Republicans received an email “from” Sean Hannity asking for money “to re-elect the president and all Republicans this November”

Donald Trump and Sean Hannity red

Citation Melissa Joskow / Media Matters

Fox News host Sean Hannity has been helping the Republican National Committee raise money “to re-elect the President and ALL Republicans this November.” Hannity’s Republican fundraising is yet another example of how Fox News disregards its supposed policies when it comes to the pro-Trump host. 

Over the years, Hannity has participated in numerous Republican campaign events. In 2007, he reportedly received $75,000 for speaking at a Republican fundraising event in Florida. In 2010, he keynoted a fundraiser for the National Republican Congressional Committee that “raised over $7 million.” In 2016, he starred in a Trump campaign ad (Fox responded at the time that it “had no knowledge that Sean Hannity was participating in this, and he will not be doing anything along these lines for the remainder of the election”). And in the summer of 2018, he did campaign events for then-Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), who successfully ran for governor, and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL).

In November 2018, after Hannity participated in a campaign rally for President Donald Trump, Fox News stated that it “does not condone any talent participating in campaign events. … This was an unfortunate distraction and has been addressed.” (Since then, numerous other Fox News personalities have participated in Republican campaign events.) 

In the runup to the 2020 elections, Hannity has been helping the Republican National Committee raise money to elect Trump and other Republicans via signed copies of his book. 

As the Twitter account @TrumpEmail documented, the RNC has been sending numerous emails since August 2 offering signed copies of Hannity’s book Live Free or Die to people who contribute $75 or more. 

On September 8, as @TrumpEmail noted, Hannity himself was listed in the “from” field for the first time in an email promoting his book and stating that contributions will be used to help “us fight to re-elect the President and ALL Republicans this November.” (That “re-elect” language has been used in numerous other prior emails, which had not contained Hannity in the “from” field.) 

The email, which was also “from” President Trump," signed off by stating: “Thank you, Team Trump 2020.” 

In August, Salon asked Fox News whether it was comfortable with the RNC’s Hannity book promotion, but a “network spokesperson told Salon that was a question for the book's publisher, Simon & Schuster. Simon and Schuster did not respond to Salon's request for comment. Neither the Trump campaign nor the RNC responded to Salon's detailed questions.”