The bizarre Sean Hannity-WikiLeaks bromance has now only grown more loving.
On Thursday afternoon, Hannity, the Fox News host and informal Trump adviser, once again interviewed WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange—this time on Hannity’s nationally syndicated radio show. Hannity gave Assange a large platform to deny that the source of the DNC and John Podesta emails was the Russian government, and to also join Hannity in some fairly typical bashing of Hillary Clinton and the “liberal” mainstream media.
Hannity, who could barely contain his excitement to have Assange on the program, had teased the interview on Twitter earlier in the day as “his first interview in the states since the election.”
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“You've done us a favor,” Hannity gushed on-air. Thanks to Assange and WikiLeaks’s work, Hannity said, “we can now fix the problem” of our gaps in U.S. cybersecurity. (The DNC and Podesta emails were a wake-up call, in a sense.) Assange also “exposed the corruption in our government” for all to see.
“I have so many questions for you,” Hannity said, before reminding his audience of WikiLeaks’s “perfect” record: “You have not been proven wrong, not one single time,” he reiterated.
When asked if President Obama was trying to “delegitimize Donald Trump”—by promoting any evidence of Russian interference and cyberattacks aimed at helping Trump to defeat Clinton in the election)—Assange answered firmly, “yes.”
“This wouldn’t be the first time that the CIA would be politicized,” Hannity continued, making a Benghazi analogy.
Assange also wagged his finger at “the liberal press” in America that tried to make Trump voters feel “ashamed” of themselves for supporting the Republican candidate.
“What is the difference between what you and WikiLeaks have done, and what The New York Times and CNN [have done]?” the host inquired.
“Our stuff has more impact,” Assange replied.
“Touché,” Hannity answered. “I can’t disagree with that.”
The conservative host continued to make the case that the so-called mainstream media was “trying to scapegoat” Assange, and that “if [Hillary] were a Republican they’d be singing your praises day and night.”
“America owes you a debt of gratitude,” Hannity said, concluding their friendly chat. “We hope you come on [my TV show] soon.”
Hannity is, at least, self-aware about how much of a flip-flop it was for him to morph into a Julian Assange super-fan during the 2016 presidential race.
Six years ago, Hannity accused Assange of “waging war against the U.S.” by publishing secret diplomatic cables that he said put American lives in “jeopardy” and “danger” all over the world. The Fox star asked why the Obama administration hadn’t “arrested” Assange, wondering, why “we can stop pirating music and Hollywood movies, but we can’t stop this guy from stealing highly classified documents that puts people’s lives at risk?”
Now that Assange is more widely known for being anti-Hillary, it seems, Hannity is ever-willing to let bygones be bygones.
