Fox News host Sean Hannity lashed out at a New York Times article detailing how Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) pushed the “Gang of Eight” immigration reform bill with the help of right-wing media. Hannity criticized the article as a “bald faced lie,” despite calling the immigration reform proposal “thoughtful” during a 2013 interview with Rubio.

A February 27 New York Times article detailed efforts Rubio took to push his immigration reform bill with executives and hosts at Fox News as well as right-wing talk radio hosts Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin and Laura Ingraham:

A few weeks after Senator Marco Rubio joined a bipartisan push for an immigration overhaul in 2013, he arrived alongside Senator Chuck Schumer at the executive dining room of News Corporation's Manhattan headquarters for dinner.

Their mission was to persuade Rupert Murdoch, the owner of the media empire, and Roger Ailes, the chairman and chief executive of its Fox News division, to keep the network's on-air personalities from savaging the legislation and give it a fighting chance at survival.

Mr. Murdoch, an advocate of immigration reform, and Mr. Ailes, his top lieutenant and the most powerful man in conservative television, agreed at the Jan. 17, 2013, meeting to give the senators some breathing room.

[...]

Mr. Rubio also reached out to other conservative power brokers, including the radio hosts Mark Levin and Laura Ingraham, telling them that the legislation did not amount to amnesty. The Fox anchors Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly became more supportive.

[...]

Mr. Rubio publicly and privately worked to assuage the fears of Mr. Limbaugh, who on air called him a “thoroughbred conservative” and assured one wary listener that “Marco Rubio is not out to hurt this country or change it the way the liberals are.”

Hannity responded by attacking The New York Times article on the February 29 edition of his show claiming author Jason Horowitz does not have “the decency to pick up a phone” to discuss article before publishing and describing the article's claims “a blatant lie.”  

But on January 28, 2013, eleven days after the reported meeting with Fox News, Rubio appeared on Fox's Hannity to discuss the immigration proposal. Hannity applauded Rubio's bill, calling it “the most thoughtful proposal that I have heard.” During the interview Hannity also admitted to taking a meeting with Rubio stating, “I read the framework and when you first explained it to me last week and I spoke to you, I said this was the most interesting proposal that I had ever heard.”

SEAN HANNITY (HOST): How do you respond to those people -- I read the frame work and when you first explained it to me last week and I spoke to you.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (GUEST): Yes.

HANNITY: I said, this was the most interesting proposal that I had ever heard. It seemed like you were really sincere in putting this to bed once and for all and also, it seemed like a very, very difficult process with a lot of penalties involved for people who did not respect our laws and sovereignty. What do you say to people that say, “Well, ultimately in the end if people can get a green card, they can stay, that it's a back door form of amnesty.” What's your response to that?

RUBIO: Well, first of all, the bottom line is, that it would have been cheaper and easier for them to have done it the legal way than the way they're going to get it now. In essence, we're not creating an incentive and we're not rewarding it. Because, quite frankly, for many of these people, they would have been better off doing it the right way.

This is going to cost them penalties, this is going to cost them taxes, this is going to cost them a significant wait and then after they do all of that, the only thing they're going to have access to is the opportunity to apply for a green card. You still have to qualify for the visa you're applying for. So they would have been better off doing it the right way from the beginning. Amnesty is different from the proposal in 2007 that created a brand new thing called a Z-visa, which basically was a blanket and you had to do very little to qualify for it. So, look, the reason, this is not, we're not trying to punish anybody here. This is not about that we're angry at immigrants. This is about the fact that we don't want this to ever happen again and we don't want to be unfair to the people that have done it in the right way.

Sean, I have hundreds of people a month come to our offices to talk about the fact that they have family members that are waiting in line to come here the right way. Our message to them cannot be come illegally because it's cheaper and quicker. On the other hand this is a reality. We have 11 million human beings in this country that are going to be here for the rest of their lives. We have to solve that problem in a way that takes care of --

HANNITY: They go back to the back of the line that will be part of the legislation, correct?

RUBIO: Yes, not only do they go to the back of the line and wait behind everybody who applied before them the right way. But when their turn comes up they have to qualify for the visa they're applying for. Not a special pathway.

HANNITY: And there's going to be a lot of penalties and security checks -- I will say this Senator, it's the most thoughtful proposal that I have heard and you've explained it better than anybody, but the devil will be in the details. (emphasis added)