Greg P. at Twitchy reports the attorney who pressured federal judge Kimba Wood into releasing Sean Hannity's name is a lawyer for liberal media outlets.
According to reports from inside the courtroom, Judge Wood was ready to allow Michael Cohen to submit the name of his third client — who we now know is Sean Hannity — under seal, but an attorney for five news organizations, including CNN and the New York Times, convinced her otherwise.
From Natasha Bertrand, The Atlantic: "Robert Balin is the attorney’s name. Thanks everyone who commented with it!"
CNN’s Shimon Prokupecz confirmed the 'under seal' part, but omitted that the attorney was representing his employer. Prokupecz merely tweeted: "I was in court yesterday and if it wasn’t for the attorney representing the press, Sean Hannity’s name would have been filed under seal. Judge Kimba Wood was ready to accept the name under seal, when the attorney representing the press stood up and argued successfully against it."
Couldn't that be because "the press" -- the liberal press -- wants to tear down Fox News and run around claiming they shouldn't be defined as a "news organization"? The competitive and ideological juices are flowing all through this controversy.
According to the New York Times, Mr. Balin does indeed represent CNN and the Times:
Robert D. Balin, a lawyer for various media outlets, including The New York Times, CNN and others, interrupted the hearing to argue that embarrassment was not a sufficient cause to withhold a client’s name, and Judge Wood agreed.
After Mr. Hannity was named, there were audible gasps from the spectators.
So all the liberal-media zone-flooding about Hannity's lack of disclosure came in part with a lack of disclosure. Fascinating. But not unusual. These people use anonymous sources, so why wouldn't they like to be anonymous from time to time?
