Sean Hannity reacts to Roger Ailes' death: 'America lost one of its great patriotic warriors'

Minutes after news broke of Roger Ailes' death on Thursday morning, FOX News host Sean Hannity took to Twitter to share his thoughts: "Today America lost one of its great patriotic warriors," he began.

In a rapid-fire series of tweets, Hannity eulogized the ousted ex-chairman and CEO of FOX News. Ailes resigned from his position in July 2016 following allegations of sexual harassment from more than 25 women.

Despite the rocky circumstances surrounding his departure, Hannity had nothing but positive memories to share about his former boss. He highlighted Ailes' professional accomplishments as well as the personal traits that led Ailes to become "like a second father" to him, he wrote. "His endless enthusiasm, energy, wit, humor and raw instinctive intelligence will be greatly missed."

Toward the end of his memoriam, Hannity noted that many people "hated" Ailes but referenced the Biblical phrase, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone."

The tweets in their entirety:

Today America lost one of its great patriotic warriors. Roger Ailes. For Decades RA's has impacted American politics and media. He has dramatically and forever changed the political and the media landscape singlehandedly for the better. Neither will ever be the same again as he was a true American original. Few people in this life will ever reach the profound level of impact that Roger Ailes had on the country every single day. As his opponents played checkers in life, Roger was always the strategist, playing Chess, 5 steps ahead at a whole other level. On a personal note, were it not for Roger Ailes, I would not be the person I am today ... In 1996 he took a huge risk on an inexperienced, young, local radio talk show host in Atlanta. To this day I have no earthly idea why I was hired and not fired early on, as I had little television experience when I was hired by FNC, as old tapes humbly remind me. He saw something in me and many others he hired that we never saw in ourselves, and he forever changed the trajectory of thousands of people's lives. In many ways he was like a second father after I lost my father 6 months after I started at FNC in 3/97. I am forever grateful. His endless enthusiasm, energy, wit, humor and raw instinctive intelligence will be greatly missed. Our thoughts and prayers now turn to him, his Wife Beth, his son Zachary, his brother and his family. He will be deeply missed. It would be nice if the media would leave Roger and his family alone in their time of grief, but knowing people that hated him and his politics, and those that forget "all have sinned and fallen short" and "cast the first stone" I doubt that will happen. But to his enemies know this; I say ADVANTAGE ROGER, In his mind he just has a head start in preparing to kick your ass in the next life. God speed Roger Ailes!

The "Hannity" host has been with the network for more than two decades. He launched his FOX News career in 1996 on "Hannity and Colmes," where he, a conservative, sparred with liberal commentator Alan Colmes. After Colmes left the show in 2009, Hannity took over with only his name in the title.

Colmes passed away in February 2017 at age 66.