Sean Hannity, unofficial Trump adviser, wants you to know he 'never claimed to be a journalist'

Sean Hannity and Rience Preibus at CPAC 2016
(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Sean Hannity has turned his prime time Fox News show into an unabashed platform to promote Donald Trump's presidential campaign, and he has also spent months offering his advice to Trump off-camera, to the point where "three separate denizens of the hall of mirrors that is Trump World told me they believed Mr. Hannity was behaving as if he wanted a role in a possible Trump administration," Jim Rutenberg writes in The New York Times. Hannity said that last part isn't true, but did not deny offering advice to Trump.

"Do I talk to my friend who I've known for years and speak my mind? I can't not speak my mind," Hannity told Rutenberg. "I don't say anything privately that I don't say publicly," he added, and "I'm not hiding the fact that I want Donald Trump to be the next president of the United States.... I never claimed to be a journalist." This lack of pretense, in fact, makes him "more honest" than reporters who hide their bias, Hannity said, and his dedicated viewers no doubt agree.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.