Media

Hannity accused of hypocrisy on ‘lock her up’

by John Bowden - 06/07/19 11:30 AM ET

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Fox News host Sean Hannity is getting criticized for hypocrisy after criticizing Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) comments about wanting to see President Trump in prison as “despicable,” but essentially supporting the famous cheers from President Trump’s rallies directed toward Hillary Clinton of “lock her up.”

Hannity issued a fiery tirade against Pelosi, telling his viewers that her desire to see Trump “in prison” was “beyond despicable behavior” that occurs in “banana republics.”

He said Pelosi wanted this to happen “based on no actual crimes,” and that it would turn the United States into a country people would no longer recognize.{mosads}

The remarks were quickly seized upon by various reporters who noted Hannity’s support for Trump and his calls for investigations into Clinton to be reopened.

Sean Hannity on Fox tonight, without any hint of irony: “Based on no actual crimes, [Pelosi] wants a political opponent locked up in prison. Umm, that happens in banana republics. Beyond despicable behavior.” pic.twitter.com/bZceCo4sIn

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 6, 2019

“Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner in the Complete Lack of Self-Awareness Contest. Please, no more entries,” wrote Mother Jones’s David Corn.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner in the Complete Lack of Self-Awareness Contest. Please, no more entries. https://t.co/q1cK9gEXKc

— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) June 7, 2019

“ ‘Lock her up!’ has been the chant at whose rallies?” added The New York Times’s Maggie Haberman.

“Lock her up!” has been the chant at whose rallies? https://t.co/mYECa2sX7f

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) June 7, 2019

Hannity and Trump contend that Clinton broke the law by using a private email server to send classified messages while she served as secretary of State. The FBI under former Director James Comey decided to not bring charges against Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee defeated by Trump in 2016.

Responding to the criticism, Hannity told The Hill that it was an example of a “lazy and abusively biased media mob” that was “lying to their ever-shrinking audiences.”

He said Trump committed no crimes, while the evidence was “overwhelming and incontrovertible” that Clinton committed felonies. Hannity listed the deletion of emails and the destroying of phones to make his argument, stating that Clinton had destroyed evidence.

“Nancy Pelosi cannot identify a ‘crime’ committed by President Trump,” Hannity said. “She just wants a political opponent put in jail which would make us no better than any of the world’s dictatorships. No wonder Pew Research came out with the poll numbers on Fake News this week. The media mob is earning the public’s distrust every single day.”

Hannity has called for Democrats to be jailed despite them not being convicted of crimes. An episode of his radio show that aired less than a month before Election Day in 2016 was titled “[Hillary] Clinton should be in jail,” according to his website.

In 2017, he also questioned whether Clinton would be indicted in a now-deleted tweet after special counsel Robert Mueller filed the first of his indictments under the years-long Russia investigation.

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