Sean Hannity really is a nasty piece of work. He spent his entire show this Wednesday evening giving Trayvon Martin's killer, George Zimmerman an extremely leading interview where he walked him through a lot of the answers and at times talked more than Zimmerman did.
This interview comes in the wake of recent questions about whether Hannity is paying for Zimmerman's defense, which of course Hannity denied.
As Think Progress reported, here's how Zimmerman responded when asked if he had any regrets: George Zimmerman Says He Wouldn’t Do Anything Differently: ‘It Was God’s Plan’ For Me To Kill Trayvon Martin:
Tonight, George Zimmerman — who is currently facing second degree murder charges for killing Trayvon Martin — participated in a highly unusual interview on Fox News with Sean Hannity.
Hannity asked Zimmerman if he regretted getting out of his car to follow Trayvon, carrying a gun, or anything at all about the night he killed Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman said he regretted nothing because he believed “it was all God’s plan.” He also said there isn’t anything he would do differently in retrospect. [...]
Update: At the very end of the interview, Zimmerman goes back and to the question and says “I do wish there was something, anything I could have done that would have put me in the position where I didn’t have to take his life. And I do want to tell everyone…that I’m sorry that this happened.”
As they noted, Martin's father responded to Zimmerman's statement tonight as well. Lawrence O'Donnell and his panel members Joy Reid and Jonathan Capehart weighed in on the interview on MSNBC and Reid addressed something I was wondering as well, which is why Zimmerman's attorney would subject him to the extra scrutiny this interview is going to bring him ahead of his trial. Reid explained it was made clear that his attorney Mark O'Mara was willing to have him appear on Fox to get his fundraising going again.
You can watch that interview below the fold.
Update 2: Karoli adds: At least there are some journalists with enough integrity not to let this sorry excuse for humanity exploit their airwaves to raise money. According to the Huffington Post, Zimmerman shopped his interview to Barbara Walters, who turned him down after he made demands for something in return. While she wouldn't say what that something was, she said Zimmerman was "desperate for money." She also said his lawyers approved of him doing interviews.
I think we can safely assume that Hannity or his overlords at Fox News "helped" Zimmerman in some way -- either with that month of hotel rooms or something else -- in order to get his exclusive interview.
Of course they approve. This is nothing more than focus group testing to see how his testimony plays in public, because my bet is that George Zimmerman will never, ever take the stand in a court of law. They're just playing for the public sympathy now to try and taint the jury pool before the trial begins.
