Sean Hannity has cast his Fox News colleagues aside and declared himself as the cable network’s strongest supporter of President Trump.
The conservative media personality laid the claim during an episode of his syndicated radio show Thursday while discussing recent news coverage of the Trump administration and particularly the press’ interest in any connections between the White House and Russia.
“I am making a point that the news media is abusively biased, and fixated only on palace intrigue and Russia, and they are doing a disservice to the American people,” Mr. Hannity said.
The quip caused one of Mr. Hannity’s guests to question Fox’s own White House coverage and quickly led to the host putting himself in a category above his colleagues.
“You know, I am like the — I am — I am the only one that is as strongly supportive of the president, of anyone else at Fox. I think that’s a fair statement,” Mr. Hannity responded.
Two of Mr. Hannity’s guests, fellow media personality Rich Ungar and former Navy SEAL Jonathan Gilliam, agreed.
“I absolutely believe that,” Mr. Gilliam said.
“I mean, I think they’re supportive, but nobody as much as you,” added Mr. Ungar.
According to Mr. Hannity, however, not all of his Fox News colleagues are doing an honest job covering the president.
“OK, but have you ever watched the news people?” Mr. Hannity said. “Have you watched Bret’s panel? Have you watched ’The [Fox News] Specialists’? Have you watched ’The Five’? Have you watched any of these other shows, that, you know — Bret Baier is fair, and we have others — Martha is fair, but the rest of these programs, I mean, you have liberals and conservatives” critical of
While associated with the right since its founding over 20 years ago, Fox News has earned a reputation in recent months for its sympathetic coverage of Mr. Trump’s Republican administration despite revelations of its links to Russia. Mr. Trump, for his part, has repeatedly tweeted links to Fox News segments supportive of his administration while routinely blasting its cable news competitors, CNN and MSNBC.
The U.S. intelligence community has blamed the Russian government with interfering in last year’s White House race in a bid to boost Mr. Trump over his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. Officials in the House, Senate and Justice Department are currently investigating Moscow’s alleged involvement as well as any links between Russian operatives and the president’s inner circle, though Mr. Trump has denied accusations of collusion and has repeatedly decried reports about those purported Russian ties as “fake news.”
Mr. Hannity’s comments were first reported by Media Matters for America, a nonprofit progressive research center.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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