A federal judge on Friday unsealed text messages between former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Fox News host Sean Hannity showing the pair discussing the various twists and turns in the special counsel’s investigation.
The messages, which date from July 14, 2017, to June 5, 2018, show that Manafort expressed confidence that he would win his court battle with the special counsel. He also said that he believed that prosecutors wanted him to “make shit up” about President Trump and Jared Kushner in order to get a sweetheart deal with the government.
Federal District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered the text messages unsealed.
Manafort was found guilty on Aug. 21, 2018, of bank fraud and money laundering. He has been sentenced to a total of seven-and-a-half years in prison.
Hannity offered a sympathetic ear to Manafort while also pressing aggressively for an interview with the longtime GOP operative, the text messages show.
Both Manafort and Hannity were heavily critical of Robert Mueller, the special counsel, and Andrew Weissmann, the lead prosecutor on Manafort’s case.
“They are self righteous criminals,” Manafort wrote on Feb. 3, 2018.
“Don’t let those assholes get u down. Punch back HARD,” Hannity wrote on Oct. 28, 2017, a day after the first indictment against Manafort was handed down.
Manafort texts with Sean Hannity by Chuck Ross on Scribd
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