‘Disingenuous’: CNN’s Keilar Calls Out Hannity For Suggesting Democrats Overturn Arizona Abortion Ban

During his Fox News show on Wednesday, host Sean Hannity called on Arizona Democrats to “get rid of” the 1864 abortion ban that was upheld as law by the state’s Supreme Court because it was political napalm for Republicans. But as much as former President Donald Trump would love those Democrats to do him “a solid” in the swing state, CNN’s Brianna Keilar pointed out that Arizona Republicans were the ones keeping the law alive.

In an analysis of the political fallout of the Arizona Supreme Court’s decision, Keilar called out Hannity for his “disingenuous” take on how the Arizona state government should clean up the mess caused by the end of Roe v. Wade, something that Trump is all too happy to take credit for.

First, here is what Hannity said on his show on Wednesday:

Trump opposes the law and this ruling. Or you can believe [President Joe Biden’s] make-pretend Donald Trump that doesn’t exist. And you know what? Arizona’s governor is a Democrat. The state’s attorney general is a Democrat. The state legislature is almost evenly divided. If Democrats, you want to get rid of the law, well, you have a chance right now to get rid of it. And I would advise you — get rid of it. They would rather use it as a political tool ahead of November.

Keilar’s response:

While Sean Hannity generally operates in a fact-free zone, he is right about one thing there. Arizona’s legislature is almost evenly divided in favor of Republicans. And when he proposed that Democrats get rid of the law, he did so disingenuously, and I’m being generous because a Democrat tried to do just that: Stephanie Stahl Hamilton, back in January, and her bill never even got a hearing in committee.

But Arizona doesn’t need Democrats to save the day. They’ve got Republicans, and one tried to get moving on a vote to overturn that 1864-era abortion ban yesterday. And six hours before Sean Hannity suggested the Arizona legislature could just make it go poof, a Republican made sure it didn’t.

Republican Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma told Axios on Wednesday that he “wouldn’t support a repeal and wouldn’t permit a vote on it.”

After showing a clip of the scene at the Arizona House as they tried — and failed — to repeal the antiquated law, Keilar finished illustrating the political conundrum the Republicans have created for themselves:

Arizona House Rep. David Livingston, putting the Arizona House into recess until next Wednesday, less than one week before abortion becomes illegal in the state, all but ensuring abortion providers will stop providing abortions. And yet, that was the point. That was the car that Trump was chasing when he set up the Supreme Court to guarantee it would allow states to ban abortion. And he said on Truth Social: “I was able to kill Roe v. Wade.” He’s proven there’s a fine line between catching the car and being run over by it.

Watch the video above via CNN.