On Monday, Twitter nearly imploded when it was discovered that Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, was also legal counsel to a third “mystery” party — who turned out to be none other than Fox News’ Sean Hannity.
Once the news broke, Hannity tried to talk his way out of the situation on his radio show. “I never gave him a retainer,” Hannity stated. “Never paid any fees. I may have handed him $10 once. I requested attorney-client privilege with him and assumed our conversations would be confidential, but they have never involved any matter with him and any third party.”
While it’s actually not required for a someone to give a lawyer money in order to invoke attorney-client privilege, it’s very common for the public to assume this, thanks to portrayals in the media. One of the most memorable examples is Saul Goodman in Breaking Bad.
As Huffington Post reports:
In the second season episode titled “Better Call Saul,” attorney Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) ― who would later star in his own show by that title ― urged Walt (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse (Aaron Paul) to “put a dollar in my pocket” to ensure attorney-client privilege.
To say that people noticed this interesting similarity would be an understatement.
Hannity handing Cohen $10 and asking for attorney-client privilege is LITERALLY an episode of Breaking Bad.
— Chris Smallwood (@smallywood) April 17, 2018
Eleven seconds from my favorite series basically sum up this whole Hannity situation.https://t.co/hYHrYRUZSE
— Michi (@cbn2) April 17, 2018
Holy shit, Jake tapper just said that he heard on Hannity’s show that he would give Cohen $10 so have attorney client privilege. That’s literally a Saul Goodman scene from Breaking Bad
— Live, Laugh, Lose (@demeatloaf) April 16, 2018
Please somebody tell @seanhannity that Breaking Bad was not a documentary on legal practices. https://t.co/ckWBytZLNM pic.twitter.com/s911a2wMLL
— Seamus Mahoney (@seamusobmahoney) April 16, 2018
Sean Hannity clearly a Breaking Bad fan, as this is exactly what happened in one of this first episodes Saul was introduced https://t.co/3VRko5Xku5
— Iowa Starting Line (@IAStartingLine) April 16, 2018
That’s from “Breaking Bad”…Saul and the “Put a buck in my pocket” pic.twitter.com/BinTbX3kxi
— #TheResistance (@KSerino) April 17, 2018
Sean Hannity’s “might have paid him $10.00 for privilege “ is taken right out of Breaking Bad.
— Joe Freni (@JoeFreni) April 16, 2018
I prefer Saul #BREAKINGBAD And now Hannity shares a lawyer with Trump? #WTF pic.twitter.com/Ykt2C8xlI9
— IffyTiffy (@overvacationer) April 17, 2018
Pretty sure Hannity swiped that “I gave him ten bucks so we have attorney client privilege” from the Breaking Bad episode “Better Call Saul” – the only difference is Saul asked for $1 not $10. #itdoesntworkthatway
— scary lawyerguy (@scarylawyerguy) April 17, 2018
Wait. Does Sean Hannity think Breaking Bad was a documentary?
— A. Zem… see, it’s a Hamilton reference. Get it? (@anjyrulz) April 16, 2018
Considering our current president is essentially a former game show host, perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that his allies are apparently taking legal cues from TV shows.