Hannity Offers Rare Media Defense of Manafort: ‘Whatever Happened to Innocent Until Proven Guilty?’

Hannity Offers Rare Media Defense of Manafort: ‘Whatever Happened to Innocent Until Proven Guilty?’ (Mediaite)

It was reported that the FBI raided the house of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort in late July in order to seize documents related to the ongoing Russia investigation.

On Wednesday night, Sean Hannity came to Manafort’s defense, claiming that the mainstream media was hysterical and “foaming at the mouth.”

“Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty?” he asked.

Hannity told panelists Geraldo Rivera and Judge Jeanine Pirro that the pre-dawn raid “made [him] laugh.”

“What did they think? That the guy was going to bleach-bit everything? Smash everything?” he exclaimed.

He then asked if Manfort “made a mistake” by not following the lead of Hillary Clinton, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and former Attorney Generals Loretta Lynch and Eric Holder for their handling of their documents.

Rivera concluded that based on the fact that the pre-dawn raid occurred after he was supposedly “cooperating” with Congressional committees that it was a “clear indication” that they were worried that he was going to destroy evidence.

“But he’s still innocent until proven guilty,” Hannity reacted.

The Fox News host did acknowledge that he “made a mistake,” but asked Pirro why wouldn’t he get away with it if he did what Clinton did with her emails.

“I’m a former DA and a judge and I can’t go along with destroying and concealing evidence,” Pirro responded.

“I was being sarcastic,” Hannity clarified, to which she said she knew.

She then claimed that Democrats “do whatever they can to destroy a Republican in their sights” and that Republicans don’t enforce law and order on Democrats like Clinton.

Both Pirro and Rivera believe the feds will “squeeze” Manafort to get President Trump “for anything.”