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vlyons

(10,252 posts)
Tue Apr 17, 2018, 08:11 AM Apr 2018

What if Hannity really wasn't a client?

But when first asked, just went along with the fiction that he was, to make it look like Cohen was a real, practicing attorney. Then got cold feet about allowing the lie to be told in court and rectified the lie?

That's what I think happened. Not that Hannity is such an honest guy, but rather that he realized that he was playing with fire.

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kentuck

(110,950 posts)
2. I think that is very possible.
Tue Apr 17, 2018, 08:18 AM
Apr 2018

Cohen wanted to use him as a cover. I doubt that they will find anything on Hannity. I will wait to be surprised.

nil desperandum

(654 posts)
3. This is indeed
Tue Apr 17, 2018, 08:19 AM
Apr 2018

a very plausible scenario, nice to know I'm not the only who thinks of these things.

The somewhat tortured explanation that they were just casual acquaintances but then the later admission that he might have given Cohen ten bucks to initiate attorney-client privilege. It all seemed odd as it played out.

PJMcK

(21,916 posts)
16. The lie betrays the secret
Tue Apr 17, 2018, 10:35 AM
Apr 2018

Hannity has something he doesn't want known. His lies are transparent.

Besides, if there's something illegal or immoral, it will probably come out and Hannity probably realizes this.

He's scared.

Another thing: If Hannity wasn't a client, why did Cohen say that he was? Wouldn't that be lying to the Court?

nil desperandum

(654 posts)
18. All good points
Tue Apr 17, 2018, 11:38 AM
Apr 2018

which is why I wonder why Hannity said that part about giving Cohen maybe $10 to initiate the attorney client privilege.

Perhaps that covers both men to some degree.

PJMcK

(21,916 posts)
19. The $10 doesn't establish the privilege
Tue Apr 17, 2018, 11:44 AM
Apr 2018

Other DUers who have legal experience have written that the relationship is established by mutual consent, not by the exchange of money. Additionally, the privilege is limited in scope.

If Hannity thought that the $10 meant that he and Cohen could trade secrets, he's a bigger idiot than I thought.

onenote

(42,374 posts)
4. By saying he wasn't a client, his communications lose any claim of privilege
Tue Apr 17, 2018, 08:21 AM
Apr 2018

How would that benefit Hannity? What would be the negative consequence of saying he was a client? Whether a client/attorney relationship existed sometimes is a close question, and even if turned out he wasn't, it wouldn't have been an actionable "lie".

vlyons

(10,252 posts)
8. I think it would be a lie
Tue Apr 17, 2018, 08:31 AM
Apr 2018

if Hannity knowingly allowed it to be stated in court, if he wasn't a client.

onenote

(42,374 posts)
12. It wouldn't be Hannity's lie. And it wouldn't necessarily be anyone's lie
Tue Apr 17, 2018, 09:06 AM
Apr 2018

Whether or not an attorney-client relationship exists is not always clear. Judges often have to decide these things. The fact that they come out one way or another on the question doesn't make the person who claimed otherwise a "liar" -- just someone who was wrong about something they probably didn't understand.

JenniferJuniper

(4,496 posts)
5. But why Hannity and not Joe the brother-in-law?
Tue Apr 17, 2018, 08:27 AM
Apr 2018

I think we're missing a ton of info here. I don't believe either one of them.

mercuryblues

(14,491 posts)
7. Not a chance
Tue Apr 17, 2018, 08:30 AM
Apr 2018

That would mean Cohen's lawyers perjured themselves to the court. This opens a whole new can of worms. They could be disbarred and put themselves into a position to be investigated. Conspiring with their client to break the law.

No one, not even Hannity, would willingly put themselves in a position for the Feds to investigate them. For this to be true Hannity would have willingly put himself in a position to be investigated. Put his marriage on the line. His reputation destroyed. Perhaps lose his job and more. For what payoff? Financial? Hannity doesn't need money, he makes $29 million a year. trumps's bestest friend forever? He was already on that list before.

Justice

(7,182 posts)
15. The attorneys did not speak under oath. They did not perjure themselves.
Tue Apr 17, 2018, 09:35 AM
Apr 2018

McDermott Will & Emery would have questioned Cohn about who he did work for. With the records seized, they would have to rely on the Cohn's descriptions. The representations of the attorneys would be based on what their client told them.

PJMcK

(21,916 posts)
17. Fine
Tue Apr 17, 2018, 10:37 AM
Apr 2018

What happens when Cohen's lawyers discover his lies? Are they obligated to tell the Court?

Hortensis

(58,785 posts)
11. Very likely it's a desperate attempt to hide a document
Tue Apr 17, 2018, 08:38 AM
Apr 2018

the Mueller investigation picked up when raiding Cohen's records, to suppress it under attorney-client privilege. That's according to a couple of ex- federal prosecutors I was listening to on O'Donnell last night. One further speculated that it would not be a document related to routine legal advice, but rather something more damaging.

Nitram

(22,671 posts)
13. That's a pretty outlandish theory, vlyons.
Tue Apr 17, 2018, 09:08 AM
Apr 2018

Given Hannity's loud and aggressive attacks on the FBI and Mueller, and considering what kind of "lawyer" Cohen is, it is more likely Hannity hired Cohen to do something very embarrassing or illegal, and has something very serious to hide.

Demsrule86

(68,347 posts)
14. I don't think so. Women have claimed Hannity harassed them.
Tue Apr 17, 2018, 09:27 AM
Apr 2018

"Fox News host Sean Hannity is flatly denying a former guest’s claim that he pressured her to “come back with me to my hotel” — and then banned her from his show when she declined.

Hannity called Debbie Schlussel’s sexual harassment claim “100 percent false” and branded her “a serial harasser who has been lying about me for well over a decade.”

The woman involved is a rightie.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/sean-hannity-denies-right-wing-blogger-s-sex-harassment-claim-n750211

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