Sean Hannity pushed a totally made-up story that's now being revived by a prominent fake news purveyor

Written by Media Matters Staff

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A prominent fake news purveyor and Russian-linked Twitter accounts are currently pushing fake news from a so-called satire website that was previously hyped by Fox News host Sean Hannity last year. During a December 15 interview with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, Hannity asked him about a supposed WikiLeaks “document number 1078645” that “describes how funds could be diverted” from then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign “to the super PACs of Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina, and John Kasich.” From the December 15 edition of Premiere Radio Networks’ The Sean Hannity Show:

SEAN HANNITY (HOST): Let me ask you about WikiLeaks. And I think this could shake up the political world. Is it true an email sent in July of this year that you have, that describes how funds could be diverted from the Clinton campaign to the super PACs of [Republican Party 2016 presidential primary candidates] Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina, and John Kasich? Specifically document number 1078645. And it reads, “JB, CF, JK PACs will be noticeably silent for the rest of the campaign. Each will receive a significant allowance from advertising budget HRC. Hillary is in the loop and talked to all three personally. Eyes only.” Is that a legitimate?

JULIAN ASSANGE: I don’t have that in front of me. We have published nearly 100,000 documents so -- I mean, I have seen references to things like that. I don’t recall seeing an “eyes only” phrase.

HANNITY: Do you recall any quid pro quo as it relates to Sen. Lindsey Graham [(R-SC)] that he would get some assistance? Merely, in other words, when he ran for re-election for the Senate in, I believe, 2020?

ASSANGE: I don’t know. Lindsey Graham is in the [John] Podesta emails.

HANNITY: Yes. All right. Well that’s something that maybe hopefully over time we’d be able to follow up on.

The document was, in fact, fake, and had originated from the so-called satire website Last Line of Defense, whose founder claims he tries to troll conservatives.

On October 25, fake news purveyor Freedom Daily revived the false news story in an article that it also posted on its verified Facebook page. According to the Alliance for Security Democracy, Russian-linked accounts have also started sharing a January article from fake news purveyor YourNewsWire, which has been accused of being a Russian proxy, that falsely claimed leaked documents from WikiLeaks show that Clinton’s campaign staffers diverted campaign funds to bribe Republicans in order to “destroy Trump.” Some Facebook pages have have also pushed YourNewsWire’s article.