Sean Hannity wasn’t impressed with the latest New York Times scoop that Donald Trump attempted to fire Robert Mueller, special counsel to the Russia investigation, last June, but was only dissuaded when his own White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn, threatened to resign.
On Thursday’s show, Hannity initially dismissed the Times report, saying his people had not independently verified it.
“At this hour, the New York Times is trying to distract you. They have a story that Trump wanted Mueller fired some time last June and our sources — and I’ve checked in with many of them — they’ve not confirmed that tonight,” said Hannity.
When Fox News reporter Ed Henry confirmed it was real, Hannity brushed it off.
“So we have sources tonight just confirming to Ed Henry that yeah, maybe, Donald Trump wanted to fire the special counsel for a conflict,” Hannity said. “Does he not have the right to raise those questions?. We’ll deal with this tomorrow night”
He then pivoted to a car chase.
Video of Hannity’s remarks was posted by HuffPo reporter Matt Fuller quickly went viral Thursday evening, racking up more than two million views and more than 26,000 retweets.
People on Twitter mocked Hannity for his sycophancy.
I tell you, if Sean Hannity wasn’t doing irreparable harm to our country this would be undeniably hilarious. https://t.co/iEIEniV1us
— Jared Yates Sexton (@JYSexton) January 26, 2018
https://twitter.com/RupertMyers/status/956790740922912768
RETWEET To Remind Hannity How Foolish He Looks! #MorningJoe pic.twitter.com/o8omZDToGq
— ?️?Made Trade™️ (@EenuffCed) January 26, 2018
Sean Hannity's Reaction to Fox News Confirming the NYT Mueller Report is Absolutely Priceless https://t.co/KrtCK9GTlm
— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) January 26, 2018
In 30 minutes, #Hannity went from angrily denying that Trump ordered W.H. lawyer to fire special counsel #RobertMueller last June & questioning the credibility of NYT to reluctantly admitting that the bombshell report was true#TheResistance #MAGA #Trump #FoxNews #Resist pic.twitter.com/uOJvAZLFDM
— Fredon Moniteau (@FMoniteau) January 26, 2018
LMAO In Sean Hannity's alternative universe a "no comment" from WH lawyers, which in the real world is confirmation of the story, is somehow proof the story is false because it comes from The NY Times, an outlet Trump speaks to on a regular basis.#Cult45 #UpsideDownWorld https://t.co/Ap0YHMCGfk
— John Ziegler (@Zigmanfreud) January 26, 2018
https://twitter.com/Kokomothegreat/status/956867745156608001
For his part, Hannity responded by tweeting an image of him recently used in a New York Times Magazine profile that he suggested was deliberately selected to make him appear angry.
He also colored it green — for some reason.
“Also liberal sheep think I should run wild with @nytimes anonymous sources and not confirm myself. Sure, I trust @nytimes that put this picture on the cover of their magazine (I added the green),” he said.
https://twitter.com/seanhannity/status/956751895523020800