CNN’s Brian Stelter called out Fox News host Sean Hannity on Sunday, advising the staunch Trump ally to heed Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s “warning” to political pundits.
On Friday, Rosenstein announced special counsel Robert Mueller’s indictment, which charges 12 Russian officials with engaging “in a sustained effort” to break into computers owned by Democrats in the lead-up to the 2016 election. In doing so, Stelter said on his Sunday morning program a “kind of overlooked” quote from that announcement was this: “The partisan warfare, fueled by modern technology, does not fairly reflect the grace, dignity, and unity of the American people.”
“I couldn’t have said it better myself,” Stelter, CNN’s senior media correspondent, said after showing the clip. “Rosenstein also said Americans need to work together to hold the attackers accountable. And he’s right about that too. But there are too many Sean Hannitys out there, too many bloviators telling tall truths that distort the truth and deflect attention. And this starts at the very top.”
Flashback: When the DNC was hacked in 2016, Trump immediately went the conspiracy theory route. He said “we believe it was the DNC that did the ‘hacking’ as a way to distract from the many issues facing their deeply flawed candidate…” https://t.co/2gNMsMUoaR
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) July 15, 2018
After quoting President Trump during the campaign blaming the Democrats for causing their own problems and egging on the Russians to seek out Hillary Clinton’s missing emails, Stelter said “this behavior of deflection and distraction” has continued while Trump is in office, “egged on by his supporters like Hannity who want the Mueller probe to be wiped away.”
“Hannity is so blinded by his devotion for trump that he wants the rest of us to be blindfolded too so that we never know the extent of Russia’s attack. Hey Sean, if you’re listening right now, please think about what Rosenstein said,” Stelter said.
He then played another clip of Rosenstein saying, “I want to caution you, the people who speculate about federal investigations usually do not know all of the relevant facts. We do not try cases on television or in congressional hearings.”
“That is such an important warning, a reminder for pundits and lawmakers. But I doubt it will be heeded,” Stelter said.
