Hunter Biden has a lucrative new book to promote, So now it’s okay to ask him basic questions about a missing laptop that may implicate his dad, the now-president, in business dealing with China and Ukraine. CBS will have a pair of interviews with Hunter airing on Sunday and Monday morning. CBS This Morning co-host Gayle King on Friday reacted to a preview of one by gushing, “What Hunter just said there I thought was — gave me goosebumps.”
In the preview, reporter Tracy Smith managed to get the younger Biden to admit that, yeah, sure, the laptop could be his:
TRACY SMITH: Was that your laptop?
HUNTER BIDEN: For real. I don't know.
SMITH: I know, but you know. That’s —
BIDEN: I really don't know. The answer is — that's the truthful answer.
SMITH: You don't know, yes or know, if the laptop was yours?
BIDEN: I don’t have any idea. I have no idea.
SMITH: So, it could have been yours?
BIDEN: Of course. Certainly. There could be a laptop out there that was stolen from me. There could be that I was hacked. It could be that it was Russian intelligence. It could be that it was stolen from me.
Perhaps the networks and other outlets should have been following the laptop story more closely last year during the presidential election. Instead they ignored or tried to debunk the story.
The second CBS interview, this one with Anthony Mason, will apparently focus on Hunter’s drug addiction. After playing a clip, King was in awe:
It's interesting that we both have it at the same time, but they're both very different interviews. But also very compelling interviews. What Hunter just said there I thought was — gave me goosebumps. It's his family's love was just as powerful as the addiction. I've heard people say that. I’ve heard people say that.
Co-host Tony Dokoupil sheepishly admitted at the top of the segment that the book is “published by Gallery books, which happens to be an imprint of Simon & Schuster, a division of ViacomCBS.” Convenient how that all works out for the presidential family.
Expect a lot of these interviews. Over on CNN, Alisyn Camerota played a clip and hyped, “That’s intense. Hunter Biden’s memoir is coming out next week.”
The Hunter Biden propaganda on CBS was sponsored by Chevrolet and Ensure. Click on the links to let them know what you think.
A transcript of the segment is below. Click “expand” to read more.
CBS This Morning
4/2/2021
7:40 AM ETTONY DOKOUPIL: First on CBS News, in a pair of emotional interviews, President Biden's son Hunter talks about his revealing new memoir. It's called Beautiful Things, published by Gallery books, which happens to be an imprint of Simon & Schuster, a division of ViacomCBS. In conversations with CBS This Morning's Anthony Mason and CBS Sunday morning's Tracy Smith, Hunter Biden answers questions about scandals that put him front and center of the 2020 presidential campaign including claims about a laptop hard drive acquired by then-President Trump's personal attorney.
TRACY SMITH: Was that your laptop?
HUNTER BIDEN: For real. I don't know.
SMITH: I know, but you know. That’s —
BIDEN: I really don't know. The answer is — that's the truthful answer.
SMITH: You don't know, yes or know, if the laptop was yours?
BIDEN: I don’t have any idea. I have no idea.
SMITH: So, it could have been yours?
BIDEN: Of course. Certainly. There could be a laptop out there that was stolen from me. There could be that I was hacked. It could be that it was Russian intelligence. It could be that it was stolen from me.
DOKOUPIL: Hunter Biden also describes his decades' long battle with alcohol and drug addiction. At one point his family actually intervened as he told our Anthony Mason.
ANTHONY MASON: And your father chased you?
BIDEN: Yeah. I tried to go to my car, and my girls, literally, blocked the door of my car. Said, “Dad, dad, please. You can't — no, no.” This was the hardest part of the book to write. And he grabbed me in a hug, he grabbed me in a hug, bear hug. And he said — just cried, said, "I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do."
MASON: What did you think when you heard that?
BIDEN: I thought I need to figure out a way to tell him that I'm going to do something so that I can go take another hit.
MASON: Yeah.
BIDEN: The only thing I could think. Literally, that's how powerful — I don't know of a force more powerful than my family's love except addiction.
DOKOUPIL: Wow. You can see the full interviews on CBS Sunday Morning and on Monday here on CBS This Morning. I think you're going to want to see both full interviews. They look very interesting.
GAYLE KING: Absolutely. It's interesting that we both have it at the same time, but they're both very different interviews. But also very compelling interviews. What Hunter just said there I thought was — gave me goosebumps. It's his family's love was just as powerful as the addiction. I've heard people say that. I’ve heard people say that.
DOKOUPIL: It's true.
KING: We'll have it for you Sunday and Monday. We planned your viewing for you this weekend.
