In a Twitter sequence on Saturday pegged to social-media companies clamping down on bogus info-providers, President Trump unfurled one of his more common talking points:
But Monday night promised a breakthrough of sorts, a way for Trump to lie and tell the truth at the same time. Check it out: On his eponymous program on Monday night, Fox News host Sean Hannity hammered away at the controversy over Trump’s revocation of the security clearance for former CIA director John Brennan. In so doing, he highlighted a raucous discussion from the previous Friday night — on CNN. Facing off over this issue were CNN contributor and former FBI official Phil Mudd and Paris Dennard, a pro-Trump commentator. Mediated by CNN’s Jim Sciutto, the conversation was a firecracker, as Dennard charged that former national security officials leverage their security clearances for lucrative consulting work. Mudd did what Mudd does on cable news: stern-faced, crinkle-lipped outrage. “When I am requested to sit on an advisory board, let me ask you one question: How much do you think I’m paid to do that at the request of the U.S. government? Give me one answer and you got 10 seconds,” said Mudd to Dennard.
On “Hannity,” the most explosive parts of the Mudd-Dennard clash were played for the audience, which apparently included someone at the highest level of the U.S. government:
How could any scenario provide greater comfort to the president of the United States? It’s cable news on cable news, CNN filtered through Fox News to maximize the pro-Trump effect.
“Hannity,” of course, grabbed only the most dramatic part of the Mudd-Dennard-Sciutto segment, which lasted for 11 minutes or so. Once the shouting had calmed, however, Sciutto pressed the policy implications of Trump’s fixation on the security clearances of former government officials. He asked Dennard, “This is a question of national security, it is not? You keep security clearances when you leave the profession because you may be called on to give advice based on your experience when the U.S. faces a national security threat … As an American, would you feel safer if that counsel was not available to the president of the United States?”
Dennard’s flimsy answer might not even have impressed Trump.
In any case, Hannity last night promised a “full investigation, a ‘Hannity’ investigation.” Sounds like Hannity knows he has the attention of a certain someone.
