Sean Hannity insisted Monday that President Donald Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen has never “represented” him, after a judge ruling unveiled the fact that Hannity had been as one of Cohen’s clients in 2017.
“Michael Cohen has never represented me in any matter. I never retained him, received an invoice, or paid legal fees. I have occasionally had brief discussions with him about legal questions about which I wanted his input and perspective,” said the Fox News host in a statement to TheWrap Monday.
“I assumed those conversations were confidential, but to be absolutely clear they never involved any matter between me and a third party.”
At a federal court hearing in New York City on Monday, Cohen was forced to reveal that in addition to Trump he had also provided legal counsel to two other — previously undisclosed — individuals. One of them was Hannity and the other was former RNC finance chairman Elliott Broidy.
Cohen is facing mounting legal troubles after his home and offices were raided by the FBI last week. Reports at the time said the raid was personally approved by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
The Hannity-Cohen-Trump nexus represents a previously undisclosed layer of connection between Trump and Hannity. The Fox News primetime host has become the most reliably pro-Trump voice on cable television. In a broadcast last week, Hannity blasted the FBI raid on Cohen and the special counsel — without revealing his legal relationship with Cohen.
Fox News did not immediately respond to numerous inquiries about why this conflicts of interest was never disclosed or whether any broader relationship between Fox and Cohen exists.