INQUISITR.COM / Entertainment

Many Calling On Fox News To Fire Sean Hannity After Judge Reveals His Secret Text Messages With Paul Manafort

By Nathan Francis
Published on: 17:42 PST, Jun 21, 2019

The revelation that Fox News host Sean Hannity had been secretly communicating with former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort has led to rising calls for the network to fire Hannity for not disclosing the conflict to his viewers.

A court on Friday unsealed more than 50 pages of text messages from Paul Manafort, including communications with Sean Hannity about the ongoing Russia investigation. As CNN reported, some of the texts included assurances from Manafort that he would not be giving up any information about Donald Trump or Jared Kushner to investigators.

“They would want me to give up DT or family, esp JK. I would never do that,” Manafort wrote.

Manafort added that there was “nothing” on either Trump or Kushner that he could give up, “just like i did nothing.” Manafort would later be convicted of several counts of federal fraud and was sentenced to nearly nine years in prison.

The release of the messages has led a number of people to speak out against Sean Hannity and call on Fox News to fire him for his failing to inform viewers of the messages with Manafort. The code of ethics for the Society of Professional Journalists calls on journalists to avoid conflicts of interest in their reporting and to disclose conflicts where they cannot be avoided.

Though Hannity often spoke about Paul Manafort’s trial on his television and radio programs, he did not disclose the close relationship that the two men had.

Hannity himself released a statement on Friday saying that it was clear to viewers what he felt about Paul Manafort, but did not address the unreported conflict of interest.

“My view of the Special Counsel investigation and the treatment of Paul Manafort were made clear every day to anyone who listens to my radio show or watches my TV show,” Hannity said in a statement posted on Twitter.

Sean Hannity faced similar criticism after he was revealed to have been a secret client of Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer. Hannity had reported many times on Cohen without disclosing to viewers that he was working with Cohen as well. Hannity would later say that he used Cohen to help consult for real estate projects he owned.

In that case, as with past controversies involving Sean Hannity, Fox News has chosen to stand behind the popular on-air personality, who regularly brings in big ratings for the network. The network had not issued a statement about the situation or the calls for his firing.

Share this article: Many Calling On Fox News To Fire Sean Hannity After Judge Reveals His Secret Text Messages With Paul Manafort
sean hannity paul manafort
More from Inquisitr