(04-17-2018 09:16 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(04-17-2018 09:05 PM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  Hannity has said that he asked Cohen for legal advice with regards to real estate and explicitly asked that ACP be given.
So in your other examples, how often would you ask an engineer, or a dentist, or any other random professional for advice and then expect them to protect that conversation from potential legal action. Ever? Maybe if you were talking to a doctor and it is covered by HIPA.

In at least some of your cases, never. I'm not aware of any engineer-client privilege, for example. It's HIPAA, by the way, and it probably would make most conversations with a medical doctor or dentist privileged.

Quote:You're focusing far too much on the money exchanging hands - as Tanq helped me explain - being a client in the sense of being on the receiving end of ACP doesn't require money to change hand. In the case of Hannity, that is what happened. Hannity explicitly asked that his conversations to be protected under ACP, even though money wasn't changing hands. He says he knowingly entered into an agreement in which he would be a part of ACP, ergo, a client to Cohen.
Again, that isn't the issue, nothing legally wrong with going to Cohen for advice. But someone who is in such a public position and working in the news industry, should be smarter and disclose that type of information when explicitly reporting or offering opinion on him.

I'm no fan of Hannity. I don't think anyone who has made the bucks that he's made is an idiot, but he plays one on radio and TV. That being said, I'm really having a hard time understanding the outrage here.

Typo in HIPAA there - I appreciate the correction.

And the "outrage" (I don't really see outrage, but I do see people criticizing Hannity
- some more so than others) is because Hannity portrays himself as a news anchor at best, or at worst, is an opinion "writer" on a news station. Because he is involved with journalism in one way or another, through his association with Fox, he should have an ethical obligation to inform his viewers of his relationship with Cohen, when he is reporting or giving his opinion on Cohen.

That's how it works in the news, and you can find a multitude of articles citing ethics and journalism professionals stating as much. I remember you responding to me about conflicts of interests with regards to McCabe and that if you even think there might be one, then you act on it. Hannity should have acted on it and disclosed his relationship when discussing Cohen on his show.