Trump Aides Called Fox’s Hannity, Lou Dobbs To Try To Sell Them On Border Deal

Fox News host Sean Hannity is seen in the White House briefing room in Washington, DC, on January 24, 2017. / AFP / NICHOLAS KAMM (Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)
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To combat scrutiny of the new border spending deal that President Trump intends to sign this week, Trump’s aides personally phoned two of the President’s favorite TV personalities at Fox to try to sell them on the compromise bill, The New York Times reported.

Calls were made to both Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Trump’s personal friend who’s been called a “shadow chief of staff,” and Fox Business Network’s Lou Dobbs whose show Trump likes to watch live. Aides tried to convince both that Trump “deserved support because he still forced concessions that he would never have gotten without a five-week partial government shutdown,” in the Times’ words.

The reverberation of the reported phone calls could be seen in real time, at least with Hannity. On Monday evening, Hannity railed against the deal while he covered Trump’s rally in Texas, calling it “garbage” and threatening to force any Republican who supported it to explain themselves.

The next evening, viewers could see the egg on his face.

He said he was “not as concerned as other conservatives” about the impending legislation, which allocates only a fraction of the $5.7 billion that Trump demanded for his border wall toward wall construction. He then tossed Trump an out if he wanted it.

“The President has every right to be angry,” he said. “The so-called compromise is typical of the D.C. sewer and swamp, and this level of funding for security and safety of the American people is pathetic.”

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