Sean Hannity defends taking advice from Trump's lawyer after being named in Stormy Daniels case

Fox News presenter Sean Hannity has faced calls to be suspended after it was revealed he is also a client of Donald Trump's lawyer.

Hannity, one of Mr Trump's most ardent defenders, failed to disclose a conflict of interest in his reporting of the criminal investigation into the president's longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen.

The TV show host has repeatedly covered stories about Mr Cohen, including last week's FBI raid on his offices, without revealing his personal connection to the story.

Members of Congress have called for the TV anchor to resign over the conflict of interest, and he was even reprimanded by a guest on his own show on Monday evening.

Congresswoman Jackie Speer said the Fox personality should "be put on leave immediately". 

She tweeted: "How can a network claim to be 'fair and balanced' when their top anchor has a relationship with Cohen - Trump’s enforcer and main conduit for info and shady deals?"

Democratic representative Gerry Connolly called for Fox News to drop the host, telling CNN: “I think he is so into this like a pig in the mud he can’t get out of it. And I think he deserves to be fired. His word can never again be trusted”.

Hannity, the top-rated personality on the most watched US cable news network, told his viewers last week that the raid on Mr Cohen was part of an effort by federal investigators to wrongly impeach the president. He never mentioned his association with Mr Cohen during that broadcast.

During his show on Monday, one of his own guests - Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz - rebuked the presenter for failing to disclose his involvement in the story.

Prof Dershowitz told Hannity: "I really think that you should have disclosed your relationship with Cohen when you talked about him on this show...I think it would have been much much better had you disclosed that relationship."

It was revealed in court on Monday that Hannity was also a client of Mr Cohen, the US president's longtime personal attorney, although the presenter has insisted he never paid for Mr Cohen's service. 

The conservative host often uses his weeknight broadcast on Fox News to defend the president against what he sees as biased attacks by the media. Sometimes Mr Trump praises Hannity in return. 

Mr Cohen disclosed Hannity's name through one of his own lawyers at the order of the judge. Stormy Daniels, an adult-film actress who says she had a sexual encounter with Mr Trump, watched from the public gallery.

Ms Daniels, in a separate civil case, is fighting a 2016 non-disclosure agreement arranged by Mr Cohen in which she got $130,000 to stop her from discussing her claim she had sex with Mr Trump a decade earlier, something Mr Trump has denied.

Hannity, 56, said on Monday that he had never paid for Mr Cohen's services or been represented by him, but had sought confidential legal advice from him. 

Mr Cohen was in court to ask the judge to limit the ability of federal prosecutors to review documents seized from his offices and home last week as part of a criminal investigation, which stems in part from a probe into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

The Russia investigation has frustrated the White House as it has spread to enfold some of Trump's closest confidantes.

Judge Kimba Wood spent more than two and a half hours listening to arguments by Mr Cohen's lawyers, prosecutors from the US  attorney's office in Manhattan and a lawyer representing Mr Trump in the hearing. She is expected to rule later.

She ordered prosecutors to give Mr Cohen's lawyers a copy of the seized materials before the next hearing. Mr Cohen, dressed in a dark suit, at times looked tense, folding and clasping his hands in front of him.

The unexpected naming of Hannity made him the latest prominent media personality to be drawn into the investigation's cast of unlikely supporting characters.

Mr Cohen has argued that some of the documents and data seized from him under a warrant are protected by attorney-client privilege or otherwise unconnected to the investigation. But Judge Wood said she would still need the names of those other clients, and rejected his efforts to mask the identity of Hannity, a client Mr Cohen had said wanted to avoid publicity.

"I understand if he doesn't want his name out there, but that's not enough under the law," Judge Wood said, before ordering the name disclosed.

Stephen Ryan, a lawyer for Mr Cohen, drew gasps and laughter from the public gallery when he named Hannity as the client.

After his identity was revealed, Hannity said on his syndicated radio show, and again later on his Fox News program, that he had "occasional, brief discussions" with Mr Cohen in which he sought out the lawyer's "input and perspective."

Hannity said he assumed those discussions were covered by attorney-client privilege, and insisted that none involved any matter between himself and a third party. He also said his talks with Mr Cohen "almost exclusively focused on real estate."

Legal advice can be considered privileged even if given by a lawyer for free.

On Monday's show, Hannity expressed amusement at the firestorm of media coverage unleashed by the disclosure that he and Mr Trump shared a legal adviser in Mr Cohen, playing a 45-second, rapid-fire montage of various TV commentators and anchors uttering his name on the air throughout the day.