Dem lawmaker: no need to subpoena Hannity; we already know his claim’s ‘not true’
A Democratic lawmaker who last week suggested that Fox News host Sean Hannity could end up testifying before Congress about President Donald Trump and Michael Cohen now says he wasn’t serious.
Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Monday that there’s no need ― because they already know that what Hannity said in an interview with Trump last week was “not true.”
Hannity said that Cohen lied during his testimony before a House committee last week, when Trump’s former personal lawyer claimed he paid hush money at the direction of Trump to cover up alleged affairs.
“I can tell you personally, [Cohen] said to me at least a dozen times that he made the decision on the payments and he didn’t tell you,” Hannity told Trump. “He told me personally.”
Cicilline at the time tweeted:
Sean Hannity is now volunteering himself as a witness. I look forward to his testimony. https://t.co/eOjhlkg4mU
— David Cicilline (@davidcicilline) March 1, 2019
Blitzer asked if he was serious about calling Hannity as a witness.
Cicilline replied:
“No, I mean, my point was, Sean Hannity was putting himself in a position of being a witness in this case. If he has information to share, he ought to do it before Congress under oath. I think we know that that is not true because we have a tape recording of the president discussing those hush payments, so we know Mr. Cohen was testifying truthfully.”
Cicilline was likely referring to a recording released by Cohen’s legal team last year that includes Trump discussing payments to former Playboy model Karen McDougal from American Media Inc., the parent company of the National Enquirer, as part of an alleged “catch and kill” deal, in which a publisher pays for exclusive rights to a story, then never publishes it.
Blitzer asked again if he would call Hannity as a witness.
“No, my point was, if he has things to say he ought to say it under oath before Congress rather than as a commentator on Fox News trying to defend the president,” he said.
Cicilline sits on the Judiciary Committee, which on Monday sent document requests to 81 people and entities as part of a wide-ranging investigation into the president.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
