A forthcoming book reports that Sean Hannity scripted a Trump campaign ad that was so bad, the campaign made it to appease the prime time Trump propagandist, then laughed at it behind Hannity’s back.

The news comes from a book to be published in August by Wall Street Journal reporter, Michael C. Bender, according to PunchBowl News. (My emphases added)

“Multiple internal campaign emails referred to the spot simply as ‘Hannity.’ Another referred to it as the ‘Hannity-written’ spot. ‘POTUS has not yet approved, but Hannity has,’ read one email. ‘Hannity said this is our best spot yet,’ another campaign aide wrote...Inside the campaign, the spot was mocked mercilessly—mostly because of the dramatic, over-the-top language and a message that seemed to value quantity over quality.” 

Donald Trump himself, in a post-election interview with Bender, did not dispute that Hannity wrote the ad, which called Biden a “forty-seven-year swamp creature” who had “accomplished nothing” and supported a “radical, socialist Green New Deal.”

Media Matters notes that Hannity has issued a vague denial, saying, “The world knows that Sean Hannity supports Donald Trump. But my involvement specifically in the campaign -- no. I was not involved that much. Anybody who said that is full of shit.” What Hannity means by “specifically in the campaign” is open to interpretation, of course.

Media Matters’ Matt Gertz wrote, “It’s hard to know what to think about a statement like this from a notorious liar.” Gertz points out that Hannity has “regularly violated basic tenets of journalistic ethics throughout the Trump years,” but the denial suggests that ownership of a campaign ad would be a bridge too far. At least in public.

One thing is for sure: The ad, which reportedly cost $1.5 million and aired only on the Hannity show, was worthy of any mockery. You can watch it below:

(Trump/Hannity image via screen grab)