Sean Hannity speaking at an event in Greenville, South Carolina. (Wikipedia Commons. Author: Gage Skidmore)
A federal court released over 50 pages of private texts between Fox News host Sean Hannity and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort on Saturday. The two discussed the Mueller investigation and Manafort’s intentions to stand by the Trump family.
The 56-page release shows text messages from 2017 to 2018, when Manafort was charged by ex Special Counsel Robert Mueller regarding the 2016 U.S Presidential elections and Russian interference.
Manafort is currently serving out a seven-and-a-half year prison sentence on charges from the Mueller investigations.
According to released documents, the judge in Manafort’s case showed concern about the ex Trump aide and his lawyers violating a gag order imposed during the case. The judge in the end chose not to take any action on the text exchanges.
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For much of their conversations, Hannity is trying to support Manafort and comfort him as the two men express their worries and contempt for the Mueller probe.
“Mueller is trying to intimidate me. The raid is just one example. I won’t let him succeed but it is very lonely fighting this fight … Except for you and a few others, our side is not engaged,” Manafort said in August 2017. “Thank you for your help.”
A text exchange in March 2018 shows Hannity asking the ex campaign chairman why he doesn’t “get a sweetheart deal” like Rick Gates got the month before. Gates, a former top campaign aide, pleaded guilty to financial fraud crimes and lying to investigators about Russian election interference.
“They would want me to give up DT [Donald Trump] or Family, esp. JK [Jared Kushner]. I would never do that.” said Manafort
“Understand there is nothing to give up on DT [Donald Trump]. What did JK [Jared Kushner] do?” responded Hannity.
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“Nothin, Just like I did nothing, they would want me to make up s**t on both.” said Manafort.
Hannity tweeted his response to the released text messages on Friday afternoon.
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