One only need go back eight months, in the midst of the Democratic presidential primary, to find a time when NBC News actually thought it was “sleazy” for Hunter Biden to have conducted shady business deals in Ukraine and China while Joe Biden was vice president. Apparently when the Democratic candidate was struggling in the polls, it was safe for the leftist media to ask tough questions.
During an exclusive interview with Biden aired on the February 5th Today show, co-host Savannah Guthrie pressed: “Has it occurred to you that there’s a certain irony here, that here the President is accused of and has acknowledged wanting to get information about your son Hunter and his dealings with Ukraine and this process of impeachment has ensured that everyone knows about Hunter’s dealings with Ukraine?”
After Biden tried to dismiss the scandal, Guthrie followed up: “Well, do you agree that it sets a bad image?...Do you think it was wrong for him to take that position knowing that it was really because that company wanted access to you?”
At that point, Biden suffered a meltdown: “That’s not true. You’re saying things you do not know what you are talking about. No one’s said that. Who said that? Who said that?”
To her credit, Guthrie refused to let up: “Well, don’t you think that it’s just one of those things where people think, well, that seems kind of sleazy. Why would he have that job if not for who his father was?”
However, as it became it clear in the weeks that followed that Biden would likely become the Democratic presidential nominee, NBC’s questions began to noticeably soften. During another interview with Biden on March 5th, Guthrie was suddenly worried that the Ukraine scandal would be used against Biden by President Trump:
Well, you know, you mention the President has gone after you. We know that he’s obviously hoping that there’s more investigation of your son, of Burisma, the energy company that he served the board on. Do you think that as your political fortunes rise, they’re coming after you more?
Of course on Thursday’s Today show, White House correspondent Hallie Jackson told Guthrie that there was nothing to see here about the latest Hunter Biden bombshell:
...this is a questionably-sourced story, to say the least, it appeared in a tabloid, that President Trump and allies are really trying to seize on here, alleging that Joe Biden may have had a meeting that was set up with somebody that Hunter Biden worked with on this Ukrainian company. Now, the story is so dubious – and we should note, by the way, that the Biden campaign says that meeting was never on Biden’s official schedule. But Facebook and Twitter made moves to try to limit the spread of this story. And the Washington Post is reporting that some intelligence experts think this has the hallmark of like a disinformation campaign meant to interfere with the election.
Interestingly, those talking points perfectly match the language in a Biden campaign memo put out in January that demanded the press dismiss the scandal as a “comprehensively-debunked conspiracy theory.”
The real question is, will Guthrie bring up the Hunter Biden story just a few hours from now during NBC’s live town hall event with President Trump?
