Fox News host Sean Hannity and President Donald Trump speak on the phone nearly every night after Hannity's show, according to a new report.

Hannity, 56, is among a select group cleared by the White House switchboard to be patched through to the President, and calls around 10pm most weeknights, according to a lengthy profile of Hannity in New York Magazine, which he declined to be interviewed for.

'Generally, the feeling is that Sean is the leader of the outside kitchen cabinet,' one White House official told the outlet.

Common topics of conversation are said to include sports, the 'witch hunt' against Trump and who is up or down in the cable news ratings - along with a healthy peppering of profanity.

Sean Hannity, 56, (left) is among the select group cleared by the White House switchboard to be patched through to the President, and calls around 10pm most weeknights

Hannity (right) has been among Trump's fiercest since the early days of the campaign

Political commentator Hannity has been among Trump's most visible supporters since the early days of the campaign.

His hour-long show, which airs at 9pm Monday through Thursday, tends to focus on battering the Trump administration's enemies: Robert Mueller's probe, the 'Deep State' and most of all the 'mainstream media'.

Trump and Hannity's close ties are well known. Still, the political class was thrown for a loop last month when it emerged in court that Hannity is one of a handful of clients of Michael Cohen, the Trump attorney who paid off porn star Stormy Daniels.

Hannity, even while venting outrage at the FBI for raiding Cohen's office a week earlier, had never mentioned the connection on air.

After the revelation, he dismissed the relationship as minor, with Cohen perhaps offering some real estate advice.

Hannity and Michael Cohen (right) are seen in an undated photo. Last month it emerged that Hannity is one of a handful of clients of the Trump attorney, who paid off Stormy Daniels

Fox News said it stood by Hannity after the revelation, and the opinionator wasn't penalized the way a straight news reporter would be for failing to disclose the relationship.

Still, the Cohen incident revealed the peculiar relationship between Trump and Hannity, who has been duking it out with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow for the top ratings in prime time cable news.

Their nightly conversations almost serve as a form of therapy for Trump, allowing him 'to decompress' at the end of a long day, a source who knows both men told NY Mag.

For Trump, Hannity 'fills the political void' left by Steve Bannon, one source said in the profile.

Bannon concurred. 'Sean Hannity understands the basic issues of economic nationalism and 'America First' foreign policy at a deeper level than the august staff of Jonathan Chait and the f**kin' clowns at New York Magazine,' he said.