As purported evidence for his claim that President Obama “appeared to have prior knowledge of a question that he would be asked” at a June 23 White House press conference by Huffington Post national editor Nico Pitney, Sean Hannity falsely claimed on his Fox News show that Pitney “explained that a White House staffer called him earlier in the morning” and “asked him to prepare th[e] question” he asked Obama. In fact, both Pitney and the White House deny that Obama had prior knowledge of the question Pitney asked.

During the press conference, Obama said to Pitney, “Nico, I know that you, and all across the Internet, we've been seeing a lot of reports coming directly out of Iran. I know that there may actually be questions from people in Iran who are communicating through the Internet. ... Do you have a question?” Pitney replied:

PITNEY: Yeah, I did, but I wanted to use this opportunity to ask you a question directly from an Iranian. We solicited questions last night from people who are still courageous enough to be communicating online, and one of them wanted to ask you this: Under which conditions would you accept the election of Ahmadinejad? And if you do accept it without any significant changes in the conditions there, isn't that a betrayal of the -- of what the demonstrators there are working towards?

Following the press conference, Pitney provided an account of the circumstances that led to his question, writing: “I received a call from White House staff saying they had seen what I'd written and thought the President might be interested in receiving a question directly from an Iranian.” Pitney added: “They were up front about not being able to assure that a question would be asked [and] they never asked what the question would be.” From his post:

A few words about how this came about for those who are curious: as readers know, I've spent a lot of time writing and debating about the President's reaction to the events in Iran. Last night, after emailing with a few people about Obama's press conference and what he might say, I decided to throw it open to our readers. I received a call from White House staff saying they had seen what I'd written and thought the President might be interested in receiving a question directly from an Iranian.

The White House didn't guarantee that I would be able to ask a question. But I decided that if there was even a chance, I should try to reach out to as many Iranians as possible. With the invaluable help from some readers -- Chas, Chuck, and other Iranian Americans I wish I could name because they deserve the credit -- I was able to post a message in Farsi on Twitter and have my request for questions posted late last night on Balatarin. I ended up choosing the question I did because it was one of the consensus questions that many people had suggested.

Thanks also to the White House staff. They were up front about not being able to assure that a question would be asked, they never asked what the question would be, and they helped me move through the very packed briefing room when I showed up a bit late (sorry to the many toes I stepped on getting through).

Similarly, FoxNews.com reported in a June 23 article [emphasis added]:

Huffington Post National Editor Nico Pitney said he's been blogging about 20 hours a day on Iran since the June 12 disputed election that led to mass protests on the streets of major cities there. He said the White House apparently has been reading some of the entries.

“They reached out and said I hear you're looking for questions from Iranians, and we'd like to take one,” Pitney told FOX News, noting that White House officials didn't guarantee that he'd get asked a question and they weren't told ahead of time what the question would be.

Prior to the press conference, Pitney had stated that he was soliciting possible questions to ask Obama from readers, writing, “Later today, President Obama is holding a news conference at the White House and I'll be attending. If I get called, I want to ask a question that comes directly from an Iranian. ... The popular Farsi-language social bookmarking site Balatarin has posted our request for questions here, and users there will be able to vote on them."

In a June 23 post on his blog, The Plum Line, Greg Sargent reported that White House spokesman Josh Earnest said that, in Sargent's words, “White House officials knew that Pitney might [ask a question from an Iranian] because of what he'd been posting on his live-blog for days now, which is to say, the views of ordinary Iranians.” Sargent further wrote:

“Based on that work, we invited him to attend the press conference,” Earnest told me. “We reached out to him yesterday. We spoke to him and said it was possible he would get a question. Sure enough, the President called on him and he asked the toughest question that anyone asked as it relates to Iran.”

“We didn't want to know the question, and we didn't ask,” Earnest continues. “This was a creative way for us to answer a question from an Iranian.”

Referring to the exchange between Pitney and Obama, CBS News White House reporter Mark Knoller wrote on his Twitter feed: “Very unusual that Obama called on Huffington Post second, appearing to know the issue the reporter would ask about.” Knoller later wrote: "[N]o one is saying the WH planted the question -- but it arranged for Pitney to ask a question."

Likewise, Michael Calderone first wrote on his Politico blog that the exchange “appeared to be ... coordinated,” and later updated his post with the following response from the White House:

Deputy press secretary Bill Burton responds: “We did reach out to him prior to press conference to tell him that we had been paying attention to what he had been doing on Iran and there was a chance that he'd be called on. And, he ended up asking the toughest question that the President took on Iran. In the absence of an Iranian press corps in Washington, it was an innovative way to get a question directly from an Iranian.”

From the June 23 press conference:

OBAMA: I think that the international community is, as I said before, bearing witness to what's taking place. And the Iranian government should understand that how they handle the dissent within their own country, generated indigenously, internally, from the Iranian people, will help shape the tone not only for Iran's future but also its relationship to other countries.

Since we're on Iran, I know Nico Pitney is here from Huffington Post.

PITNEY: Thank you, Mr. President.

OBAMA: Nico, I know that you, and all across the Internet, we've been seeing a lot of reports coming directly out of Iran. I know that there may actually be questions from people in Iran who are communicating through the Internet. And what --

PITNEY: Yes, sir.

OBAMA: Do you have a question?

PITNEY: Yeah, I did, but I wanted to use this opportunity to ask you a question directly from an Iranian. We solicited questions last night from people who are still courageous enough to be communicating online, and one of them wanted to ask you this: Under which conditions would you accept the election of Ahmadinejad? And if you do accept it without any significant changes in the conditions there, isn't that a betrayal of the -- of what the demonstrators there are working towards?

OBAMA: Well, look, we didn't have international observers on the ground. We can't say definitively what exactly happened at polling places throughout the country. What we know is that a sizeable percentage of the Iranian people themselves, spanning Iranian society, consider this election illegitimate. It's not an isolated instance, a little grumbling here or there. There is significant questions about the legitimacy of the election.

And so, ultimately, the most important thing for the Iranian government to consider is legitimacy in the eyes of its own people, not in the eyes of the United States. And that's why I've been very clear: Ultimately, this is up to the Iranian people to decide who their leadership is going to be and the structure of their government.

What we can do is to say unequivocally that there are sets of international norms and principles about violence, about dealing with peaceful dissent, that spans cultures, spans borders, and what we've been seeing over the Internet and what we've been seeing in news reports violates those norms and violates those principles.

I think it is not too late for the Iranian government to recognize that there is a peaceful path that will lead to stability and legitimacy and prosperity for the Iranian people. We hope they take it.

From the June 23 edition of Fox News' Hannity:

HANNITY: Now this was the president's first non-prime-time news conference since taking office. He answered a whopping total of 13 questions that ranged from the economy to -- get this -- his smoking habits. But one moment in particular has caught the attention of media watchers, and that was when President Obama appeared to have prior knowledge of a question that he would be asked. Oh, listen to this.

[begin video clip]

OBAMA: I know Nico Pitney is here from Huffington Post.

PITNEY: Thank you, Mr. President.

OBAMA: Nico, I know that you, and all across the Internet, we've been seeing a lot of reports coming directly out of Iran. I know that there may actually be questions from people in Iran who are communicating through the Internet. And what --

PITNEY: Yes, sir.

OBAMA: Do you have a question?

[end video clip]

HANNITY: All right. Now, after the news conference, reporters asked the blogger how the president knew that he was in the room, and he explained that a White House staffer called him earlier in the morning, asked him to prepare that question, and then even escorted him to the briefing room, and when he arrived, well, there he is.

So, so much for an unbiased White House press corps.

Joining me now is the host of the documentary, along with his wife, Callista, Ronald Reagan, Rendezvous With Destiny, and the author of Real Change, which is now available in paperback, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.

Mr. Speaker, good to see you. I'm sure that you had all the questions when you were speaker of the House. I mean, that wasn't a problem, right? They just handed them to you ahead of time?

GINGRICH: Well, I think if I'd been a liberal Democrat it might have been easier.