Fox News' Sean Hannity Hired Trump Lawyer To Investigate Left-Wing Groups Calling For Boycott Of His Show

Fox News personality Sean Hannity

Earlier today, a federal judge ordered Donald Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen to reveal who his clients were in order to determine what materials seized from his office and home last week might be protected by attorney/client privilege.

In addition to Donald Trump and GOP fundraiser Elliott Broidy (whom Cohen handled a $1.3 million "hush money" payout), Cohen's legal team revealed the 3rd client was none other than Fox News host Sean Hannity.

From Media Matters:

Cohen’s lawyers had acknowledged that Cohen had three legal clients since 2017 in a filing in federal court related to legal issues surrounding documents the FBI obtained by raiding his office, home, and hotel room last week. Two clients — Trump and GOP fundraiser Elliott Broidy — were publicly known. Attorneys for Cohen had argued that the identity of the third should remain secret. But Judge Kimba Wood rejected that argument, forcing Cohen’s lawyer to reveal his work for Hannity.

Vanity Fair’s Gabriel Sherman reported on MSNBC soon after that Hannity hired Cohen “to help defend him against left-wing groups that were calling for boycotts,” an apparent reference to Media Matters’ well-publicized campaign to get advertisers to stop supporting Hannity’s program. Sherman added that Hannity may have hired “other lawyers and/or private investigators” as part of the effort.

During the many segments Hannity has devoted to defending Cohen on Fox News, not once has he ever divulged that he had paid Cohen for legal advice.

.@gabrielsherman reports that Sean Hannity hired Michael Cohen to defend him against the @mmfa advertiser boycott pic.twitter.com/UswIjnhN8M

— Media Matters (@mmfa) April 16, 2018

I guess I should double-check with my employers but I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to accept valuable services for free from people I cover. https://t.co/nl9F6cEWDK

— Josh Barro (@jbarro) April 16, 2018