LEGAL/MEDIA/MICHAEL COHEN/TRUMP PEOPLE: “The revelation that Sean Hannity was a client to President Donald Trump’s longtime personal attorney — and never disclosed the apparent conflict — is testing the Fox News host’s track record of skating through controversies, though the network is so far publicly supporting him. In a dramatic twist this week, Hannity was unmasked in court as Michael Cohen’s secret third client as part of a criminal investigation into the attorney. Hannity has denied that he had any formal legal relationship with Cohen, framing their discussions as ‘minimal’ and suggesting they were about ‘real estate.’ But the fact that Hannity spoke extensively on air about an FBI raid on Cohen’s home and office last week without disclosing he was a client earned rebukes from media ethicists, Fox News personalities and even his own guests. The controversy deepened Tuesday [4-17-18] as The Atlantic reported that Hannity was linked to two other lawyers with close ties to the president: Jay Sekulow, a personal attorney working on Trump‘s response to special counsel Robert Mueller‘s investigation into Russian election meddling, and Victoria Toensing, whose husband, Joe diGenova, almost joined the president‘s legal team.”
-Cristiano Lima, “Cohen controversy tests Hannity’s Teflon Sean reputation,” Politico, April 17, 2018 3:26 pm