Citing audio highlighted by internet gossip Matt Drudge, co-host Sean Hannity claimed on the June 21 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes that Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) stated during an interview on Los Angeles radio station KFI 640 AM's The John Ziegler Show that he “overhear[d] a conversation” between Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and Barbara Boxer (D-CA) in which the two were “conspiring to bring down talk radio.” In fact, when asked by Ziegler whether “Hillary and Boxer were conspiring to end talk radio,” Inhofe stated: “No, not to end talk radio. They just want to influence it.”

Inhofe asserted during his June 21 appearance on The John Ziegler Show that “I was going out to vote the other day” and he “was walking with two very liberal gals,” later identified as Clinton and Boxer, who “were outraged by something” a conservative talk radio host said. Inhofe claimed that Clinton and Boxer stated: “We've got to do something about this. These are nothing but far right-wing extremists. We've got to have a balance. We have got to have a legislative fix to this.” But contrary to Hannity's claim, Inhofe stated that they were “not” discussing “end[ing] talk radio. They just want to influence it.”

According to blogger Greg Sargent, spokespeople for both Clinton and Boxer have said the conversation Inhofe claimed he overheard never occurred. Sargent wrote on June 22:

Here's a statement sent to me from Natalie Ravitz, Boxer's communications director:

“Senator Boxer told me that either her friend Senator Inhofe needs new glasses or he needs to have his hearing checked, because that conversation never happened.”

And from Hillary spokesman Philippe Reines:

“Jim Inhofe is wrong. This supposed conversation never happened -- not in his presence or anywhere else.”

Jake Tapper of ABC News also reported on June 22 that Clinton's and Boxer's offices denied the conversation took place.

Media Matters for America has documented several instances of the media uncritically reporting Inhofe's false or misleading claims (here, here, and here). For instance, on the December 6, 2006, edition of Fox News' Special Report, during a report about committee hearings held by Inhofe that focused on " 'the hype of global warming' and what causes it," Fox News correspondent Molly Henneberg uncritically aired Inhofe's false claim that "[i]t was warmer in the '30s than it is today," and Inhofe's baseless assertion that “it was warmer in the 15th century than it is today.”

From the June 21 edition of KFI 640 AM's The John Ziegler Show:

INHOFE: Realize that opinion is formed in this country mostly by Fox News and by talk radio.

ZIEGLER: Well, I wish that was more of the case than it really is.

INHOFE: I'll leave out the names, but I think you can guess who they are.

ZIEGLER: Yeah.

INHOFE: I was going over to vote the other day, and I was walking with two very liberal gals, and that were -- they didn't pay any attention to me being with them. They were outraged by something you said or Rush Limbaugh said -- somebody said something that upset them. They said: “We've got to do something about this. These are nothing but -- nothing but far right-wing extremists. We've got to have a balance. There's got to be a legislative fix to this -- ”

ZIEGLER: Whoa.

INHOFE: And as we got of the elevator, I said: “You gals don't understand. This is market-driven, and here's no market for your liberal tripe.” That's in --so I -- I see that people are coming around --

ZIEGLER: You can't tell us which senators they were, Senator?

INHOFE: Hmm?

ZIEGLER: You can't tell us who they were? Was that Boxer and [Sen. Dianne] Feinstein [D-CA]?

INHOFE: You're halfway there. The other one's running for president. You figure it out.

ZIEGLER: Oh wow! So it was Boxer and Hillary? Boxer and Hillary told you that -- you overheard Boxer and Hillary saying --

INHOFE: No, they were talking -- they were complaining about the -- about talk radio.

ZIEGLER: And they were saying that we need to do something about talk radio?

INHOFE: Oh yeah. Yeah, well they do that -- this is common chatter.

ZIEGLER: So Hillary and Boxer were conspiring to end talk radio?

INHOFE: No, not to end talk radio. They just want to influence it. Anyway, the point is, the market's still out there and it still counts.

From the June 21 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes:

HANNITY: Welcome back to Hannity & Colmes. I'm Sean Hannity. The left-wing group called Center for American Progress, which is run by former Bill Clinton chief of staff John Podesta, is coming after conservative talk radio. Now, the group wants to challenge our domination over radio, but it looks like that silencing people like me and Rush Limbaugh is the goal, here. Joining us now is -- from the big one, WLW in Cincinnati, we have a good friend of ours, a great American as he is, Bill Cunningham is with us. Bill, welcome to the program.

The war against talk radio has begun here. The effort here -- and I want to just -- Matt Drudge has up on his website, at this very hour, Senator Clinton and Boxer are conspiring to bring down talk radio. Senator Inhofe, overhearing a conversation, “We need a legislative fix. Something needs to be done. We've got to do something about this.” So this is what I suspected it was from earlier today. This is Senator Clinton's best friend, trying to come up with a blueprint to silence conservatives.