Fox News’ Sean Hannity is warning The New York Times to start telling the truth — or else.
And according to his lawyer, he’s giving the liberal paper one day to clean up its act or else his lawyer, Charles Harder, will take legal action.
The litigation threat comes as Hannity and his legal team accuse The Times of mischaracterization –– and if they take legal action they could win because of two major reasons.
The lawsuit would involve the left-wing paper for running a story, in which columnist Ginia Bellafante appeared to blame the Wuhan flu death of New York City bar owner Joe Joyce on the Fox News star.
Joyce, according to Bellafante’s reporting, was avid Fox News watcher.
Bellafante suggested, without evidence, that it was Hannity’s coverage of the deadly global pandemic led to Joyce’s death.
Hannity is fighting back.
“This firm is litigation counsel for Sean Hannity,” Harder’s official 12-page letter read. “We write concerning the New York Times’ blatant and outrageous disregard for the truth in mischaracterizing Mr. Hannity’s coverage of the coronavirus pandemic and blaming him for the tragic death of Joe Joyce.”
“In order to smear yours truly,” Hannity said, “they literally, this woman [Bellafante] exploited a man’s tragic death. She willingly, maliciously, purposefully, took something I said completely out of context.”
“Politicizing a tragedy, this New York Times so-called writer, reporter, whatever she is, has added to the pain and suffering of a family that deserves better,” Hannity added.
“This was all done to vilify this program and this channel.”
Evidence cited by Hannity’s legal team suggests he may be onto something.
The legal team says Bellafante skewed Hannity’s comments during the virus coverage and to fit a fictional timeline. She made it seem as though Joyce saw Hannity’s comments and –– believing conditions were safe –– used them as motivation to take a trip to Spain.
But the Fox News star’s legal team sees it differently –– for two big reasons.
“[Hannity’s] remarks attributed by you were made eight days after Mr. Joyce had already embarked on his cruise,” read the letter from Hannity’s legal counsel.
The Hannity team also caught Bellafante downplaying the virus herself in late February.
“I fundamentally don’t understand the panic,” Bellafante had written on Twitter.
I fundamentally don't understand the panic: incidence of the disease is declining in China. Virus is not deadly in vast majority of cases. Production and so on will slow down and will obviously rebound. cc: @opinion_joe
— Ginia Bellafante (@GiniaNYT) February 27, 2020
The Horn editorial team