*CORRECTED and UPDATED Trump indictment number below.
JULY 5 UPDATE: The June 28 NBC Nightly News (50 seconds) and June 29 Today show (65 seconds) mentioned President Joe Biden's angry response to a question about the text, bringing the total time up to 6 minutes, 58 seconds.
The evidence was so damning the networks had to cover it. Here was Hunter Biden on his very own WhatsApp text shaking down a Chinese businessman and using his father’s name to do it.
In the July 30, 2017 text Hunter Biden wrote to the Chinese businessman, in part: “I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled. Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight.”
The broadcast networks initially jumped on the story, when it broke on the afternoon of June 22, however they quickly dropped it.
From the evening of Thursday, June 22 through the morning of Saturday June 24 ABC, CBS and NBC (on their evening and morning shows) spent a grand total of five minutes, three seconds devoted to the 2017 WhatsApp text message from Hunter. However, the last mention of the Hunter text arrived on the June 24 edition of ABC’s Good Morning America. No network has mentioned it since then.
*CORRECTED UPDATE: In contrast, from the evening of June 8 through the morning of July 5 the broadcast networks have devoted 522 minutes to the Donald Trump indictment.
At first, it looked like the broadcast networks — following the lead of the White House press corps — would aggressively pursue the new information about Hunter Biden.
On the June 22 edition of NBC Nightly News, correspondent Garrett Haake reported on the revelations from the IRS whistleblowers: “One whistleblower also provided what he says are WhatsApp messages from Hunter Biden to a Chinese business associate from 2017 in which the younger Biden says he’s sitting with his father waiting on a response to a proposal and that he and the then-former Vice President will make the business partner regret not responding. Now, NBC News has not yet confirmed the authenticity of that message.”
On the June 23 edition of CBS Mornings, correspondent Catherine Herridge relayed: “[IRS whistleblower Gary] Shapley also alleged there was a recovered 2017 WhatsApp message from Hunter Biden to a Chinese businessman over an outstanding payment stating, quote, ‘I am sitting here with my father. We would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled,’ Hunter Biden allegedly texted, according to the transcript, ‘I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand. And now means tonight.’ CBS news has not independently verified the message.”
If you only got your news from the broadcast networks and intentionally ignored them for a quick weekend summer vacation getaway that started on Thursday June 22 that lasted through Saturday morning, June 24, you would be oblivious to the stunning development.
The question has to be asked, if the names of the players involved were changed from Hunter Biden and Joe Biden to Donald Trump Jr. and Donald Trump Sr. would the networks have brushed the story off after five minutes of coverage over just a couple of days? Unlikely.
