Trump touts Hannity's show on 'Deep State crime families' led by Mueller, Comey and Clintons - Washington Post

On Wednesday night, like most other weeknights, it was to be expected that President Trump would be tuning into his favorite prime-time pundit. But as if his followers needed a reminder, the president tweeted about it.

“Big show tonight on @seanhannity!” Trump tweeted, promoting Sean Hannity’s 9 p.m. segment on Fox News. By early Thursday morning, Hannity was the number-one topic trending on Twitter, and scores of viewers watched as Hannity fired out his usual attacks on his favorite subjects: Hillary Clinton, special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, and former FBI director James B. Comey.

And in a conspiratorial, long-winded monologue, Hannity charted connections he sees between all three of them. The pundit outlined what he described as “obvious Deep State crime families trying to take down the president,” consisting of the Clinton “family,” the Comey “family” and the Mueller “family.”

Hannity said he was inspired by Comey, who appeared in a video this week promoting an interview between Comey and ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that will be aired this coming Sunday. In the interview, Stephanopoulos suggests that Comey compared Trump to a “mob boss.”

“Mr. Comey, you’re really going to compare the sitting president of the United States to a mob boss so you can make money?” Hannity said of the former FBI director, who is currently promoting his soon-to-be-released book. “If he’s going to use a sweeping analogy I’ve decided tonight we’re going to use the Comey standard … and make some comparisons of our own.”

He began with what he called “a family responsible for actual crimes … the head of the notorious political cabal, of course Bill and Hillary Clinton, the Clinton crime family.”

For the Clinton family, Hannity brought up allegations of sexual misconduct against President Bill Clinton and, of course, accused Hillary Clinton of committing crimes, obstructing justice and mishandling national secrets on a private server. Linked to the Clinton “crime family” were individuals such as Hillary Clinton aides Cheryl Mills and Huma Abedin, “sketchy” gormer Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, former attorney general Loretta Lynch, and others, including Christopher Steele, the author of the “dossier” alleging ties between Trump and Russia.

Then there’s the “Mueller Crime Family,” Hannity said. The host drew connections between the special counsel and his “best friend” Comey, as well as notorious gangster and killer Whitey Bulger. Hannity accused Mueller of “looking the other way” at Bulger’s crimes while he was a federal prosecutor in Boston. Then, of course, Hannity mapped out the “Comey Crime Family,” linking the former FBI Director to Lynch, Rosenstein, Steele, former deputy attorney general Sally Yates, and “fellow Comey Deep State sycophant” former CIA director John Brennan.

Sean Hannity discusses special counsel Robert s Mueller III during his Fox News show on April 11. (Screen grab via Fox News)

Though Hannity retweeted Trump’s tweet promoting his Wednesday night show, he insisted that the president “was not given ANY heads up on my monologue using the ‘Comey’ standard!!!”

Regardless of what Trump knew before the show, the president is known to watch Hannity’s show regularly and look to it for guidance. Hannity’s rambling monologue Wednesday was a reflection of the conspiratorial world Trump and many of his supporters live in.

As CNN’s Brian Stelter tweeted, Wednesday night  illustrated that “the line where Fox News ends and where Trump begins is getting blurrier by the day.”

Aides have said Trump regularly calls Hannity before or after the program to give feedback, The Post’s Josh Dawsey reported. “Aides sometimes plot to have guests make points on Fox that they have been unable to get the president to agree to in person,” Dawsey wrote.

Hannity on Wednesday night once again called the Russia investigation a “witch hunt,” as does Trump, and brought on guests who attempted to discredit Justice Department officials and the special counsel.

One guest, Joseph E. diGenova, a former U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia who served as an independent counsel and a special counsel in the 1990s, called Comey a “dirty cop” and said Mueller has surrounded himself with “a bunch of legal terrorists” who are trying to snag Trump in a “perjury trap.”

A Fox News regular who has advised Trump, diGenova said Attorney General Jeff Sessions has an “obligation” to fire Rosenstein as soon as Thursday morning, in light of this week’s raids of the office, home and hotel room of Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen.

Rosenstein, who oversees Mueller’s work, signed off on the search warrant. Cohen is under federal investigation over possible bank fraud, wire fraud and campaign-finance violations, The Post reported. Trump lashed out Tuesday at prosecutors for the FBI raid, claiming that it signals an end of attorney-client privilege, and tweeting: “A TOTAL WITCH HUNT!!!”

On Hannity’s show, diGenova encouraged Trump to stop cooperating with the Russia probe. His remarks fall in line with a plan former White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon is pitching to the White House, The Post reported Wednesday. Bannon is recommending that Trump fire Rosenstein and end its cooperation with the special counsel.

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