With the story having circulated for hours online Wednesday, the Biden campaign had yet to dispute the veracity of a New York Post story detailing how Hunter Biden had exchanged emails with a Ukrainian energy executive talking about exploiting his relationship with his vice-presidential father, Joe Biden. And being the loyal Democratic foot soldiers that they were, ABC, CBS, and NBC all censored the bombshell from their evening newscasts.
As one would expect, Fox News Channel’s Special Report didn’t play favorites like the liberal broadcasters and covered what anchor Bret Baier dubbed “October surprise.” “An explosive story at a critical stage in this presidential campaign, newly released emails allegedly from Joe Biden's son Hunter's computer leading to Capitol Hill investigators starting a probe,” announced senior political correspondent Mike Emanuel.
Concerning what the Biden campaign has said about the veracity of what was found on Hunter’s alleged laptop, Emanuel reported they only disputed that an alleged meeting did not take place with Vadym Pozharskyi, a top Burisma official. “The Biden campaign says it has reviewed Joe Biden’s official schedules from the time and no meeting ever took place,” he told viewers.
They don’t seem to dispute another email that showed the exploitation of Hunter’s influence on his father:
There's also a May 12, 2014 email from Pozharskyi that mentions to Hunter Biden, quote, “we urgently need your advice on how you can use their influence to convey a message, signal, et cetera to stop what we consider to be politically motivated actions.”
That’s not to mention the veracity of the other disturbing material found in the computer, as reported by the Post:
Other material extracted from the computer includes a raunchy, 12-minute video that appears to show Hunter, who’s admitted struggling with addiction problems, smoking crack while engaged in a sex act with an unidentified woman, as well as numerous other sexually explicit images.
It’s really no wonder the liberal networks were hiding this extremely damaging information from their viewers. Especially since there could be a federal investigation underway in Delaware.
“We understand that it’s has been in the FBI's possession since December 2019, it's not entirely clear how this ended up getting to an attorney with ties to Rudy Giuliani,” Emanuel reported. “The FBI is not talking about its possession of it, it turned over to the U.S. Attorney's office in Delaware which would not confirm nor deny that an investigation was underway.”
And since they refused to cover the Post’s bombshell, by extension they couldn’t talk about Orwellian censorship from Facebook and Twitter as they tried to frantically stop the story from spreading. That was covered by Fox News Channel’s media correspondent Howard Kurtz.
But Baier also spoke with Louisiana Senator John Kennedy (R) about how serious the allegations were. And in typical Kennedy fashion, he found them “as serious as four heart attacks and a stroke.” He continued as only Kennedy could (click “expand”):
Three points, Bret. Number one, these accusations are as serious as four heart attacks and a strokes. Now, we are talking about a major party nominee for president of the United States of America with an election right around the corner. And every single responsible news organization needs to be investigating the veracity of these allegations and these emails.
Number two, the New York Post is a responsible, reputable news organization. It is subject to the libel laws and the defamation laws of our country. It's social media it's playing favorites and trying to pick winners and losers and discriminating against The New York Post because it doesn't like the article. That is wrong, if that's what's going on.
Number three, while we’re trying to figure this out, here's what we do know and it's important. President Obama put Vice President Biden in charge of America's foreign affairs with two countries, Ukraine and China. And in both cases, his son, Mr. Hunter Biden walked away with millions of dollars of contracts. I'm not accusing anybody of anything, but I'm telling you this: This is the message that is sent to the rest of the world. The foreign policy of the United States of America can be bought like a sack of potatoes and that's a disservice to America and to the world!
As Kennedy wrapped his comments, he demanded that the press also look into the allegations. Baier assured him that “we promise you we are in the process of digging as well.”
The complete network blackout to protect their candidate for president was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Fisher Investments on ABC, Allegra on CBS, Downy on NBC. Their contact information is linked so you can tell them about the biased news they’re funding. CBS Evening News has also asked people to text anchor Norah O’Donnell at this number: (202) 217-1107.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
Fox News Channel’s Special Report
October 14, 2020
6:00:18 p.m. EasternBRET BAIER: Good evening and welcome to Washington, I'm Bret Baier. Breaking tonight: We are following two major stories. There are serious questions for Joe Biden this evening following the publication of emails allegedly belonging to his son Hunter that contradict or seem to the nominee's insistence that two never discussed business dealings with Ukraine.
There are concerns about the authenticity about how this hard drive makes it to the FBI, but as we look into that, two social media giants are hitting pause on the potential viral story until fact-checkers way in and that's creating its own uproar. We’ll look into that as well.
(…)
6:04:11 p.m. Eastern
BAIER: The election cycle tradition of an October surprise possibly being fulfilled tonight by the allegation that Joe Biden may have had a meeting he has vehemently denied, the Biden campaign still denies it tonight. But emails allegedly from his son Hunter Biden said the meeting was at least being set up. This about Hunter Biden and a powerful Ukrainian businessman.
We’re looking into this story, but we have Fox team coverage tonight. Howard Kurtz tells us how social media is dealing with what many are saying censoring this story. But first, senior political correspondent Mike Emanuel has the specifics. What do we know Mike?
MIKE EMANUEL: Well Bret, good evening. An explosive story at a critical stage in this presidential campaign, newly released emails allegedly from Joe Biden's son Hunter's computer leading to Capitol Hill investigators starting a probe.
[Cuts to video]
The Senate Homeland Security Committee is now investigating a hard drive brought forward by a whistle-blower. An attorney for Rudy Giuliani tells Fox News a computer repair man came forward with a laptop and hard drive that he says belong to Hunter Biden. He claims it was dropped off at a shop and never picked up.
Fox is told it had an estimated 40,000 emails, 1,000 text messages, and salacious photos, and videos of the former Vice President's son. Now investigators are working with the whistle-blower to confirm the information. He is legally blind, uses a monocle to do his job, and cannot confirm it was Hunter who dropped off the laptop.
SHOP OWNER: I saw stuff. And I was concerned. I was concerned that somebody might want to come look for this stuff eventually. And I wanted it out of my shop.
REPORTER: And the stuff were images? Or the stuff were, was text? Emails?
SHOP OWNER: A little bit of both.
EMANUEL: Fox News has obtained an April 17, 2015 email, a source tells Fox it came from the computer in question, it's from Vadym Pozharskyi a senior official from Ukrainian energy firm Burisma. He thanks Hunter Biden for inviting him to Washington and, quote, "Giving an opportunity to meet your father and spent some time together." When Joe Biden was vice president. The Biden campaign says it has reviewed Joe Biden’s official schedules from the time and no meeting ever took place. But this has been a very sensitive subject.
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: Do you think it was wrong for him to take that position--
JOE BIDEN: No.
GUTHRIE: -- knowing that it was really because that company wanted access to you?
BIDEN: Well, that’s not true. You're saying things you do not know what you're talking about, no one said that. Who said that?
[Crosstalk]
BIDEN: Who said that?
EMANUEL: There's also a May 12, 2014 email from Pozharskyi that mentions to Hunter Biden, quote, “we urgently need your advice on how you can use their influence to convey a message, signal, et cetera to stop what we consider to be politically motivated actions.”
At that time, Hunter Biden was reportedly being paid up to $50,000 per month by Burisma while his father, the Vice President was the point man for the Obama administration on Ukraine.
BIDEN: I have never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings.
EMANUEL: Less than a year after that alleged 2014 meeting where Hunter evidently introduced Pozharskyi to his father, a Ukrainian prosecutor was fired, something Joe Biden bragged about in 2018.
BIDEN: Now look, I said, we’re leaving in six hours, if the prosecutor is not fired, you're not getting the money. Well, son of a bitch, he got fired.
[Cuts back to live]
EMANUEL: The Trump campaign notes the Biden campaign doesn't dispute the authenticity of the emails. Fox has reached out to Pozharskyi to ask if these are his emails and we have not gotten a response. Bret.
BAIER: Mike. So, we know the owner turns it over to the FBI, do we know the providence of that, how it happens, when it happens?
EMANUEL: We understand that it’s has been in the FBI's possession since December 2019, it's not entirely clear how this ended up getting to an attorney with ties to Rudy Giuliani. The FBI is not talking about its possession of it, it turned over to the U.S. Attorney's office in Delaware which would not confirm nor deny that an investigation was underway.
We understand that there was some concern about whether the FBI had kept it, whether they had fully scrubbed it or what. And so, a guy kept a copy of it and then passed it on to Rudy Giuliani's camp and thus it is ended up in public domain, at least part of it.
BAIER: 20 days from an election.
(…)
6:25:23 p.m. Eastern
BAIER: All right Senator, I want to ask you about this other story that's breaking in The New York Post, I'm sure you've read it, about these emails allegedly from Hunter Biden's computer that talk about a meeting with Joe Biden and what the company expects Hunter Biden to do for it. There's other stuff on that computer as well.
We can't get to the provenance of how it gets to the FBI and how it gets to Rudy Giuliani through an attorney. We’re trying to dig into this and a lot to learn. But Twitter and Facebook have prevented people from linking to it, I want to get your take on the story and about the social media reaction to it.
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): Three points, Bret. Number one, these accusations are as serious as four heart attacks and a stroke. Now, we are talking about a major party nominee for president of the United States of America with an election right around the corner. And every single responsible news organization needs to be investigating the veracity of these allegations and these emails.
Number two, The New York Post is a responsible, reputable news organization. It is subject to the libel laws and the defamation laws of our country. It's social media it's playing favorites and trying to pick winners and losers and discriminating against The New York Post because it doesn't like the article. That is wrong, if that's what's going on.
Number three, while we’re trying to figure this out, here's what we do know and it's important. President Obama put Vice President Biden in charge of America's foreign affairs with two countries, Ukraine and China. And in both cases, his son, Mr. Hunter Biden walked away with millions of dollars of contracts. I'm not accusing anybody of anything, but I'm telling you this: This is the message that is sent to the rest of the world. The foreign policy of the United States of America can be bought like a sack of potatoes and that's a disservice to America and to the world!
BAIER: We’re this close to an election, we’re trying to get to the authenticity of these emails -- the Biden campaigns says the meeting didn't happen by their calendar, they haven't pushed back on the authenticity of the computer. But do you have problems, Senator, that the Treasury Department called the man that was meeting with Rudy Giuliani an active Russian agent for more than a decade, do you have problems with the story 20 days to the election as we are looking into the authenticity of all of this?
KENNEDY: Well, I think many people have questions right now, Bret. We want to get this right, it's important that we get this right but there is an answer. Every responsible news organization in America and frankly the world needs to be investigating the veracity of these accusations and those emails. This is important and we need to get this right. And that's why we have the First Amendment and why we have a free and fair -- supposedly fair media.
BAIER: Senator Kennedy, we appreciate your time, we promise you we are in the process of digging as well.
