Sean Hannity implied that the federal judge in Hawaii who put a hold on President Donald Trump’s travel ban may have shared marijuana and “a little blow” with former President Barack Obama.
Further, he suggested U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson should recuse himself because of it.
“This judge who issued the travel ban ruling is an Obama law school classmate,” Hannity said on his radio show Thursday. “Maybe he should have recused himself from the case. Just a maybe? Were they best friends in Hawaii? Were they part of the Choom Gang, smoking pot and hanging out and doing a little bit of weed and maybe even a little blow?”
Media Matters, which posted audio of the comments, notes that right-wing media have been pushing a conspiracy theory that Obama was involved in stopping Trump’s travel ban.
Obama admitted to smoking marijuana in his youth in his book Dreams of My Father.
The “Choom Gang” is a reference to a nickname Obama and some of his pot-smoking friends in Hawaii called themselves, according to David Maraniss’ biography, Barack Obama: The Story.
There is no indication that Watson was part of it, nor did Hannity indicate why that would be cause for recusal since Obama is not a party to the lawsuit over the travel ban.
Watson was nominated to the U.S. District Court in 2012 by Obama. The two both graduated from Harvard Law School in 1991, along with Judge Neil Gorsuch, Trump’s Supreme Court nominee.
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