Fox & Friends downplays Sean Hannity's relationship with Trump lawyer Michael Cohen

Steve Doocy: “Ultimately, the big news out of the Sean Hannity reveal was he said he talked to a guy who has been a friend”

From the April 17 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:

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STEVE DOOCY (CO-HOST): There was some wrangling for awhile, and finally they said, “OK, the third person is Sean Hannity.” And apparently there was a gasp in the room, it's like, “Well, we know that name.” 

AINSLEY EARHARDT (CO-HOST): Yeah. Sean defended himself last night. He said -- and on Twitter. He said there was no payoff and he said, “I really only went to him for advice for real estate questions,” because he doesn't invest in the stock market, he invests in real estate and he had some legal questions.

[...]

BRIAN KILMEADE (CO-HOST): Yeah, and basically Sean's name was brought up. People say, “Well, what type of linkage is there?” There's absolutely no linkage. As Tom Fitton said, “Sean Hannity's been victimized in this process. His name was leaked out. There's no reason to portray any consultation with an attorney.” Bottom line, the reason for Michael Cohen to go in there yesterday and the president to have attorneys represent him, they wanted the first look at his documents. They didn't get it. So the other side will get their first look. And then about a month later, Michael Cohen will get to get his -- get a look at his stuff. I don't know if he is going to get it all back. 

DOOCY: Yeah, it'll be interesting to see. So, ultimately, the big news out of the Sean Hannity reveal was he said he talked to a guy who has been a friend. In fact, The New York Times tracked down and discovered that Tom -- Sean Hannity said once on his radio show, when introducing Michael Cohen, “this is a long-time” -- oh, it was the night of the inauguration, “long-time friend of mine who has known me long before the campaign ever got started.”

KILMEADE: But, I mean, I know too, it makes total sense, if you have a lawyer and you're trying to buy something and you get to be friendly with that, how many times do we have the judge on the couch and we'll say something to the judge, “Hey, judge, what's going on with this?” Or let's say there's -- Ainsley owns a lot of real estate in New York City, most of the big buildings she owns. You might throw a question out about -- legally, do I have a standing here? 

DOOCY: Sure. Every time we will do a tax segment, we'll ask the tax person, “Hey, can I deduct ammo?”

KILMEADE: Right. Yeah, exactly.

DOOCY: We'll have a question. And apparently it sounds like Sean regarded their relationship as something like that. Somebody he'd known for years and occasionally would ask advice about real estate. 

Previously:

Report: Michael Cohen gave Sean Hannity legal advice in response to Media Matters' advertiser boycott

Sean Hannity, a client of Michael Cohen's, called the raid of his office “a threat to the constitutional foundation of this country”

After the Michael Cohen reveal, revisiting the time Hannity bragged about the dirt he was gathering on Media Matters