Noting that he had “15 million messages flying in as we speak,” and claiming “the media is going off the rails right now,” Fox News’s Sean Hannity decided to address the report sending Twitter into a frenzy that he had been named in the court hearing of President Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen this afternoon as Cohen’s previously-unnamed client.
“I have known Michael Cohen for a long time, but he has never represented me in any matter,” Hannity stated on his radio show. “I have never received an invoice or paid legal fees to him. I have had questions, brief discussions and asked for his input on certain matters, but he has never represented me on any case with any third party.”
“I have eight lawyers who I talk to,” Hannity continued. “I have contract attorneys, tons of different attorneys for on-air, TV, radio, etc…It shows Michael is doing his due diligence and making sure he is disclosing any attorney-client privileges. I never gave him a retainer. Never paid any fees. I may have handed him $10 once. I requested attorney-client privilege with him, and assumed our conversations would be confidential, but they have never involved any matter with him and any third party.”
Cohen is presently under FBI investigation. The Bureau recently raided his home, office and hotel room.
The hearing was attended by Stormy Daniels, who has told her story of her alleged relationship with Donald Trump to 60 Minutes, including how Cohen paid her $130,000 to remain silent. Afterward, she and her attorney, Michael Avenatti, both spoke to the press outside. Avenatti was asked about Hannity’s name being exposed at the hearing.
Michael Avenatti on the reveal of Cohen’s mystery third client: “I think Sean Hannity got thrown under the bus by Michael Cohen’s counsel” https://t.co/n6aYFUZPk8 pic.twitter.com/78pZp6EezP
— CNN (@CNN) April 16, 2018