Correction, July 11, 2018, 8:13 p.m.: MSNBC host Ari Melber’s surname was misspelled in the original article. It has been corrected.
“BREAKING: Fox News Freaking Out As Sean Hannity Faces Possible Prison Time For Witness Tampering,” a headline posted last week claims on the site New Century Times.
“It looks like Hannity may have committed a crime that could quite possibly net him a nice, round twenty years in federal prison,” the article claims. It continues:
What’s the truth?
As readers of TWS Fact Check may have surmised, Hannity is not currently facing “possible prison time for witness tampering.”
During an opening monologue last week, Hannity discussed the Mueller investigation’s “[demand] that witnesses turn in their phones … to review all of their electronic communications.”
The blog post obfuscates the fact that Hannity was making an allusion to an FBI report from July 2016 which revealed that Clinton aides had broken Clinton’s mobile phones with a hammer and snapped several “in half.” Hannity also mentions “BleachBit” in reference to Clinton aides’ use of the BleachBit software to delete messages. During the monologue he suggests disposing of SIM cards, a tactic also employed by Clinton aides.
Here’s what Hannity said on his program Wednesday:
New Century Times references a segment on MSNBC in which panelists seriously discussed Hannity’s suggestions, with host Ari Melber [see Correction] saying that “If anyone actually does what Sean Hannity says there, they’d be committing a crime.” (The irony of Melber’s statement is not lost on TWS Fact Check.)
During the same program on Fox News, Hannity makes it clear that he is not seriously suggesting people destroy their phones and emails. “Mueller wants everyone’s cell phones,” Hannity said on Wednesday, “My advice to them, not really, kidding, bad advice, would be follow Hillary’s, you know, lead.”
The misinformation stemmed from a primary news-network and trickled down to an obscure blog that expanded the falsehoods into “facing prison” claims. Remember, context is key.
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