Legal expert Alan Dershowitz chided Sean Hannity Monday night for the Fox News evening star’s non-disclosure of his professional and personal relationship with President Donald Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen. After the information became public Monday afternoon, Hannity admitted he had been a client of Cohen’s on real estate matters.
But Dershowitz, who has been a regular on Hannity’s nightly program and a stolid defender of Trump throughout the Robert Mueller investigation, told CNN that Hannity should not have been forced to reveal that fact.
“I think he had to make a choice, and I think the choice should have been to disclose to the viewers that he has a relationship,” Dershowitz told CNN, in reference to how Hannity covered last week’s FBI raid on Cohen’s residence, offfice and hotel that was apparently looking for incriminating correspondence between Cohen and the president.
“He could have described the relationship in any way he wanted, but the viewers have a right to know there is a relationship.”
Dershowitz said much of the same when he confronted the conservative commentator on Monday night’s show:
“I really think that you should have disclosed your relationship with Cohen when you talked about him on this show,” Dershowitz said. “You could’ve said just that you asked him for advice or whatever, but I think it would’ve been much, much better if you had disclosed it.”
The Department of Justice has confirmed that Cohen is “under criminal investigation” by the state of New York for his “personal business dealings.”
Dershowitz also suggested the ambiguous relationship between Cohen and Hannity has clouded the issue of whether communication between the two is covered by attorney-client privilege.