Sean Hannity is not likely to face much blowback from Fox News over his failure to disclose his relationship with President Trump's personal lawyer, said Michael Calderone, Politico's senior media reporter.
"He pretty much plays by his own rules at Fox," said Calderone in an interview Wednesday on Cheddar. "He's their top rated host, he's been there for decades, and he seems to get away with whatever he wants."
Hannity spends much of his 9 p.m. nightly show on Fox News defending Trump, railing against the special counsel's Russia investigation, and slamming the FBI for raiding the office and home of Michael Cohen, Trump's personal lawyer. Then came the [revelation](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/16/business/media/sean-hannity-michael-cohen-client.html) Monday that Hannity himself had sought legal advice from Cohen.
Though Hannity did not disclose his relationship with Cohen, the Fox host "seems to get away with whatever he wants," said Calderone.
The Politico reporter said he spoke with Hannity last year, during an advertiser boycott of Hannity's show when the TV host was aggressively pushing a conspiracy theory about the killing of a Democratic National Committee staffer, Seth Rich.
"Throughout all of that Sean Hannity was defiant," said Calderone. "He called me up and said 'I can say whatever I want, at Fox News, everyone there leaves me alone.'"
Hannity has acknowledged he asked Cohen for legal advice, but said he isn't a client since there was never a third party involved, and he never received a bill.
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/sean-hannity-in-hot-water).
NASA and SpaceX have chosen May 27 for resuming astronaut launches from the U.S. after nine years. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced the launch date Friday.
Democratic Congressmen Tim Ryan of Ohio and Ro Khanna of California introduced legislation this week that would pay all qualifying Americans aged 16 or older $2,000 every month.
In an interview on Cheddar’s Closing Bell, the California Republican pointed to China as a major contributor to the woes the world has experienced during the outbreak.
Rep. Mikie Sherrill, along with a bipartisan Congressional delegation from both New Jersey and New York, is calling on the federal government to increase coronavirus aid to the hardest hit areas of the country due to the pandemic.
Danielle Allen, director of the center, told Cheddar that ending quarantine will require a robust social effort involving potentially thousands of workers and brand new technology solutions.
Stocks are rising at the opening of trading on Wall Street Friday as investors rallied around signs that more governments are planning phased re-openings of their economies.
President Donald Trump gave governors a road map Thursday for recovering from the economic pain of the coronavirus pandemic, laying out “a phased and deliberate approach” to restoring normal activity in places that have strong testing and are seeing a decrease in COVID-19 cases.
Seven Midwestern governors announced Thursday that they will coordinate on reopening their state economies, after similar pacts were made earlier this week in the Northeast and on the West Coast.
Stock indexes ended a wobbly day with modest gains Thursday, while the biggest increases went to Amazon, Netflix and other companies poised to do the best during the coronavirus crunch.
The government’s paycheck protection loan program for small businesses is on hold. The Small Business Administration has announced that it reached the $349 billion lending limit for the program.
