As each of the three major cable news networks prepared for the possibility of an indictment of Donald Trump Monday night in Georgia, Fox News host Sean Hannity turned to none other than Paul Manafort.
Hannity, who had written to Manafort that he would do “anything” to help the former Trump campaign chairman while he was being investigated by Mueller, teed him up with questions about whether the Department of Justice “has been politicized and weaponized.”
“No, not at all,” Manafort replied, predictably.
“Watching the Hunter Biden thing and watching what’s going on in Fulton County tonight is bringing back to me the experiences that I went through, which is having a prosecutor in Bob Mueller who understood from the day he was appointed that there was no Russian collusion,” said Manafort, who was convicted of tax and bank fraud as a result of Mueller’s investigation, but then pardoned by Trump.
Regarding the potential indictment of Trump in Georgia over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, Manafort told Hannity that it would only improve Trump’s odds of winning the 2024 election.
“This just makes Donald Trump stronger, and it doesn’t lessen his resolve at all,” he said. Hannity agreed with the latter part, at least.
“What impact it may have in terms of the process in terms of the nomination for the Republican Party for president, what impact it could potentially have…on independent voters—you spent your entire life in politics. In a general election, this is territory we have never really been down before,” the Fox host said.
“The one phenomenon has been with each new charge against President Trump, politically he’s gotten stronger,” Hannity? said. “Will this trend continue? I’ve got to imagine that it probably will.”
Get the Daily Beast’s biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now.
Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast’s unmatched reporting. Subscribe now.
