Conservative commentator and weekend MSNBC host Hugh Hewitt is a staunch defender of Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt.
Orange County, Calif., attorney Hugh Hewitt brokered a meeting in September 2017 between his law firm, which was representing the Orange County Water District, and Pruitt. The purpose of the meeting was to fast-track an EPA cleanup job in the outer Los Angeles suburb, according to emails obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request by the Sierra Club, Politico reported.
Commentator Hewitt failed to mention any of this to his audience, which seems … not good.
The fact the host has defended the EPA chief on multiple occasions without also disclosing this September meeting is unfair to his audience.
MSNBC has already issued a statement, saying it has given its host a verbal warning.
“Hugh Hewitt disclosed several times to MSNBC viewers that he has a friendship with EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and also that Hewitt’s son works for the agency,” a spokesperson told CNN.
The spokesperson added, “As a result of those relationships, Hewitt stopped discussing EPA-related matters on MSNBC. However, after the network learned Tuesday that Hewitt set up an EPA meeting in the fall, he was given a verbal warning as such activity is a violation of our standards.”
Similarly, Fredd Hiatt, who edits the Washington Post editorial page, where Hewitt is published regularly, told Media Matters he was “disturbed to learn” one of the paper’s columnists had set up a meeting between the Orange County lawyers and Pruitt.
Hiatt also said Hewitt “has agreed not to write about [Pruitt] going forward and has assured us that similar incidents won’t occur in the future.”
The reactions from the Post and MSNBC, the latter of which just recently dealt with another staffer running afoul of its professed operating standards, stand in contradiction to Hewitt’s original response to the matter, which was to call it a “nonstory.”
He also explained on social media, “This is a necessary clean up [sic] 4 Orange County, approved … under Obama EPA Region 9. I also told [Politico] the last time I was in the office of a senior EPA official pleading a client’s case was w/old friend Felicia Marcus. … yes, I asked for meeting. Proud to have done so though it isn’t my client. It was my home and I have served as County appointee for 17 years. Nasty place needs clean up ASAP.”
He can claim “nonstory,” but it is most certainly a story when a political commentator with a national platform launches multiple defenses of a public figure without also disclosing that his relationship with said public figure has benefited him personally.
It’s convoluted, but it’s all there.
Hewitt obviously should have disclosed that he set up a meeting between his own law firm and Pruitt, and that it benefited Hewitt’s backyard. This isn’t difficult stuff.
This is reminiscent of when it was reported this year that Fox News’ Sean Hannity had received legal counsel from Michael Cohen, President Trump’s personal lawyer.
If it were just that, it wouldn’t be that big of a deal. Same with Hewitt. If the weekend MSNBC host were just setting up meetings between his law firm and Pruitt, it probably would be a “nonstory.” The problem here is that both Hannity and Hewitt failed to disclose an obvious conflict of interest with various public figures as they went on to defend those same public figures.
Hewitt has mentioned before on MSNBC that he is friends with Pruitt. He has also disclosed that his son is employed by the EPA. Great! He should have also mentioned the September 2017 meeting.
Both hosts can try to downplay their respective issues as “nonstories,” but it doesn’t change the fact that they kept the full extent of their relationships with public figures a secret from viewers.
Hewitt did not respond to this writer’s request for comment.
