Sean Hannity's On-Air Gaffes Resurface After Joe Biden Attack

A clip of Sean Hannity describing Kellyanne Conway as 'Kellyanne Trump' has been widely shared on social media after the Fox News host said Joe Biden "does not have the cognitive strength and ability" to serve as U.S. president.

Hannity was speaking following the release on Thursday of a report by Special Counsel Robert Hur into Biden's alleged mishandling of classified documents. It said the president would come across as a "sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory" if taken to court. Newsweek has reached out to Sean Hannity for comment via an email sent to Fox News.

Hur, a Donald Trump appointee, said that Biden shouldn't be prosecuted as he had cooperated with the investigation, and there was insufficient evidence to establish his guilt beyond reasonable doubt. However, in a move that infuriated the White House, Hur also raised questions about Biden's mental faculties. He said the president was unable to remember when he had served as vice president under Barack Obama and in what year his son Beau Biden died.

On his show, Hannity described the report as beyond damning. He said a subsequent press conference, where Biden insisted, "I know what the hell I'm doing," before appearing to mix up the presidents of Egypt and Mexico, was "a shocking display of his cognitive decline."

Hannity added: "While what the Special Counsel found about Biden's handling of classified documents was alarming what it says about his cognitive state is quite frankly shocking, and by the way, it should have every single American concerned about the mental health, the cognitive health, of the president of our country. The president of the United States.

"I'm not being flippant when I say this, they are describing a president of the United States who could not be one of those very nice Walmart greeters because they would be describing a person who would be cognitively incapable of actually remembering where every department is in the store. The special counsel is saying loudly that Joe Biden is unfit to be the president."

However, after Hannity's monologue was broadcast, a number of users on X, formerly Twitter, reposted a clip from March 2022, in which the host introduced Kellyanne Conway, who served as senior counselor to the president under Trump, as Kellyanne Trump.

Ron Filipkowski, editor-in-chief of self-styled "pro-democracy" media outlet Meidas Touch, shared a 12-second clip of the incident on X. It received over 386,000 views and 1,000 reshares. Filipkowski added: "It's Kellyanne Trump, folks."

Political strategist Adam Parkhomenko, who previously worked as national field director for the Democratic National Committee, shared a clip of the incident posted in 2022, adding: "Sean Hannity would hate if you retweeted this." This repost has attracted over 326,500 views and 10,200 likes.

Professor Howard Forman, a radiologist at Yale School of Medicine, also posted the clip, adding: "Kellyanne Trump trending 3, 2, 1....go."

Tagging the Fox News star on X, another user commented: "Hey, @seanhannity, Kellyanne Trump?! You're in mental decline, so get off the air!"

Following the publication of Hur's report, the odds being offered by bookmaker Betfair of Biden being reelected in November lengthened considerably, from 2/1 to 14/5.

Sam Rosbottom, a Betfair spokesperson, told Newsweek: "Biden has been a fairly significant drifter in the Election Winner market, but this report, compounded by another memory lapse, is seeing punters viewing Trump as the safer bet with their money.

"We are also seeing lots of interest from bettors on other potential Democrat candidates, too. Vice President Kamala Harris and former first lady Michelle Obama have been by far the most popular out of the potential list of replacements on the Democratic ticket," Rosbottom added.