Fox News’s Napolitano hits Hannity over Cohen: ‘He can’t have it both ways’

Fox News’s Andrew Napolitano hit network host Sean Hannity over his comments on attorney–client privilege between him and President Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen, saying that Hannity can’t “have it both ways.”

The former judge said on Fox News’s “Outnumbered Overtime” Tuesday that Hannity can’t both claim that Cohen never represented him and still have attorney–client privilege with Cohen.

{mosads}“I love him. I’ve worked with him for 20 years. He can’t have it both ways,” Napolitano said. “If he was a client, then his confidential communications to Mr. Cohen are privileged. If Mr. Cohen was never his lawyer, then nothing that he said to Mr. Cohen is privileged.”

Napolitano said that Hannity can’t have attorney–client privilege just by paying for services.

“The attorney–client privilege requires a formal relationship reduced to writing for a specific legal purpose,” he said.

“So anything that is there regarding Sean Hannity can be revealed?” Fox News host Harris Faulker asked.

“In my view, yes,” Napolitano said.

Hannity was revealed to be Cohen’s third client in court Monday, after having his identity previously concealed.

The Fox News host had ripped the FBI raids of Cohen’s office, home and hotel room on his show in the days before the relationship between the two men was announced in court.

Hannity said in a statement Monday that Cohen had never represented him professionally. He said on his radio show that he “might have handed” Cohen $10 and said something along the lines of “I definitely want your attorney–client privilege on this.”

“I have occasionally had brief discussions with him about legal questions about which I wanted his input and perspective,” Hannity said in his statement, adding that the conversations were “almost exclusively about real estate.”  

Fox News said Tuesday that the network didn’t know about Hannity’s connection to Cohen before it was revealed in court, but that the host “continues to have our full support.”