A day after Tucker Carlson revealed a package containing possible new Biden family documents had “vanished” while being shipped to him, the Fox News Channel host provided an update on Thursday’s show that UPS had “issued a press release announcing they had found a flash drive,” but wouldn’t “answer our questions” about why that happened.
Carlson recapped what he had largely told viewers on Wednesday about how a New York-based producer had shipped an envelope overnight to Los Angeles as Carlson and his executive producer were prepping to interview Tony Bobulinski, but it “never arrived.”
As part of that recap, Carlson emphasized his team did have a copy and gave viewers a brief glimpse into both being a journalist and working at a show like his:
We get a lot of documents from a lot of different sources all the time, but that’s especially true in election years. And before we put them on the air, we have to determine first whether they’re real — these were real — whether they’re newsworthy, and whether it’s legal to show them. We wanted to assess what we had and we’re still assessing it.
So while it was initially a relief that UPS “had found” their “flash drive,” but they went to “boasting about their customer service” instead of “tell[ing] us” what transpired.
Carlson said all they would say was that “the flash drive was found on Monday night by an hourly employee at the UPS building on 43rd Street in Manhattan” and “suggested it might have been sitting on the floor,” but couldn’t prove it because “there are no security cameras” at a place “where millions of high-value packages are handled.”
“UPS says the employee who found our flash drive simply dropped it on the supervisor's desk. Our documents sat there, undiscovered for more than 24 hours until we announced on television that they were missing. That’s their story. Obviously, we had some questions about it but UPS executives did not answer our questions,” he added.
To make things even more frustrating, he said his team had asked “to see the envelope itself, but UPS says we can't see it because they threw it away” and had no answer for why someone would have opened an envelope that multiple witnesses had said was sealed.
Before fading to black and a commercial break, Carlson said his show had “received an awful lot of documents recently about Hunter Biden,” but “[w]e haven’t aired all of them” or even “many” of them because his show would stick to “ones that are pertinent to his business career aboard, favors he did on behalf of foreign clients with help of his father.”
Carlson wrapped with his thoughts on items concerning Hunter’s personal life, why delving into things concerning Hunter's personal life would be unseemly, and how he used to know him as they lived close-by (click “expand”):
But there are a lot of documents about Hunter Biden's personal life that we haven't brought to you and we’re not going to. And we should tell you why. One is the obvious answer. He's not running for president, and so to the extent those documents pertaining to his dad, of course. But Hunter Biden is a fallen man, at this point.
And I should also say I knew Hunter Biden fairly well. We lived near each other in Washington for quite some time. I knew his wife. He was an absolutely outstanding person, a good person. I never thought Hunter Biden was a bad person. I thought he had demons but in the time I knew him, he kept them mostly under control. At some point, he lost control of those demons and the world knows that now. He’s now humiliated and alone. It’s probably too strong to say we feel sorry for Hunter Biden, but the point is pounding on a man, jumping on and piling on when he's already down is something that we don’t want to be involved in.
To see the relevant FNC transcript from October 29, click “expand.”
FNC’s Tucker Carlson Tonight
October 29, 2020
8:21 p.m. EasternTUCKER CARLSON: Last night, we told you about a pretty weird experience we had this week. On Monday, one of our producers in New York overnighted a package to our executive producer Justin Wells and to me Los Angeles where they are preparing for an interview with the former Biden business partner called Tony Bobulinski. Somewhere along the way, the contents of that package disappeared. Inside it was a flash drive that contained primary documents pertaining to the Biden family. We should tell you those documents did not come from Tony Bobulinski and, of course, we made a copy of those files before we sent them. We get a lot of documents from a lot of different sources all the time, but that’s especially true in election years. And before we put them on the air, we have to determine first whether they’re real — these were real — whether they’re newsworthy, and whether it’s legal to show them. We wanted to assess what we had and we’re still assessing it. But the point is the package never arrived. Proprietary reporting on the Biden family — documents sent between journalists by supposedly secure overnight mail — disappeared. And they vanished on the same day we were conducting a heavily publicized interview based in part by documents from the Biden family. So, as you can imagine, we wanted to know what happened. Unfortunately we still don't know what happened. This morning, UPS issued a press release announcing they had found a flash drive, and then boasting about their customer service. “UPS will always focus first on our customers and will never stop working to solve issues,” which is fine. UPS is a reliable company. They rarely lose anything. We agree with that. That's why they use them in the first place. And yet they lost our Biden documents. How? UPS won’t tell us how. We spent a lot of the day talking to executives there. They claimed that the flash drive was found on Monday night by an hourly employee at the UPS building on 43rd street in Manhattan. They suggested it might have been sitting on the floor there. They couldn't prove that because remarkably in a room where millions of high-value packages are handled, there are no security cameras. That's what they told us. UPS says the employee who found our flash drive simply dropped it on the supervisor's desk. Our documents sat there, undiscovered for more than 24 hours until we announced on television that they were missing. That’s their story. Obviously, we had some questions about it but UPS executives did not answer our questions. “There are no more details. Security is returning it. Apologies again that we were unable to deliver it the next day at the service level you requested.” Our exchanges went on like this for hours and the main question we had never changed: How did our flash drive get separated from the package that we sent it in? That seemed like something worth knowing. The envelope was securely sealed. We know that. Two witnesses saw our producer seal it and UPS does not dispute that. Was a package torn open accidentally by a machine? That seems unlikely. UPS says that almost never happens. So, we’re left with the obvious explanation. Someone, for some reason, opened our package and removed a flash drive containing documents that were damaging to the Biden family. We would love to know who would do that and why. It would be helpful to see the envelope itself. But UPS says we can't see it because they threw it away. So here we are. We got our flash drive back today and that's great but what we would really like are some answers.
And speaking of answers, it occurs as reading this that we mentioned the documents that we get from a lot of people. We have received an awful lot of documents and we’ve received an awful lot of documents recently about Hunter Biden. We haven’t aired all of them. In fact, many we have not aired. The ones that are pertinent to his business career aboard, favors he did on behalf of foreign clients with help of his father that seems relevant and it seems like news and we brought it to you and we’re not ashamed of that. But there are a lot of documents about Hunter Biden's personal life that we haven't brought to you and we’re not going to. And we should tell you why. One is the obvious answer. He's not running for president, and so to the extent those documents pertaining to his dad, of course. But Hunter Biden is a fallen man, at this point. And I should also say I knew Hunter Biden fairly well. We lived near each other in Washington for quite some time. I knew his wife. He was an absolutely outstanding person, a good person. I never thought Hunter Biden was a bad person. I thought he had demons but in the time I knew him, he kept them mostly under control. At some point, he lost control of those demons and the world knows that now. He’s now humiliated and alone. It’s probably too strong to say we feel sorry for Hunter Biden, but the point is pounding on a man, jumping on and piling on when he's already down is something that we don’t want to be involved in. So, with that — [FADES TO BLACK]
