Sean Hannity on Monday defended his efforts to convince House Republicans to vote for Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) for Speaker of the House, saying that he has learned that some are “snowflakes” based on their responses to his outreach.
The longtime Fox News host, as noted by reporters from Axios and The Washington Post, has been using his influence to try to push Jordan over the 217-vote threshold. Jordan can only afford four Republicans to not support him.
“This is an important vote,” Hannity asserted early on in his broadcast. “Why is it a shock to certain lawmakers and members of the media mob—all of you out there—that yours truly, a member of the press, is daring to ask elected representatives—the so-called public servants of this country—if and when they plan to wrap up the speaker battle and re-open the people’s House amid growing chaos at home and abroad?”
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The House cannot function without a speaker, which it has not had since Oct. 3, when Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was removed from the role in an unprecedented vote. Last week, it appeared that Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) would replace him after he defeated Jordan in the GOP’s secret ballot nomination, but he withdrew less than 24 hours later.
“I have to chuckle that a few of my questions—simple questions that I asked to some Republicans over the weekend about the importance of getting a speaker as soon as possible— showed we have a few sensitive little snowflakes in Congress,” Hannity continued.
On Sunday, Axios Capitol Hill reporter Juliegrace Brufke shared on X, formerly Twitter, an example of an email from a member of Hannity’s show to a lawmaker.
“Hannity would like to know why during a war breaking out between Israel and Hamas, with the war in Ukraine, with the wide open borders, with a budget that’s unfinished why would Rep xxxx be against Rep Jim Jordan for speaker?” the email reads, according to Brufke.
Hannity on Monday said that since Republicans are the majority party in the House, “they need to act like it.”
“No deals with the Democrats. That would mean, yes, no temporary solution either. Elect a speaker. Get the House open and start doing your job,” he said. “I offer no apologies for doing my job and seeking answers from those elected public servants—again, key word ‘servants’—of we the people.”
Hannity failed to mention his direct endorsement of Jordan in the emails during the broadcast, but later in his show, he lashed out at members of the press for questioning his tactics.
“For every member of the mob asking and saying, ‘How dare Hannity ask these questions’: Do you even know what my job is? You don’t even know what your own job is,” he asserted.
Hannity then explained—like he has before when criticized about blurring the lines between journalist and political operative—that he “could produce thousands of hours of television, radio coverage that is straight news coverage,” but that he also takes sides on the most political of subjects.
“I give my opinion. I’m honest about it,” said the man who in 2018 joined then-President Donald Trump on stage at a midterm rally—even though he had said beforehand that he would only attend the event as a journalist.
“I’m kind of like an entire newspaper,” Hannity claimed. “That’s my job: to ask these questions so I can accurately report back to my listeners and my viewers what is happening.”
