Hannity is bucking the mainstream line by endorsing Julian Assange while Carlson has brought ‘American exceptionalism’ into question
Paul Kaiser
As the mainstream media’s propaganda war over the role played by Julian’s Assange’s Wikileaks and alleged Russian hacking continues, a notable rift is opening at FOX News between two leading presenters, Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity, and the remaining staff at the network.
Mr. Hannity, who has consistently supported Donald Trump from the beginning of his campaign, recently conducted the first face-to-face interview with Assange in many months at the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Hannity said he came out of the interview with full trust in Wikileaks:
Hannity told Fox News’ Bill Hemmer “I believe everything (Assange) said,” and praised the Internet activist for his commitment to government transparency.
Assange denied any link to Russia or any other “state party,” which Hannity found credible:
Despite the Obama administration’s claims that Russia was behind cyber-intrusions meant to interfere with the U.S. election – and punitive measures taken against Moscow last week – Assange said nobody associated with the Russian government gave his group the files.
Carlson was attacked on Twitter Wednesday and The Intercept’s Glenn Greenwald came to his defense:
Ideological realignment everywhere: @TuckerCarlson is expelled from conservatism for not wanting US to fight a war over Baltics. pic.twitter.com/LAkQqXzv8x
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald)
@GregByrne84@MaterMatM@TuckerCarlson I’ll ask this: would you enlist and go risk your life to fight to protect Estonia? Or send your kids?
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald)
This apparent rift at FOX News is definitely something to watch, which may parallel a rift in the US political establishment itself as former insiders such as Giuliani, Gingrich, Mike Flynn and Reince Priebus make the switch to joining or supporting Donald Trump and his incoming administration.