Fox News host Sean Hannity and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich provided GOP candidates with some free media training on Tuesday, the final day of primary contests before the general election.
In particular, Hannity appeared concerned about Republicans’ answers to questions about Jan. 6 and former President Donald Trump, and about how “the media” wants to “talk about and demagogue and lie about that abortion is now illegal in America.”
“Every woman needs to know that is a big lie,” insisted Hannity, who wrongly predicted in May that there will be “no loss of abortion access” if the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. “Roe v. Wade was overturned, the state will decide if there are any restrictions at all. States like New York and California will have none, and different states will have varying laws, but abortion is still legal in America.”
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Since the court’s conservative majority overturned Roe v. Wade in June and trigger laws took effect in several states, more than 20 million women can no longer have elective abortions.
Hannity’s comment came as Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) introduced legislation going beyond leaving the issue for the states to decide, even though he supported doing just that fairly recently: a national ban on abortions at 15 weeks or later.
Hannity asked Gingrich how Republican candidates should handle being “badgered by the media mob.” “They need to learn the art of pivoting,” Hannity suggested, before beginning a role-play scenario in which he played a member of the press and Gingrich an office seeker.
“What do you say to Donald Trump and all those people that went into the Capitol on Jan. 6? What’s your answer?”
“My answer to that is that’s an important Washington issue,” Gingrich replied, sidestepping the topic. He then proceeded to list four unrelated topics.
“But right here at home,” he said, “what matters is the crime rate that’s threatening our citizens, the rising cost of food that’s threatening every person in our district, the fact that we don’t know what’s happening in our schools and our parents deserve to know that, the fact that we really have to deal with the drug issue.”
Apparently satisfied, Hannity moved on.
“Next question: What do you think about about the Supreme Court taking away a woman’s right to an abortion?” he asked.
“It’s totally untrue. That is not what they did, and I’m sorry you buy that kind of falsehood,” Gingrich claimed before changing the subject. “But let’s go back to what matters to every woman in America, which starts with what they’re paying at the grocery store right now.”
An impressed Hannity reacted: “That is a great tutorial. You’re great at what you do.”
