‘Hey u up?
Who knew that Fox News host Sean Hannity and former Trump campaign chairman – and convicted felon – Paul Manafort were such good friends?
Such good friends that they sent each other a lot of texts. 50 pages of their conversations have just been made public by a court that ordered them unsealed, and there are some insane claims they – especially Sean Hannity – make.
If you’ve ever wondered if Hannity is just playing a far right wing conspiracy theory-spinning extremist on TV, rest assured it apparently is all genuine. If these texts don’t convince you, nothing could.
The texts are conversations between the two conservatives in 2017 and 2018, starting just before the Dept. of Justice raided Manafort’s home.
Hannity’s texts sound a lot like his show.
For example, in one of the early texts in the 50-page bundle that Politico posted online, Hannity spins his conspiracy theories like he’s reading from a menu: “deep state,” and, “Nothing being done to Hillary Clinton.”
Here’s a portion of the August 9, 2017 text:
“From that I’m seeing Today, there are so many obvious crimes NOT being investigated. Clear felonies committed. Conflicts of interest. A deep state LEAK A DAY and little to nothing being done. Conversations with the Potus and other Presidents and Prime Ministers leaked?Unmasking political opponents, leaking intel?And now we have criminalized political differences. HRC nothing? And NOTHING IS getting done for the great people of this country.”
Here’s a Hannity text to Manafort two days later:
At another point that day Manafort tells Hannity, “Your life story, and mine, are the reasons this country was created.”
Fast forward to late 2017.
By this point it seems like Hannity is working Manafort to get an exclusive on-air interview.
And Manafort is working Hannity to get the Fox News host to keep defending him on-air.
November 28, 2017.
Hannity tells Manafort, “I’ll be in the cell next to u.”
It’s unclear what he’s talking about.
Minutes later after some back and forth Manafort says, “Neither of us will be in jail.”
That proved to be false.
Manfort on Nov. 28 says, “I plan on helping on the re elect,” presumably meaning trump’s 2020 re-election campaign. An odd comment given he long prior had been fired from the campaign.
Here’s Manafort praising Hannity on Dec. 7, 2017:
Politico senior reporter Darren Samuelsohn tweeted these screenshots:
And then there’s this:
And on and on…
Read the entire 50 pages here.
Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license