Sean Hannity has turned down the request of Stormy Daniels attorney Michael Avenatti for a “no BS” discussion on the Hannity show with a hilarious excuse that suggests Avenatti would be more than welcome if only he were willing to come on the air and chant “Lock her up!”
As I posted yesterday, Avenatti made an apparently sincere effort to reach out to Hannity for a civil discussion after publicly alleging that the FBI raid on Trump attorney Michael Cohen would prove “very embarrassing” to the Fox host.
We don’t agree on everything but we are both street fighters @seanhannity, which means something. Let’s set a booking so I can come on the show to talk about the case and the issues in the case. No BS. Just a straight up discussion by two men. Thanks for considering it.
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) April 24, 2018
Sean @seanhannity - when we were at the THR party a couple of weeks ago, we met and I found you to be very affable despite our divergent views. And we discussed me coming on the show to debate the case. Let's do this thing already. Full hour - you and me. pic.twitter.com/CI1JFclsb3
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) April 25, 2018
Apparently, Hannity suggested in person he was at least open to the possibility of Avenatti coming on the Hannity show for a debate. But, just like his nine-year-old pledge to undergo waterboarding for charity and “prove” it’s not torture, Hannity can not be relied upon to walk his talk.
Hannity responded on Twitter to Avenatti's challenge, not on the air.
Michael the world has had stormy stormy 24-7 on every low rated show. It's old news. Learn about Fisa Abuse, lying to Fisa Courts, 18 USC 793, deleting subpoenaed emails, acid washing hard drives, destroying devices with hammers and then u have a shot at the number 1 Show! https://t.co/jG7rdCY4ae
— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) April 25, 2018
Oh and only @realDonaldTrump or top newsmakers Get a full hour. Best Sean https://t.co/jG7rdCY4ae
— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) April 25, 2018
For the sake of argument, I’ll assume that Hannity never gave any hint to Avenatti that he might get a full hour to debate Hannity. But the rest of Hannity’s “explanation” is almost side-splittingly hypocritical and dishonest.
For one thing, Stormy Daniels and/or Avenatti are not only on low-rated shows. For example, The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, a frequent platform for Avenatti, was already beating Fox News’ The Ingraham Angle in the key 15-54 demo and delivering double-digit year-over-year growth in January. That was well before porn star Daniels filed her lawsuit against Trump.
For another, Hannity’s boast about having the “number 1 Show” is not quite accurate. He lost that spot to MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow show in March. Even if he regains it in April, he continues to lose regularly to Maddow, in both total viewers and the demo.
But the real howler is Hannity’s suggestion that Avenatti is not “real news” like what Hannity covers: “deleting subpoenaed emails, acid washing hard drives, destroying devices with hammers.” All those matters are old, dubious attacks on Hillary Clinton related to her emails and the 2016 presidential campaign. Who’s more relevant today? A private citizen who lost the election more than 17 months ago or a woman who received possibly illegal hush money over an extramarital affair with and was allegedly threatened by someone working on behalf of the man currently in the Oval Office?
And even putting that aside, Hannity’s show is nothing if not a Groundhog Day of the same attacks on the U.S. justice system via complaints about the “Deep State” being out to get Trump and little to no critical examination of anything Dear Leader does.
Given that Hannity claims to “always be fair and balanced,” I can only conclude that the reason he doesn’t want to talk to Avenatti on the air is the same reason he has not followed through on his pledge to be waterboarded for charity: Bok, bok, bok!
Watch Hannity’s still-unfulfilled promise to be waterboarded for charity below, from the April 22, 2009 Hannity, via Crooks and Liars.
(Hannity image via screen grab)
This Long Island old hawk believes Avenatti may expose Pie’s dirty little secrets in front of his audience. If Pie was innocent and had nothing to hide he would have had Avenatti on his show.
The Stop Hannity Express says Pie is concerned about certain information getting out to the public. He will have all his answers in the coming weeks, and it will not be good.
NOTE TO HANNITY
What happened to your attacks against the FBI? Oh, that’s right. They have certain documents, plus, people with knowledge spilled all the beans to the feds.
Seriously, is anyone surprised?
No?
Neither am I.
