THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN

With the revelation on Monday that Fox network host (we cannot bring ourselves to call it News) Sean Hannity was the third "secret" client of New York lawyer Michael Cohen, there is a natural tendency to feel smugly happy. 
Let's review Mr. Cohen's client list. 
First up- the current POTUS on whose behalf Mr. Cohen paid $130,000.00 to a porn star Unbeknownst (cough cough cough- we can't get through that with a straight face) to the President. 
Second- Elliot Broidy, the former deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee. 
And Third- Sean Hannity. Sanctimonious Fox Host, who regularly blasts the Clintons and Obamas for their "immoral ways". 

The President allegedly slept with a porn star. Enter Cohen. 
Broidy admittedly got a Playboy Playmate preggers and needed to pay her. Enter Cohen. 
And Hannity....? Perhaps a speeding ticket? Or a complaint about a bad meal at the Palm in NYC?  Or a landlord-tenant dispute? What could it be? What could it be that required the special skills of Mr. Cohen, Esq??

Here's the common thread of the three. Yes, they're men, but that's not it. 
Yes, they're older married men. But still, not what we are looking for. 
Hmmm...could it be that they're all mainstays of the religious right that believes sex is reserved for marriage and marriage is reserved only for two people of the opposite sex. 

There is a strong urge to call out the massive hypocrite that Hannity is. 
But there is a more important issue at play here. 
Attorney-Client Privilege.

Broidy and Hannity went to a lawyer with a problem. They have done nothing illegal that we are aware of. They are entitled to have their lawyer keep their secrets. 
It was disturbing to read Monday that Judge Kimba Wood (who is a great answer to the trivia question "name the second person Bill Clinton wanted to nominate for Attorney General before he nominated Janet Reno" - Zoe Baird was the first of course) forced the disclosure of Hannity's name in open court. That was wrong. Hannity had a right to have his secrets kept and Judge Wood was wrong to force the disclosure in open court. 

Of course Baird and Hannity aren't entitled to our support and sympathy. They have zero ability to ever see the principle behind an issue. They jump on any issue that helps their right-wing agenda regardless of whether it could later be used against them or their cause.  

But some of us are enlightened. Some of us can look behind the schadenfreude we feel about the revelation of the hypocrisy of Broidy and Hannity (Trump was always a what-you-see-is -what-you get- type of creepy guy). 

What occurred in the SDNY Monday was disturbing for all lawyers and clients. 

From Occupied America, where secrets are important, fight the power.