Sean Hannity Mocks CNN's Brian Stelter's Upcoming Book About Fox and Trump, Asks If He Will 'Beg to Be on My Shows'

The latest CNN host to become the target of the latest barbed comments by Sean Hannity has hit back at his Fox News rival.

Hannity has criticized Brian Stelter for a while and has taken issue with the Reliable Sources anchor's upcoming book about Fox News and President Donald Trump.

Hannity mocked what he predicts will be an unflattering portrayal of his network and compared it to books by CNN correspondent Jim Acosta and the lawyer and radio personality, Mark Levin.

With the disparaging epithet Hannity uses to describe Stelter, The Sean Hannity Show host tweeted on Monday: "Hey Humpty, you definitely want to watch 'Hannity' tonight. And I found out today you are writing a book. Are you gonna beg to be on my shows like Fake news Acosta? The answer is 'NO.'"

In follow-up tweets, Hannity wrote: "Acosta sold around 14,000 books when Levin sold half a million. Can you beat the Acosta record of failure??"

Hannity listed what he expected Stelter's chapters would focus on, writing: "Chapter 1, I hate Trump, Chapter 2, I hate Fox News, Chapter 3, I hate Hannity, Chapter 4, Being Jeff Zucker's Stenographer, my life's work," referring to the head of CNN.

However, Stelter noted that Hannity's sudden tweet storm came after the CNN host sent fact-checking questions to Hannity's lawyers and confidants.

Stelter tweeted: "For my forthcoming book about Fox and Trump, I sent fact-checking Q's to some of Hannity's lawyers and confidants today.

"A few hours later, Hannity lobbed a bunch of Twitter missiles at me. Complete coincidence!"

Stelter noted on his CNN Newsletter that for his upcoming book, he had been "been fact-checking with Hannity's confidants for several weeks."

He then questioned Hannity's memory, tweeting, "Sean, you didn't 'find out today' that I'm writing a book about Fox and Trump.

"You talked about my book *on your TV show* on August 26. Millions of people saw it. And we talked about it *in person* at a party on December 17." Newsweek has contacted Fox News and Stelter for comment.

Stelter remarked earlier this week that he had been "getting some grief from Sean Hannity this weekend...for once suggesting that I thought [Michael] Avenatti could be a serious candidate for president."

Avenatti rose to prominence as the attorney for adult film star Stormy Daniels, real name Stephanie Gifford, in her legal battle against President Donald Trump but he has since has been convicted of trying to extort sportswear giant Nike.