort in order to change the subject from Hannity’s Uranium One “scandal.”
HANNITY: And also tonight, the issue of Robert Mueller attempting to change the narrative to distract from the real Russia collusion and massive cover-ups. Don’t think this is a coincidence. Last week, right here on this program, we had stunning revelation after revelation and day after day about Hillary Clinton, Uranium One, the fake news dossier, and that Special Counsel Mueller is clearly complicit in the Uranium One scandal. Remember, he was the FBI director, the FBI informant had all the evidence of bribes and kickbacks and money laundering and he did nothing. So now, they need to change the narrative after a very bad week and distract the country from their evidence and their involvement and possible collusion.
I hate to burst Hannity’s bubble but it is likely that the statute of limitations had more to do with the timing.
As for Uranium One, it’s hard to beat Joy Reid’s brilliant debunking of this phony scandal on the October 29, 2017 AM Joy below. It's underneath Hannity’s delusions of grandeur from the October 30, 2017 Hannity show.
HANNITY: It’s important to point out that this grand jury was empaneled in Washington, D.C. Let’s see, one of the most liberal cities in America where over 90% of the people there voted for Hillary Clinton. Mr. Mueller, do you think that’s fair?
Washington, DC is
- the nation’s capital
- the place of employment/residence of the three indictees
- the place where the alleged acts they were indicted for took place (the scene of the crime)
So yeah, Sean, it is fair.
.
Which is more likely? That an independent prosecutor’s timing is completely fickle and somehow that man suddenly decided to announce major indictments because of Fox News running nonsense stories? Or that the independent prosecutor was doing his job, and Fox News and AM Radio tried to get out in front of his work by pre-smearing as hard as they could?
Hannity’s outrage last night was understandable, but laughable. And his program was full of blatant falsehoods. No matter how much Hannity lies about this (and gets support from discredited voices like Sekulow and Gingrich), the truth will out.
But let’s also keep in mind that Hannity and Fox News are not done with their full court press to see the Clintons indicted and arrested. The more dominoes fall at the Pence White House, the more likely it will become that we will see a retaliatory arrest made against whatever target the Right Wing hates most. These days, it’s the Clintons. Tomorrow it may be the Obamas.
- But this does not automatically mean that suddenly I think of Hannity more favourably. He remains a Trump apologist.
The Stop Hannity Express says Pie is extremely nervous right now. He should be. People are talking to federal authorities about who knew what.
Grab a box of popcorn and a drink. More names will drop in the investigation. Pie has some explaining to do.
NOTE TO HANNITY
Your next film should be about a talk show host who gets caught up in a major political scandal. He is indicted and charged with collusion with a political figure. He loses his show and sent to prison for several years.
