Hannity found Jackson denial “very credible” -- but still says he hears voice of Bill Clinton denying Lewinsky affair

Written by Matthew Biedlingmaier

Published

On Hannity & Colmes, discussing reports that “Senate Candidate 5” in the criminal complaint against Gov. Rob Blagojevich is a reference to Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., Sean Hannity asserted that Jackson “gave an emotional -- and he gave a very passionate defense of his conduct here” and that “he came off as very credible and believable to me.” Hannity added, "[B]ut there's always a skeptical side of me. You know, in the back of my mind I hear that voice, 'I did not have sex.' You know, I hear Bill Clinton."

On the December 10 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, co-host Sean Hannity cited a statement former President Bill Clinton made regarding his relationship with Monica Lewinsky as a possible reason to be “skeptical” of Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.'s (D-IL) “passionate defense” following reports that Jackson is the person referred to as “Senate Candidate 5” in the criminal complaint against Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D). Hannity asserted that Jackson “gave an emotional -- and he gave a very passionate defense of his conduct here” and that “he came off as very credible and believable to me.” Hannity continued, "[B]ut there's always a skeptical side of me. You know, in the back of my mind I hear that voice, 'I did not have sex.' You know, I hear Bill Clinton." Author and CNN contributor Bill Bennett responded, “Well, sure,” to which Hannity replied: “And so people can lie in a passionate defense. But I found him to be credible today.”

This is the second time in two days that Hannity has evoked Bill Clinton while discussing the Blagojevich scandal. As Media Matters for America documented, on the December 9 edition of Hannity & Colmes, Hannity compared the FBI audio tapes of Blagojevich to tapes released by Gennifer Flowers. In 2007, Media Matters also documented that Fox News' E.D. Hill compared President-elect Barack Obama's explanation for why he had stopped wearing an American flag pin on his lapel to Clinton's statement about his relationship with Lewinsky.

From the December 10 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes:

HANNITY: All right. Let's move on. I watched Jesse Jackson Jr. today.

BENNETT: Yeah.

HANNITY: He gave an emotional -- and he gave a very passionate defense of his conduct here. Now, I'm going to be -- it was funny, because my wife wrote me at the time, and she goes, “What do you think?” I said, you know what, he came off as very credible and believable to me, but there's always a skeptical side of me. You know, in the back of my mind I hear that voice, “I did not have sex.” You know, I hear Bill Clinton.

BENNETT: Well, sure.

HANNITY: And so people can lie --

BENNETT: Yeah, oh gosh.

HANNITY: -- in a passionate defense.

BENNETT: I know.

HANNITY: But I found him to be credible today, because if you look at this -- what -- what was written yesterday, and what they're -- what they're laying out about candidate number five, it's pretty damning. So for him to have such a passionate defense --

BENNETT: Yeah.

HANNITY: -- he better be telling the truth. What are your thoughts?

BENNETT: Well, who knows? We have all been conditioned to this some, haven't we, Sean? I mean, we have seen these things before. And so we look for body language, we look for all sorts of things. Who knows?