Watch: Hannity Takes a Side in Trump vs. Sessions Battle: 'He Did Have an Obligation...'
A frequent defender of President Donald Trump on radio and television, Fox News Channel host Sean Hannity appeared to side with him again in an ongoing feud between the White House and Department of Justice.
Trump fueled the dispute in an interview this week with personal comments about Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
“I put in an attorney general who never took control of the Justice Department,” he said. “Jeff Sessions never took control of the Justice Department. It’s sort of an incredible thing.”
The president called it a “very, very sad day” when Sessions announced he would recuse himself from any investigation into Russian meddling during the 2016 presidential election.
“Even my enemies say that Jeff Sessions should have told you that he was going to recuse himself and then you wouldn’t have put him in,” Trump said.
During Fox News Channel’s “Hannity” on Thursday, the host similarly chided Sessions for deciding to remove himself from the Russia investigation.
“Less than one month after being sworn in, the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, he abandoned his post, completely recused himself from all things Russia and Hillary,” Hannity said.
Calling the decision a “tremendous disservice to the president and the country that he serves,” Hannity said the “absentee attorney general” should have informed Trump of his intentions before accepting the nomination.
“Now, knowing he would do this, he did have an obligation to tell the president of the United States,” he said. “Now, here we are a year and a half later. Look what the Russia investigation has become.”
Blaming Sessions’ decision to “recuse himself from all of it” for what he said has become a “witch hunt” against Trump, Hannity went on to describe his perception of the wide-ranging probe.
“It’s now morphed into, let’s see, New York taxi cab medallions, taxes, tax forms and counts, bank applications, fraud, payouts to porn stars, and what is a partisan witch hunt against the president and frankly everyone around him,” Hannity said.
He said the situation has become “an unmitigated disaster for so many personally,” resulting in “lives upended and literally uprooted and the entire country as a result.”
Hannity ended with a personal message for the attorney general.
“Jeff, I’ve known you for years,” he said. “Do you not realize the shocking two-tiered system of justice in the country under your rule as attorney general?”
Sessions released a statement indirectly responding to Trump’s criticism Thursday.
“I took control of the Department of Justice the day I was sworn in, which is why we have had unprecedented success at effectuating the President’s agenda — one that protects the safety and security and rights of the American people, reduces violent crime, enforces our immigration laws, promotes economic growth, and advances religious liberty,” he said.
The attorney general added that as long as he remains at the helm of the Justice Department, he will not allow it to be “improperly influenced by political considerations.”
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