Sean Hannity got quite an earful about police brutality from criminal defense attorney Rebecca Nitkin – and "tough guy" Hannity couldn’t take it.
The pretext for the discussion was the tragic death of NYPD officer Brian Moore who was shot and killed in the line of duty. Rather than honor Officer Moore’s life, Hannity exploited it to denigrate #BlackLivesMatter protesters.
Hannity attacked the protesters for not protesting Moore’s death. “Where’s the outrage for the tragic loss of this life?” Hannity complained. “Everybody wants to just race out there and condemn the cops.”
So where was Hannity’s and Fox News’ outrage when, after promoting Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy’s armed insurrection against federal law enforcers, a Bundy supporter executed two Las Vegas police officers? Answer: nowhere to be found.
Fox's ubiquitous Sheriff David Clarke was on hand again for this discussion. Clarke complained that “cops lives don’t matter” to the public. Then he suggested that maybe black lives don’t matter, that African Americans should just accept being killed by the police and shut up about it.
CLARKE: In one of those rare instances when a law enforcement officer has to use force to defend himself or the life of somebody else and takes the life of a black individual, you know, all of a sudden the sky is falling.
Next came Nitkin. She was hardly a wild-eyed liberal. She agreed with Hannity that the Maryland prosecutor “overstepped her bounds,” “overcharged these officers and rushed to judgment.” Nitkin also said, “Most of America is not thrilled with these demonstrations” and “most of us are extremely sick of Al Sharpton and the civil rights attorney who come preaching their stories which are usually inaccurate and then we’re sick of the violence that then comes with it.”
But then there was this:
NITKIN: I’m in Montgomery County (MD). I am dealing with police abuse every single day. I have a case tomorrow, I brought a picture of my gentleman whose face is bashed in, his lip is gone, his eyes are crushed. The jail wouldn’t even take him. They made the police bring him back to the hospital. And the report says he beat up five police officers and then he flung himself off of the stairs. Even though his legs are all scratched up from being dragged down the stairs. I can go on and on.
She also told of two jury trials she had conducted pro bono on behalf of other brutality victims. “It used to be that cops were wonderful. I love them all,” Nitkin said. “And it is heartbreaking for someone who’s a true believer, whose Dad’s a Marine, who loved police officers, that they don’t protect and serve any more. They look at you, they order you…”
Hannity became agitated. He never allowed Nitkin to speak without being interrupted again. He accused her of “making money off of this.” As if he wasn’t.
But Nitkin was not about to be intimidated. “Every time a police officer is killed, it is heartbreaking. But the one thing is, they have their support. Sean, there’s hundreds of police officers that line up and support the police officer. …I have six dead (civilian) bodies in Montgomery County. Not one person protested.”
It was devastating commentary and Hannity knew it. He quickly ended the segment.
Watch it above, from the May 4 Hannity.
