Fox News primetime host Sean Hannity called out former National Security Adviser John Bolton on Tuesday night and demanded that he come on his program to talk about Bolton’s assertions that President Donald Trump told him about a Ukrainian quid pro quo.
With Republican senators facing increased pressure to call Bolton as an impeachment witness following the revelation that his upcoming book details the president leveraging military aid to get Ukraine to investigate his political foes, Hannity kicked off his Tuesday night show by calling the Bolton bombshell a “manufactured crisis.”
After roundly dismissing the “B.S. surrounding Bolton,” Hannity went on to note that he’s known Bolton for over two decades, pointing out that the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations was a longtime Fox News colleague before he snagged a White House job.
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“I remember when John was first up for the job of the national security adviser,” Hannity, sometimes referred to as the White House shadow chief of staff, declared. “I had heard through many sources John was calling everyone that would listen, asking them to put in a good word for him with President Trump. He wanted this job badly.”
“I spoke on an occasion to John Bolton,” he continued. “And I asked him why he wanted the job and I also remember asking him, ‘You know, Donald Trump’s foreign policy positions are very different than your foreign policy positions. Would you be willing to serve his agenda, not yours?’ Again, I’ve known him for two decades.”
Grousing that he’s “not recognizing” the man he thought he knew, Hannity then went on to demand Bolton appear on his show to detail the book’s revelations.
“John Bolton, I say to you tonight, you have something to say, John, come here,” the Fox News host exclaimed. “You worked here. This is your old home. Come on the show. Have your say on this show. We’ve invited you repeatedly. Radio and TV, over the past number of weeks.”
Hannity would then go on and say that even if everything that’s been reported on Bolton’s manuscript is true, it doesn’t matter and the “case is over” because the July 25 call between Trump and the Ukrainian president doesn’t explicitly reveal a quid pro quo.
"John Bolton, come on the show," Hannity reiterated moments later. "Your country wants to hear from you. I would like to hear from you. You have a story to tell the country, John. Stop playing games! This is not a game when it’s the presidency of the United States. It’s not a game when you’re pushing the boundaries of executive privilege, which George Washington used, and every president pretty much in between and since!"
