Sean Hannity took the stage at President Trump’s final midterm election rally in Missouri, and called the media covering the event “fake news.”
“Promises made, promises kept,” Hannity told the crowd in Cape Girardeau, repeating one of the slogans Trump has used in the rallies he’s staged across the country in advance of Tuesday’s vote.
On Sunday, the Trump campaign announced that Hannity and Rush Limbaugh would be “special guests” at the event. Fox News later said that Hannity would not be campaigning, but would do his show from the event and an interview with the president.
Hannity said on Twitter that he would not be “on stage campaigning with the President. I am covering the final rally for my show. Something I have done in every election in the past.”
After Trump took the stage to a thunderous applause that lasted several minutes, he called Hannity to come up and give a few remarks.
“By the way all those people in the back are fake news,” Hannity said, referring to the reporters covering the event.
Hannity said that he was surprised to be called to the stage, having just interviewed Trump for the show. He recited some of Trump’s accomplishments since taking office, something he also did in the “Opening Monologue” segment of his show.
According to Jordan Fabian of The Hill, White House deputy chief of staff for communications high-fived Hannity as they stood in a buffer zone area to watch the president speak.
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Trump also called another Fox News personality, Jeanine Pirro, to the stage, and she also talked about the strong economy.
Limbaugh, a native of Cape Girardeau, Mo., where the rally was being held, pushed back on the idea that Trump and other personalities who support him were being divisive. “We’re not divisive. We are defending an America that has strayed from our founding.”
He said that Hillary Clinton “colluded with Russia. Hillary Clinton rigged the election.” The elicited chants of, “Lock her up!”
Trump predicted that the midterm results would be a surprise in favor of Republicans, noting the size of the rally crowds he has generated. “There’s something happening out there folks,” he said.