Fox star Sean Hannity is one of Donald Trump's fiercest defenders - here's how he and the president became close
Before he was president, Trump was a frequent guest on Fox News. His friendship with Hannity seems to have formed around 2011, when Hannity gave Trump airtime to promote a conspiracy theory that President Barack Obama wasn't born in the United States.
A year later, in 2012, Hannity revealed on his show that he advised Trump not to run in that year's presidential election as an independent candidate.
Source: Media Matters for America
Throughout Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, the candidate found a safe haven in Hannity's show, where he was shielded from the critical press coverage he received on other networks.
Hannity has defended a number of Trump's most controversial incidents, his boasts about being sexually aggressive with women, and his racially-charged attacks against a Mexican-American federal judge and NFL players who kneeled during the national anthem.
Source: Fox News
Their relationship has become so close that Hannity is a de facto Trump adviser. In October, the Los Angeles Times reported that Trump often calls Hannity after the host's nightly show.
Source: Los Angeles Times
In February, reports emerged that Hannity had advised Trump to release a controversial memo by Rep. Devin Nunes that fueled conspiracy theories about the FBI's Russia investigation, even though the FBI advised against releasing it and neither Trump nor Hannity had read the memo.
Source: The Washington Post
Hannity's unwavering support of Trump earned him higher viewership than any other cable news show for months, although he was recently surpassed by MSNBC's Rachel Maddow.
Source: Forbes
Observers consider Hannity's relationship to a sitting president highly unorthodox. 'He’s talking for four hours a day. He’s got social media. He’s empowered by his new status at Fox, this massive institution of Republican power,' media history expert Nicole Hemmer told The New York Times.
Source: The New York Times
Hannity has made the most of his status in the Trump orbit, including appearances at Trump-owned golf courses with local Republican politicians.
Source: George Bennett
Meanwhile, Trump frequently tweets about upcoming appearances on Hannity's evening show.
Hannity told The New York Times his support for Trump makes him 'more honest' than mainstream reporters who hide their biases.
Source: The New York Times
And their close relationship is mutually beneficial. 'Hannity’s a numbers guy, Trump’s a numbers guy. He thinks there’s nothing worse than bad numbers, and he knows Hannity’s got his finger on the pulse,' a friend of Hannity's told The Times.
Source: The New York Times
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