Fox News host Sean Hannity said Monday night he occasionally sought legal advice from attorney Michael Cohen but noted Cohen never represented him in any legal matters.
Cohen is President Donald Trump's personal attorney and has come under fire regarding payments he made to women who claimed to have affairs with Trump. It was revealed in court Monday that Hannity was a Cohen client, which set off a firestorm of speculation across the media landscape.
Hannity addressed the matter at the end of his show.
"Let me set the record straight – here's the truth: Michael Cohen never represented me in any legal manner," Hannity said. "I never retained his services. I never received an invoice. I never paid Michael Cohen for legal fees.
"I did have occasional brief conversations with Michael Cohen – he is a great attorney – about legal questions I had, or when I was looking for input and perspective. My discussions with Michael Cohen never rose to any level that I needed to tell anyone that I was asking him questions."
Hannity said the questions he had for Cohen were about real estate and never involved a third party.
"Maybe the media can try to focus in on the biggest abuse of power scandal in this country, maybe the forgotten men and women in this country, for whom the 2016 election was about," Hannity said.
"You know, jobs, getting out of poverty, off of food stamps. Focus on that, national security, 105 out of 105 missiles hit their targets [in Syria]."
During the handover to Laura Ingraham's show, Ingraham jokingly gave Hannity legal advice, to which he responded by showing a $20 bill to the camera and saying he would send it to her for the advice.
Earlier in the show, Hannity sparred with attorney and frequent guest Alan Dershowitz over Hannity's decision not to disclose his relationship with Cohen while defending him on radio and TV.
"First of all, Sean, I want to say that I really think that you should have disclosed your relationship with Cohen when you talked about him on this show," Dershowitz said.
Hannity responded by saying the link between him and Cohen was a "minor relationship."
The host joked about the story with two other guests, Lanny Davis and David Limbaugh. Hannity admitted Limbaugh works as his representative in legal matters.
"Full disclosure, David has been my career attorney and has authorized every contract for radio and TV," Hannity said. "I think I once gave you in a restaurant $5, Lanny, we have attorney-client privilege. Isn't that true?"
Davis then joked Hannity did not trust him enough to pay for legal advice.
The FBI raided Cohen's two offices, his apartment, and his hotel room in New York City last week as part of a federal investigation that reportedly involves the aforementioned payments he has made to women. Hannity's name was revealed during a court hearing Monday, although there is no indication any payments were made on his behalf.
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