Sean Hannity has reportedly been advising Trump on the Nunes memo


Why listen to the FBI and Department of Justice when you can get Fox News host Sean Hannity's opinion on national security?
President Trump has been in regular contact with Hannity over the past few weeks, The Daily Beast reports, with the pair discussing the controversial memo put together by Republicans that purports to expose corruption at the FBI. The FBI and Justice Department have warned that the memo cherry-picks classified information and could harm intelligence gathering efforts, with the FBI even making a rare statement saying it has "grave concerns" about the document's release and accuracy.
On Monday, Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee voted to make the memo public, and Trump is expected to release it Friday. Three people who spoke to The Daily Beast said that during the conversations, Hannity has been pushing Trump to release the memo, echoing comments he's made on his show (he declared the saga is "the biggest political scandal in American history"). Trump is known to pay close attention to Fox News programs and his views are shaped by the shows he watches, and one person close to him joked to The Daily Beast that Hannity is now a "senior counselor to the president." The White House did not respond to requests for comment, and Hannity declined to comment to The Daily Beast. Catherine Garcia
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Update Feb. 2: Hannity denied The Daily Beast's story on Twitter on Thursday night, calling it "fake news."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
June 29 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Sunday's political cartoons include the AI genie, Iran saving face, and bad language bombs
-
A tall ship adventure in the Mediterranean
The Week Recommends Sailing aboard this schooner and exploring Portugal, Spain and Monaco is a 'magical' experience
-
How drone warfare works
The Explainer From Ukraine to Iran, it has become clear that unmanned aircraft are rapidly revolutionising modern warfare
-
Canadian man dies in ICE custody
Speed Read A Canadian citizen with permanent US residency died at a federal detention center in Miami
-
GOP races to revise megabill after Senate rulings
Speed Read A Senate parliamentarian ruled that several changes to Medicaid included in Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" were not permissible
-
Supreme Court lets states ax Planned Parenthood funds
Speed Read The court ruled that Planned Parenthood cannot sue South Carolina over the state's effort to deny it funding
-
Trump plans Iran talks, insists nuke threat gone
Speed Read 'The war is done' and 'we destroyed the nuclear,' said President Trump
-
Trump embraces NATO after budget vow, charm offensive
Speed Read The president reversed course on his longstanding skepticism of the trans-Atlantic military alliance
-
Trump judge pick told DOJ to defy courts, lawyer says
Speed Read Emil Bove, a top Justice Department official nominated by Trump for a lifetime seat, stands accused of encouraging government lawyers to mislead the courts and defy judicial orders
-
Mamdani upsets Cuomo in NYC mayoral primary
Speed Read Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani beat out Andrew Cuomo in New York City's Democratic mayoral primary
-
Supreme Court clears third-country deportations
Speed Read The court allowed Trump to temporarily resume deporting migrants to countries they aren't from