Sean Hannity Blasts Jake Tapper, Pushes Back on Charges He’s Defending Roy Moore

Joseph A. WulfsohnNov 9th, 2017, 10:28 pm
 

Ed. note — this post has been updated with a clarifying statement Mediaite has received from Sean Hannity which has been added to the bottom of the post.

On Thursday night, Sean Hannity went after CNN’s Jake Tapper and others for suggesting that Hannity was defending GOP candidate Roy Moore amid his sexual molestation allegations.

During his radio show, he and Geraldo Rivera spoke about the Washington Post bombshell. He did not defend or condemn Moore, but there was a moment where he would later admitted he misspoke, which was captured by Media Matters, which the site interpreted as though he were backing the potential Alabama senator.

Here was the portion that was shared on Twitter:

Tapper then reacted by, like Media Matters, concluding that Hannity was behind Moore.

“Legally, one cannot give consent if one is underage,” Tapper wrote in a now-deleted Tweet.

Then Hannity slammed Tapper, CNN and Media Matters.

The Fox News host kicked off his show by stating his view that “those on the left” — a group which presumably included MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, who blasted Hannity an hour earlier during All In — are trying to take him out of context and that if the allegations against Moore are true that it’s “beyond reprehensible, beyond disgusting, and beyond shameful.” He said he also believes in the presumption of innocence but if Moore did commit such acts that he should “step aside” from the Senate race.

After his monologue, Hannity introduced a panel which included Rivera — who affirmed Hannity’s stance.

“You misspoke in one sentence,” Rivera said.

Hannity explained he thought he was talking about the 18-year-old accuser, which consent would be legal.

“That one line was wrong,” he corrected himself. “That one line was absolutely wrong. I misspoke.”

During a commercial break, Hannity took to Twitter again to hit Tapper.

After engaging with his Fox News competitor, Tapper deleted his tweets.

Tapper conceded to Hannity, offering this olive branch of sorts.

Hannity later sent a gentler message to Tapper.

This dustup between Hannity and Tapper followed the mud-slinging that took place last week after he and Fox News took the CNN anchor’s comments on the expression “Allahu Akbar” out of context.

Watch the clips above, via Fox News.

Update — Statement from Sean Hannity:

“As I said on TV tonight, I apologize when I misspoke and was not totally clear earlier today. It’s really sad when the lazy media in this country cuts and pastes a deceptive and out of context comment by a Soros funded radical left-wing group that has purposefully taken me out of context for years. My comments on the topic of Judge Moore were clear and unambiguous both on radio and on TV, if people would do their own research and reporting. People need to listen to the totality of my remarks if they care about the truth. I interview guests of all points of view, but I speak for myself.”

 

 

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