New court documents containing over fifty pages of text messages between former Trump campaign advisor Paul Manafort and Fox News host Sean Hannity have been released.
Judge Amy Berman of the U.S. District Court for D.C., where Manafort was sentenced to 43 months in prison after taking a plea deal for crimes including bank fraud, obstruction of justice, violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act, conspiracy, and tax fraud, ordered that the texts be released on Friday.
DOJ double standards
The released documents contain hundreds of text messages exchanged between Manafort and Hannity in 2017 and 2018, centering around special counsel Robert Mueller’s Trump-Russia investigation. Among the frequent topics is the perceived double standard at Mueller’s Justice Department.
“From what I’m seeing Today, there are so many obvious crimes that are NOT being investigated,” wrote Hannity in one messge. “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?”
Manafort wrote in another message, “The establishment feels like they have to kill Trump … their existence depends on it … DT [Donald Trump] has to be destroyed … They will go after Jared [Kushner] and the family next.”
Besides this, the two would frequently exchange information about the case. In one 3:27 a.m. text, Hannity wrote, “Hey u up? ??? Info!” which was followed by a phone conversation minutes later.
Carrying one another’s burdens
In Hannity, Manafort found a sympathetic friend. The Fox News host would tell Manafort to tune into his show to uplift his spirit.
“Just watched last night’s show,” Manafort wrote. “I appreciate what you tried to do. 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,” he continued. “I feel all alone out there. Except for you and a few others, our side is not engaged.”
Hannity at another point told Manafort that he is “in [his] prayers.” “Thank you,” he replied. “I need them. I feel so violated.”
No surprise here
Shortly after the text messages were made public on Friday, Hannity released a statement on Twitter, writing: “My view of the Special Counsel investigation and the treatment of Paul Manafort were made clear every day to anyone who listens to my radio show or watches my TV show.”
And that does seem to be the case. The text messages do not contain anything that one would not expect to hear from the Fox News host and Manafort.
No comments: