Fox News host Sean Hannity on Monday was revealed as the previously unnamed client of Michael Cohen.
Cohen, the personal attorney for President Trump, was in federal court in Manhattan on Monday, and after U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood ordered him to name his client, Cohen’s lawyers acknowledged Hannity was a client, according to reporters who were in the room.
On his 3 p.m. radio show Monday, Hannity acknowledged that he sought advice from Cohen, but never represented him in “a traditonal sense.”
“I’ve known Michael a long, long time. Let me be clear to the media: Michael never represented me in any matter. I never retained him in a traditional sense. I never received an invoice from Michael, I never paid legal fees to Michael,” Hannity explained.
Hannity did say later that he “may have” handed Cohen $10 and said: “I want privilege to cover me about this conversation.” But he stressed that media speculation that he was involved in some kind of settlement was wrong.
“That’s not what happened, ever,” he said.
“Not one of any issues I ever dealt with Michael Cohen on ever, ever involved a matter between me and a third party,” he added. “I never had any case with him that ever involved a third party, none whatsoever.”
Hannity said that the conversations were “brief” and he assumes “those conversations are attorney-client confidential.”
Hannity repeated his remarks over Twitter.
Michael Cohen has never represented me in any matter. I never retained him, received an invoice, or paid legal fees. I have occasionally had brief discussions with him about legal questions about which I wanted his input and perspective.
— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) April 16, 2018
I assumed those conversations were confidential, but to be absolutely clear they never involved any matter between me and a third-party.
— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) April 16, 2018
In a court filing, Cohen’s attorneys revealed that he had 10 clients from 2017 to 2018, including Trump, Elliott Broidy, the former deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee, and an unidentified client.
“The third legal client directed Mr. Cohen to not to reveal the identity publicly,” Cohen’s lawyers wrote.
Cohen’s lawyers were not able to meet “the standard for an exception that client identity or even fee arrangements must be revealed,” said Wood.
