Hannity Claims There Was No Russian Interference in 2016 — Despite Previously Declaring He Was ‘Certain’ Moscow Interfered
Fox News host Sean Hannity congratulated himself Tuesday for “getting it right” on Russian election interference while the “rest of the media” bought the “lie,” jumping aboard President Donald Trump’s Russia “hoax” narrative despite insisting just a few years ago he was “certain” and had “zero doubt” that Moscow meddled in 2016 presidential election.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced last week that she had “overwhelming evidence that demonstrates how, after Trump won the 2016 election against Hillary Clinton, President Barack Obama and his national security cabinet members manufactured and politicized intelligence to lay the groundwork for what was essentially a years-long coup” against Trump using claims of Russian interference.
Gabbard claimed that this narrative of Russian meddling was created by Obama and his allies, despite the fact that the Intelligence Community “consistently assessed” that Moscow was “probably not trying … to influence the election by using cyber means.”
On his Fox News show Hannity, Tuesday, Hannity sought to distance himself from claims of Russian interference, despite previously supporting the narrative that Russia had interfered in the 2016 election.
“If you read these declassified documents, and I have read them, it is very clear that they did not make the assessment that there was any interference, Russian interference, in that election,” said Hannity, as the chyron read “NEWLY DECLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS SHED LIGHT ON THE ORIGINS OF THE RUSSIA HOAX.”
He continued, “The only Russian interference in the 2016 election, actually, was the Hillary Clinton bought-and-paid-for Russian disinformation dossier, which we know was completely debunked. They knew it was debunked before they ever used it as the basis of not one, but four FISA warrants.”
Hannity then proceeded to give himself a pat on the back, adding, “They all lied and I’m proud that this show and our ensemble cast… we got it right. The rest of the media went along with the lies, the hoax, the conspiracy theories.”
In 2019, however, Hannity claimed he had “zero doubt” that Russia interfered in the election and would “try and do it again.”
“We’ve pointed out many times on this program Russia is a hostile regime led by a hostile actor, Vladimir Putin,” he said at the time. “I have zero doubt they meddled in the 2016 elections. I’m certain they did. Devin Nunes was warning Obama in 2014 it would happen, but they did nothing.”
He continued, “And by the way, yeah, look at the dirty Russian dossier that Hillary bought and paid for. According to The New York Times very late in the game, likely Russian disinformation from the beginning. And yes, Russia interfered in our 2016 elections. They have done it before, they’re gonna try and do it again.”
Hannity has long claimed that Clinton’s 2016 campaign was responsible for the “real collusion” with Russia. He said in 2017: “Hillary Clinton actually colluded with Russia by paying, you know, millions and millions of dollars for that fake news dossier, Russian propaganda, Russian collusion to smear Donald Trump and she tried to influence you the American people to swing the election with those lies.”
Watch above via Fox News.
