The New York Times ran a lengthy story Wednesday abpout the Justice Department’s ongoing investigation of Biden’s son Hunter and how a grand jury is still collecting witness testimony and records regarding his business dealings overseas.
The Times also verified the explosive emails first published by the New York Post in October 2020, just weeks before the presidential election, that implicated then-candidate Biden despite public denials he had anything to do with his son’s finances.
ABC, CBS and NBC made no mention of Hunter Biden on the morning and evening newscasts on Thursday or Friday. Neither CNN nor MSNBC dedicated time to the ongoing scandal despite being 24-hour news networks.
CNN media correspondent Brian Stelter also ignored the Times’ report in his media-centric “Reliable Sources” newsletter, though he managed to squeeze in a mention about Meghan Markle’s newest podcast.
In November, the five networks avoided another Times report that Hunter Biden helped Chinese company purchase one of the world’s most lucrative cobalt mines from an American company, while his father was vice president.
There’s renewed concern about potential conflicts of interest, and whether the current president had any knowledge about his son’s businesses, which he had previously denied.
The legacy media disregarded the reporting from the N.Y. Post that shed light on Hunter’s questionable financial ties, suggesting it was all a right-wing conspiracy or that it was the product of “Russian disinformation.”
CNN’s top execs, including then-president Jeff Zucker and political director David Chalian, told their staff that they were spiking the Post’s reporting on Hunter, according to leaked audiotapes published by Project Veritas.
In the days leading up to the 2020 election, CNN, MSNBC, CBS and NBC all downplayed the Hunter Biden scandal, while ABC News completely ignored the story.
Brian Stelter, a staunch defender of the establishment media who has a reputation as being a “hall monitor,” was confronted by Washington Times correspondent Susan Ferrechio as the Hunter scandal was unfolding in October 2020.
Ferrechio called out the double standard, going all-in on every Trump-Russia collusion report, mocking how the media “now” has “ethics” when it comes to reporting about the Biden family.
“How dare – don’t you dare!” Stelter shouted at her. “Don’t you dare act like newsrooms didn’t have ethics in 2017 and 2018.”
“Oh, I know they didn’t. You can ‘Don’t you dare’ me all you want, Brian. I’ve been doing this for 30 years,” Ferrechio fired back. “Say whatever you want. It’s my view and I have the right to say it.”
The New York Times also dismissed the Post’s reporting. However, the “paper of record” changed its tune this week.
“The investigation, which began as a tax inquiry under the Obama administration, widened in 2018 to include possible criminal violations of tax laws, as well as foreign lobbying and money laundering rules, according to the people familiar with the inquiry,” the Times wrote on Wednesday. “But prosecutors face a number of hurdles to bringing criminal charges, the people familiar with the investigation said, including proving that Mr. Biden intentionally violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA, which requires disclosure to the Justice Department of lobbying or public relations assistance on behalf of foreign clients.”
Buried in the Times piece was a paragraph about a “cache” of emails reviewed as part of its report.
“People familiar with the investigation said prosecutors had examined emails between Mr. Biden, Mr. Archer and others about Burisma and other foreign business activity. Those emails were obtained by The New York Times from a cache of files that appears to have come from a laptop abandoned by Mr. Biden in a Delaware repair shop. The email and others in the cache were authenticated by people familiar with them and with the investigation,” the Times wrote.
The laptop the Times referred to was the same laptop at the center of the New York Post’s explosive reporting, which published several emails that came from a copy of Hunter Biden’s hard drive just weeks before the 2020 election.
The editorial board of the New York Post had choice words for the Times’ long-delayed corroboration of its reporting, writing, “Forgive the profanity, but you have got to be s—ting us.”
“In the heat of the presidential race of 2020, the Times never missed a chance to cast doubt on the laptop, saying the information was ‘purported’ and quoting a letter from former Democratic officials who claimed — with no evidence — that it was Russian disinformation. As recently as September 2021, the Times called the laptop ‘unsubstantiated’ in a news story,” the Post wrote Thursday. “Readers of the Times have discovered in March 2022 that Hunter Biden pursued business deals in Europe and Asia, and may have leveraged his father’s position as vice president to do it. Hunter also may not have properly registered with the government or declared all his income. All legitimate topics of discussion about a presidential candidate’s family, no?… Readers of The Post have known this since October 2020.”
