Two days after ABC’s Good Morning America and co-host Amy Robach aired what our Tim Graham called an interview with Hunter Biden’s ex-wife Kathleen Buhle featuring “preposterously vague” questions and “carefully curated” answers, Thursday’s CBS Mornings sunk lower in ignoring topics such as Hunter’s infamous laptop and his alleged child out of wedlock.
Instead, Mason — who, like Robach, previously interviewed Hunter — focused on Hunter’s spiraling after his brother Beau’s death, his affair with said brother’s widow, and vague discussions about Hunter’s “finances.” Worse yet, co-host Tony Dokoupil falsely claimed that Hunter’s “become a frequent headline in the news.”
As we’ve repeatedly documented, that claim holds zero weight when looking at the broadcast networks.
Co-host Nate Burleson hyped the interview at the beginning of the show: “The struggles of President Biden's son Hunter are well documented, including by federal investigators. Now his ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle, is telling her story to Anthony Mason...She tells [him] writing the book has helped her let go.”
Dokoupil made his pants-on-fire claim in the lead-in to Mason’s interview:
We're going to begin this hour with the ex-wife of President Biden's son Hunter. She's telling her story. Hunter Biden, as you know, has become a frequent headline in the news lately as investigators look into his business dealings abroad. Kathleen Buhle was married to him for 24 years before divorcing him in 2017 after what she says were years of difficulties. And now, she's out with a new book.
Mason began with how the two met and what he was like for the first decade of their marriage before moving to when there were signs of trouble (click “expand”):
MASON: But in 2003, a drinking problem sent Hunter to rehab. And seven years later, a relapse would begin the slow unraveling of their marriage.
BUHLE: You know, he didn't come home, you know, put a bottle of vodka on the table and say it's back.
MASON: Right. He didn't put vodka on the table, but you ended up finding alcohol bottles in drawers. You found a crack pipe. You find a series of clues.
BUHLE: I do. At that point, he was gone. When I found the — the crack pipe, Beau had just died. His addiction was as bad as it — it was escalating —
MASON: Mmhmm.
BUHLE: — but during that time, finding liquor bottles, he was just — he was in an awful place.
Once Buhle alluded to Hunter’s problems really began during “a painful, painful time for our whole family,” Mason used that to focus on Beau’s passing and how that meant Hunter “lost his best friend and Kathleen had lost her closest ally.”
“He was a brother to me. I write in the book, he was someone who, I believe, loved Hunter as much as I did. And just didn't have any judgment,” Buhle added.
The conversation then moved to Hunter’s affair with Hallie (click “expand”):
MASON: The breaking point came when their then-18-year-old daughter Finnigan called Kathleen and said, “we found his phone,” and on it texts proving Hunter was having an affair with Beau's widow, Hallie Biden.
BUHLE: When I found out he was having an affair — with — um, our sister-in-law, at that point, I had been losing my mind for the last year and a half trying to make sense of what was going on. And in a strange way, it was like, finally — I don’t — I don't love him anymore.
MASON: Did you ever talk to your sister-in-law after this? Once you found out?
BUHLE: You know, divorce is not just a couple. It's not just the kids.
MASON: Oh, no.
BUHLE: It's the whole family. We were very, very close, all of us.
MASON: Yeah.
BUHLE: And it was painful for a long time.
MASON: Buhle wouldn't answer that question and never used her sister-in-law's name in our interview.
The closet Mason and Buhle got to Hunter’s life of corruption was her insistence she was in the dark on the family’s finances and, while she wasn’t subpoenaed or called before the grand jury as part of the U.S. Attorney in Delaware’s probe, she “talked to certain investigators”
Mason wrapped the interview by wondering whether Hunter “[made] amends with you.” Buhle dodged it, saying what she’s learned “from writing the book...is me letting go, my forgiveness” and that they’ve seen each at functions celebrating their daughters.
Back live, CBS Saturday Morning co-host Michelle Miller lobbed a softball on why she wrote the book and Mason replied with a curious and important qualifier about it: “I think she wrote the book to tell her part of the story. She is very careful not to tread very deeply into the Biden family and how they responded to her. She said they've been great to the kids.”
Given how there was never a divorce settlement, her refusal to criticize the Biden family (other than Hallie), and that both ABC and CBS had the same person interview Buhle that did the same with Hunter, Buhle’s book tour has left plenty of questions on the table.
This soft interview was made possible by advertisers such as Crest and Meta. Follow the links to see their contact information at the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page.
To see the relevant CBS transcript from June 16, click “expand.”
CBS Mornings
June 16, 2022
7:02 a.m. Eastern [TEASE][ON-SCREEN HEADLINES: Kathleen Buhle]
NATE BURLESON: The struggles of President Biden's son Hunter are well documented, including by federal investigators. Now his ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle, is telling her story to Anthony Mason.
ANTHONY MASON: You said you learned that there wasn't one Hunter, two Hunters, but there were many.
KATHLEEN BUHLE: Right. Well, don't smoke crack.
BURLESON: There's obviously a lot to unpack.
TONY DOKOUPIL: Wow.
MICHELLE MILLER: Mmmm.
BURLESON: She tells Anthony Mason how writing the book has helped her let go.
DOKOUPIL: Wow.
(....)
7:52 a.m. Eastern [TEASE]
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Ahead; Kathleen Buhle]
BURLESON: If you are hungry for more show, don’t you go anywhere because ahead, Anthony Mason has a revealing conversation with Kathleen Buhle, the wife of Hunter Biden about real — resilience and healing.
(....)
8:00 a.m. Eastern [TEASE]
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Kathleen Buhle]
TONY DOKOUPIL: Hunter Biden's ex-wife Kathleen Buhle. She talks to our Anthony Mason — tells him what it took to move on and heal.
(....)
8:02 a.m. Eastern
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Hunter Biden’s Struggles; Ex-Wife Discusses Biden’s Infidelity & Addiction Battle in New Memoir]
DOKOUPIL: We're going to begin this hour with the ex-wife of President Biden's son Hunter. She's telling her story. Hunter Biden, as you know, has become a frequent headline in the news lately as investigators look into his business dealings abroad. Kathleen Buhle was married to him for 24 years before divorcing him in 2017 after what she says were years of difficulties. And now, she's out with a new book. It’s called If We Break: A Memoir of Marriage, Addiction, and Healing, detailing her ex-husband's struggle with the addiction and the infidelities that she says led to their breakup. Anthony Mason sat down with Buhle ahead of the book’s release.
MASON: You met Hunter in 1992 working for the Jesuit Volunteer Corps.
BUHLE: Yep.
MASON: What was the attraction?
BUHLE: He seemed so mature and sophisticated and charming. And he treated me in a way I hadn't been treated before.
MASON: Kathleen Buhle and Hunter Biden were married the next year. Early on, she says, she felt very loved. They had three daughters, Naomi, Finnigan, and Maizy. But in 2003, a drinking problem sent Hunter to rehab. And seven years later, a relapse would begin the slow unraveling of their marriage.
BUHLE: You know, he didn't come home, you know, put a bottle of vodka on the table and say it's back.
MASON: Right. He didn't put vodka on the table, but you ended up finding alcohol bottles in drawers. You found a crack pipe. You find a series of clues.
BUHLE: I do. At that point, he was gone. When I found the — the crack pipe, Beau had just died. His addiction was as bad as it — it was escalating —
MASON: Mmhmm.
BUHLE: — but during that time, finding liquor bottles, he was just — he was in an awful place. It was a painful, painful time for our whole family.
MASON: Beau Biden's death from brain cancer in 2015 meant Hunter had lost his best friend and Kathleen had lost her closest ally.
BUHLE: He was a brother to me. I write in the book, he was someone who, I believe, loved Hunter as much as I did.
MASON: Uh-huh.
BUHLE: And just didn't have any judgment.
MASON: Soon, Kathleen would discover Hunter had cheated on her with dozens of women. [TO BUHLE] You said you learned that there wasn't one Hunter or two Hunters, but there were many.
BUHLE: Right. Well, don't smoke crack.
MASON: The breaking point came when their then-18-year-old daughter Finnigan called Kathleen and said, “we found his phone,” and on it texts proving Hunter was having an affair with Beau's widow, Hallie Biden.
BUHLE: When I found out he was having an affair — with — um, our sister-in-law, at that point, I had been losing my mind for the last year and a half trying to make sense of what was going on. And in a strange way, it was like, finally — I don’t — I don't love him anymore.
MASON: Did you ever talk to your sister-in-law after this? Once you found out?
BUHLE: You know, divorce is not just a couple. It's not just the kids.
MASON: Oh, no.
BUHLE: It's the whole family. We were very, very close, all of us.
MASON: Yeah.
BUHLE: And it was painful for a long time.
MASON: Buhle wouldn't answer that question and never used her sister-in-law's name in our interview. [TO BUHLE] You talk about finances and how you largely left that to — to Hunter. How much did you know about what the financial situation was?
BUHLE: I had my head pretty deeply buried in the sand.
MASON: The U.S. Attorney's office in Delaware opened an investigation into Hunter's taxes and business dealings in 2018. A subpoena obtained by CBS News revealed requests for bank records dating back to 2014 when Hunter and Kathleen were still married. [TO BUHLE] Have you been subpoenaed in this investigation?
BUHLE: Even if I was subpoenaed, I kept my head so deeply buried in the sand, I honestly have nothing to contribute.
MASON: Have you been subpoenaed, though?
BUHLE: I have not been subpoenaed. I've talked to certain investigators, but I've not been —
MASON: Mmhmm.
BUHLE: — subpoenaed. I mean, I guess I — I haven't been subpoenaed to appear before the grand jury.
MASON: Right.
BUHLE: But I was questioned because obviously I was married to him for 24 years.
MASON: Were you at all concerned you could get drawn into this?
BUHLE: No. I barely understood what he did. And I say that with embarrassment.
MASON: One of the things an addict is supposed to do in recovery is make amends to the people he's harmed. Hunter, when I spoke to him, said he’d done that. Did he make amends with you?
BUHLE: What I found from writing the book, the only thing that's important to me is me letting go, my forgiveness. I know he feels bad about what he did. That's hard to live with. So I'm — I hope he's in a good place. I really do. But we come together for, you know, my — my daughters are now young adults.
MASON: Yes.
BUHLE: We get together for graduations, and we have a wedding coming up.
MASON: Yes. So you're looking forward to a November wedding.
BUHLE: At the White House.
MASON: Yeah.
BUHLE: So I'm pretty sure it will be — go pretty smoothly.
MASON: CBS News reached out to Hunter Biden and Hallie Biden for a statement about this report. They did not respond. We also reached out to the White House, which declined to comment. Obviously, Kathleen Buhle went through an enormous amount in this. As she ends the book, it gets actually even worse for her. With less than a year after she was — after she filed for divorce, she was diagnosed with stage-three colon cancer.
BURLESON: Whoa.
MILLER: Gosh.
MASON: She's okay right now, but as she says in the book, one of the things she learned from that was, you know what? There are even worse things.
MILLER: Yeah.
DOKOUPIL: There’s so much in the sentence. You talk about the wedding coming up.
MILLER: Oh yeah.
BURLESON: Yes.
DOKOUPIL: Pretty sure it will go smoothly.
MILLER: Pretty.
DOKOUPIL: You're never quite sure when a family member's —
MASON: Yeah.
DOKOUPIL: — in recovery.
MILLER: What is the why? Why did she write this book?
BURELSON: I was going to ask the same thing.
MASON: I think she wrote the book to tell her part of the story. She is very careful not to tread very deeply into the Biden family and how they responded to her. She said they've been great to the kids. But she wanted — she — she acknowledges the mistakes she made in all of this, including not knowing what the finances were and trying too hard in some respects to get Hunter sober. She said she learned that, you know, a person has to want to get sober themselves.
BURLESON: Yeah.
MASON: You can't force it on them and she's very critical of herself for that in some ways.
BURLESON: I don't want to be dismissive to Kathleen because I know she's been through a lot —
MASON: Yeah.
BURLESON: — but how are the kids doing?
MASON: I think the kids are doing really well and she regrets that she wasn't more honest with them. She kept a lot of this secret.
BURLESON: Like most parents do.
MASON: Like a lot of people do. And she thinks the kids could have handled it and — and that she wishes she was more honest with them —
BURLESON: Yeah.
MASON: — along the way.
MILLER: Mmmm.
BURLESON: Powerful interview. Great questions along the way.
DOKOUPIL: Yeah.
MILLER: Right.
BURLESON: Anthony, thank you so much.
