President Trump and Fox News host Sean Hannity often speak on the phone several times a day, according to a new report.
While it was previously known that Trump and Hannity are friendly and that Trump often watches Hannity’s show due to his tweets praising the conservative host for his ratings, New York magazine shares new details that show the extent of their relationship.
{mosads}Hannity is reportedly one of a few dozen people who have access to Trump’s official phone line, and the two speak on the phone nearly every night after Hannity’s show.
Current and former White House officials familiar with the relationship told the magazine that the conversations help Trump “decompress” at the end of the day.
One White House official told New York magazine that Hannity’s influence on the president “fills the void” left by former chief strategist Stephen Bannon, and that Hannity’s influence on the president is on the same level as that of other administration officials.
Another former Trump official told the magazine that Hannity’s show and other Fox News shows, which often praise Trump’s accomplishments and back up his view that the Russia investigation is a “witch hunt,” put the president in a “weird headspace.”
The official referred to it as a “f—ed-up feedback loop.”
“What ends up happening is Judge Jeanine or Hannity fill him up with a bunch of crazy shit, and everyone on staff has to go and knock down all the f—ing fires they started,” the official said.
Hannity also has legal connections to Trump, as it was revealed recently at a hearing that he was a client of Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen. Hannity has denied ever having Cohen on retainer, saying that he consulted him about questions on real estate.