Did Sean Hannity advise Trump not to be interviewed by Bob Woodward?
After excerpts of Woodward's Trump book hit the news, Trump made a lot of hay claiming he never was asked for an interview by Bob to respond to some of Woodward's claims.
In a phone call made public with Donald Trump, Bob Woodward expressed his frustration as to why he wasn't granted an interview with him so they could go over points he published in his book.
Kellyanne Conway told Woodward she put in the request but it was rejected.
During the phone call that was given to the media, Trump said nobody told him about it.
“It’s really too bad, because nobody told me about it, and I would’ve loved to have spoken to you. You know I’m very open to you. I think you’ve always been fair.”
Woodward asked a host of people including the Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah and GOP Senators to be granted an interview with Trump, but he never got the go-ahead.
Trump then admitted that Sen. Lindsey Graham did bring up an interview with Woodward saying, Senator Graham actually mentioned it quickly in one meeting.
It's highly unlikely that Trump had no knowledge that Bob Woodward wanted to interview him for his book since that's how Woodward has handled all of his presidential publications and he alerted multiple people of his request. And it was common knowledge that Woodward was working on a Trump book.
And curiously, if no one in his administration did tell Trump about an interview request then it backs up Woodward's claims the people working for Donald try to shield him from his own worst instincts.
Why do I believe Hannity told Trump not to be interviewed with Woodward?
I say this because of a 2012 interview Bob had on Fox News with Hannity while discussing his Obama book called, "The Price of Politics."
At the end of the interview, Hannity was very impressed with Woodward's interview style and said, "I gotta tell you if I was advising any president, I'd tell him it to stay as far away from you as possible."
You heard right. Why is this important?
Because Hannity was in a position to advise this president of exactly that.
Earlier this year it was widely reported that Hannity talks to Trump regularly at night at the White House. And he talks to him often.
Hannity acts to transform Trump’s pervasive ambivalence into resolve by convincing him what he’s already decided he believes and what he’s decided to do is correct.
Their constant interactions caused much angst within his administration.
I was told by one person that Hannity “fills the political void” left by Steve Bannon, a statement Bannon seemed to agree with: “Sean Hannity understands the basic issues of economic nationalism and ‘America First’ foreign policy at a deeper level than the august staff of Jonathan Chait and the fuckin’ clowns at New York Magazine,” he said.
It's highly probable that the topic of Woodward came up and since Hannity was in awe of Woodward's interview skills, he definitely would tell Trump to stay as far away as possible.
That makes much more sense than Trump's unbelievable denials that he was never really told about making himself available for a Woodward interview.
