On Fox & Friends Saturday, the show devoted a segment to the liberal media ignoring Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden's, questionable business dealings that are currently under federal investigation.
After a succession of clips of various media personalities from October denying that there was a Biden scandal, New York Post columnist Sohrab Ahmari was allowed on as a guest to call out the fact that liberal journalists ignored his reporting and instead covered for their preferred presidential candidate.
At 8:17 a.m. Eastern, the segment was introduced using clips from Fox News from mid-October informing their viewers of the scandal, interspersed with clips from some of the liberal networks denying that there was a scandal and rationalizing why they were not covering it.
Toward the end of the montage, clips of CNN host Jake Tapper were used to illustrate how the network eventually flipped from denial to admission that a Biden scandal existed:
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST (dated October 22): -- charges so heinous I'm not even going to say them.
UNIDENTIFIED CNN ANNOUNCER (dated December 9): This is CNN's breaking news.
TAPPER, CNN HOST (dated December 9): President-elect Joe Biden's son, Hunter, announced that the U.S. attorney in Delaware has notified his lawyer that the U.S. attorney has investigated Hunter Biden's taxes.
Fox News host Rachel Campos-Duffy then began the segment by asking Ahmari if liberal reporters that he knew were ashamed of their behavior, leading him to call them out:
The short answer is no. I mean, look, when we go to, you know, journalism classes or even what high school kids do, you're always told your job is to be curious about everything -- to not trust anyone in power and to be an independent thinker. That is not what happened when we put forward this story based on emails the authenticity of which neither Hunter nor Joe Biden has yet to dispute.
He further recalled the dominant media's suppression of the story:
What they did was they all circled the wagon. They all read from the same song sheet -- "disinformation, Fox News, New York Post Murdock world slime machine," so so on and so forth, without actually asking, "Hey, is it true? Let me pick up the phone. Let me ask investigators. Let me do all the things." It wasn't any of that -- it was all acting in defense of one candidate two weeks before an election.
And then they got -- they mobilized their friends in the big tech world to actually suppress the story so a significant chunk of America that gets its news from Facebook and Twitter only didn't actually learn about it in the lead up to the election. And so they did a disservice not only to the country but to what this profession, our shared profession, is supposed to stand for.
Ahmari then insightfully pointed out the double standard in how the liberal media would have treated a similar story if it involved members of President Donald Trump's family, and made a point of singling out the taxpayer-funded NPR's behavior:
Let's put the reverse scenario, right? Let's say this was emails involving Don Jr. Does anyone doubt that it would lead the New York Times 20,000-word magazine in the New York Times magazine, 10,000-word essay in The New Yorker blasted on MSNBC. Does anyone doubt that? So it's just so blatantly one-sided.
The most infuriating case -- I have to mention this one -- is the news manager for NPR, Terry Samuel, said, you know, "We won't cover this because we know this is not a real story, and we only like to not waste our viewers' times with false stories." That's really infuriating because you and I can't get a refund when NPR -- the taxpayer funded outfit -- doesn't do its job.
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Transcript follows:
Fox News Channel
Fox & Friends Saturday
December 12, 2020
8:17 a.m. Eastern
BRIAN KILMEADE, FOX NEWS CHANNEL (dated October 14): There's another huge story, and it starts right here at the New York Post: These are not opinions -- these are facts. These are emails that is going to explode."
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR (from Project Veritas undercover audio, dated October 14): Obviously. we're not going with the New York Post story right now on Hunter Biden.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS (dated October 15): Our town hall with Joe Biden starts right now.
JEDEDIAH BILA, FOX NEWS HOST: (audio): George didn't even ask him about Hunter Biden.
CONGRESSMAN ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA) (appearing on CNN's The Situation Room, dated October 16): The whole smear on Joe Biden comes from the Kremlin.
YOCHAI BENKLER, HARVARD UNIVERSITY (appearing on CNN's Reliable Sources, dated October 18): The same propaganda pipeline is there.
TIFFANY CROSS, MSNBC HOST (dated October 18): It's the, you know, "but her emails" again, and it's kind of ridiculous.
STEVE DOOCY, FOX NEWS CHANNEL (dated October 22): The cover of the New York Post has a story about a statement from Hunter Biden's business partner.
TONY BOBULINSKI, FORMER BIDEN ASSOCIATE (standing at a podium in Nashville): I have heard Joe Biden say that he's never discussed business with Hunter. That is false.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP (from debate, facing Joe Biden, dated October 22): I don't make money from China -- you do. I don't make money from Ukraine -- you do.
JEFF ZUCKER, CNN PRESIDENT (from Project Veritas undercover audio, dated October 23): Rabbit hole of Hunter Biden, which I don't think anybody outside of that world understood last night.
CHUCK TODD, MSNBC HOST (dated October 22): If you didn't follow it closely, you probably don't quite understand what the hit is.
STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS (dated October 22); Most of those charges unverified.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST (dated October 22): -- charges so heinous I'm not even going to say them.
UNIDENTIFIED CNN ANNOUNCER (dated December 9): This is CNN's breaking news.
TAPPER, CNN HOST (dated December 9): President-elect Joe Biden's son, Hunter, announced that the U.S. attorney in Delaware has notified his lawyer that the U.S. attorney has investigated Hunter Biden's taxes.
RACHEL CAMPOS-DUFFY, FOX NEWS HOST: Other media outlets finally giving attention to the Hunter Biden controversy now that he is under federal investigation. It comes after they repeatedly dismissed the New York Post reporting and after the election. New York Post editor -- opinion editor and columnist Sohrab Ahmari calls the suppression disgraceful. He joins us now. Thanks for joining us, Sohrab. I guess my question is really simple, and I know you're connected to the media world and know so many other reporters. Is there any shame in this? Any sense of embarrassment by the media and those who suppressed it -- refused to cover this story?
SOHRAB AHMARI, NEW YORK POST OPINION EDITOR: Thanks for having me. The short answer is no. I mean, look, when we go to, you know, journalism classes or even what high school kids do, you're always told your job is to be curious about everything -- to not trust anyone in power and to be an independent thinker. That is not what happened when we put forward this story based on emails the authenticity of which neither Hunter nor Joe Biden has yet to dispute.
What they did was they all circled the wagon. They all read from the same song sheet -- "disinformation, Fox News, New York Post Murdock world slime machine," so so on and so forth, without actually asking, "Hey, is it true? Let me pick up the phone. Let me ask investigators. Let me do all the things." It wasn't any of that -- it was all acting in defense of one candidate two weeks before an election. And then they got -- they mobilized their friends in the big tech world to actually suppress the story so a significant chunk of America that gets its news from Facebook and Twitter only didn't actually learn about it in the lead up to the election. And so they did a disservice not only to the country but to what this profession, our shared profession, is supposed to stand for.
CAMPOS-DUFFY: Absolutely, I mean, I've been calling it all morning, you know, "election interference" because I think we even just saw a poll recently that said that, you know, 10 percent of the people who voted for Joe Biden said they wouldn't have voted for him if they had known about this story. I mean, what do you say about that?
AHMARI: I mean, it's shameful. I would just say, let's put the reverse scenario, right? Let's say this was emails involving Don Jr. Does anyone doubt that it would lead the New York Times 20,000-word magazine in the New York Times magazine, 10,000-word essay in The New Yorker blasted on MSNBC. Does anyone doubt that? So it's just so blatantly one-sided. The most infuriating case -- I have to mention this one -- is the news manager for NPR, Terry Samuel, said, you know, "We won't cover this because we know this is not a real story, and we only like to not waste our viewers' times with false stories." That's really infuriating because you and I can't get a refund when NPR -- the taxpayer funded outfit -- doesn't do its job.
CAMPOS-DUFFY: Absolutely. Well, thanks so much. I hope that the New York Post feels vindicated, and hopefully more readers are coming to you because of your authenticity and truth-telling during this scandal. Thanks so much -- really appreciate it.
