Donald Trump’s decision to push forward with the release of the scam memo written by GOP Rep. Devin Nunes is largely driven by his top adviser on the matter – Sean Hannity of Fox News.
According to a report from the Daily Beast, it is the right-wing lunatic that has been privately guiding the president on this issue, not the FBI or Justice Department.
“Trump’s favorite media personalities may hold greater sway over the president’s decision than even his own FBI director,” the report noted.
More from the Daily Beast:
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
President Donald Trump is at odds with his own chief law enforcement officers over a controversial memo fueling Republican allegations of a conspiracy against the Trump presidency. But by all indications, the president is less amenable to the concerns of his own FBI than those shared by a less formal, more bombastic adviser.
That adviser is Sean Hannity, who has been hyping the so-called Nunes memo all week, and with whom the president continues to speak regularly.
According to three sources with knowledge of their conversations, Trump has been in regular contact with Hannity over the phone in recent weeks, as the Fox News primetime star and Trump ally has encouraged the prompt release of a controversial four page memo crafted by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee. Hannity has gone to the wall to push for the public release of the memo, which the Intelligence Committee and its chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), authorized this week in a party-line vote despite the classified information therein.
Sources say Hannity’s persistent advocacy reinforced Trump’s already growing determination to get that memo into the public realm—despite huge potential fallout within the law enforcement and intelligence arms of his own administration.
In their conversations, Trump and Hannity discussed the Nunes memo’s supposed bombshell-level significance, and how it could shed light on the alleged anti-Trump bias and “corruption” at the FBI. On these calls, Trump has directly referenced specific recent Hannity segments related to #ReleaseTheMemo, according to one of three sources with knowledge of their conversations.
In other words, the president’s decision-making is being driven by right-wing conspiracy theorists – not his own intelligence community or law enforcement agencies. Think about how dangerous that is for the country.
We’ve known for some time now that Trump spends hours each day sitting in front of a TV set watching right-wing cable news. Now we know that when he’s away from the television and making important policy decisions, he has the very same deranged, right-wing talking heads in his ear telling him what to do.
During the campaign, when Trump was asked where he got policy advice, he infamously responded by saying, “The shows.” This is one case where he was actually telling the truth.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
