Yesterday The New York TimesA story in which Hunter Biden (the son of President Joe Biden) left his laptop at a Delaware computer shop was published. The messages reinforce the impression that Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company that reportedly paid the younger Biden $50,000 a month to serve on its board, expected him to use his influence with his father for the company’s benefit—an allegation that figured prominently in the scandal that led to Donald Trump’s impeachment for pressuring the Ukrainian government to announce a Biden-Burisma corruption investigation. These messages show that Hunter Biden organized a meeting with his father (then the vice president) and a Burisma executive in April 2015.
If you find all of this familiar it is because New York PostThe shocking information was reported for the first time in October 2020. This happened a month before Trump’s election. Pro-Trump, anti-Trump journalists including many at The TimesThe following is a picture of the PostI find the story of ‘Johnny’ to be at best unfounded. PoliticoReports stated that more than 50 ex-senior intelligence officers believed the emails contained “all the hallmarks” of Russian information operations. Some journalists suggested it was reckless even to acknowledge the Post‘s report. Twitter did not initially block links to the article but seemed to have agreed. The article is still available on Twitter. TimesWhile the newspaper did not disregard the story, its reporting treated the matter with suspicion and contempt.
That was back in 2005. One year and half later, however, it was the TimesThe emails it considered suspicious before Joe Biden’s election were now in the news. According to it, people familiar with the federal Hunter Biden investigation said that prosecutors “had examined emails” between Biden and Devon Archer (his former business partner) regarding “Burisma” and “other foreign business activities.” Those emails “were obtained by The New York Times from a cache of files that appears to have come from a laptop abandoned by Mr. Biden in a Delaware repair shop.” They were authenticated by those who knew the message and assisted in the investigation.
The contrast is October 2020. TimesAccording to reports, the PostThe story of a reporter was so uncertain that some reporters kept their names secret. This is the story: TimesIt described the scoop of its rival:
Coming late in a heated presidential campaign, the article suggested that Joseph R. Biden Jr. had used his position to enrich his son Hunter when he was vice president. The Post’s story was based on photographs and documents that it said they had taken from a hard drive connected to a laptop believed to belong Hunter Biden.
Five sources familiar with the workings of Post revealed that many Post staff wondered if the paper did enough to validate the contents of the hard disk. According to the sources, staff also had doubts about its reliability and timing.
It TimesIn a four-day later story, he was also dismissive:
President Trump’s allies have long promoted claims of corruption about Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s son Hunter in a bid to damage Mr. Biden’s presidential campaign. The accusations intensified in recent days when some of Mr. Trump’s associates, including his personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani, provided material for a New York Post article detailing some of the allegations. The Post stated that the F.B.I. had seized a computer that purportedly belonged to Hunter Biden.
The Biden campaign has rejected the accusations. Many questions remain about the origins of the allegations themselves, the laptop and what, if anything, agents are investigating….
In an attempt to support an argument that was not supported by Trump supporters, and which Mr. Giuliani claimed to have made about Mr. Biden’s role as vice-president in shaping American foreign policies towards Ukraine for his son, The Post relied upon documents purportedly taken off the computer. These events represent the culmination of a two-year long effort by Mr. Trump and his associates to find out damning information concerning the Bidens. This pursuit also led to Mr. Trump being impeached.
The gloss is more like a defense press release by the Biden campaign, than a news article.
There were legitimate reasons for concern about the. Post‘s story. This paper stated that John Paul Mac Isaac was the shop’s owner but couldn’t identify Hunter Biden. It also mentioned that Hunter’s older brother and ex-Delaware attorney general Hunter Biden had placed a sticker on the laptop from Beau Biden Foundation. The laptop was seized by the FBI in December 2019. PostMac Isaac, he said, “made a duplicate of the hard disk and gave it later to Robert Costello,” former Mayor Rudy Giuliani. After “Steve Bannon, former adviser to President Trump, told The Post about the existence of the hard drive in late September,” Giuliani “provided The Post with a copy of it on Sunday”—three days before the PostPublished its story.
Giuliani was not able to prove the source of the laptop’s origin. However, the PostThe article included a photo from the federal subpoena to the laptop and the external hard disk. It showed how the FBI had seized the computers and thought that they may be used as evidence for illegal activity.
“As part F.B.I.’s closely held money-laundering investigation into Mr. Biden,” the TimesRecognized two months after the PostAccording to, agents working in Delaware with federal prosecutors authorized an F.B.I. subpoena. They also obtained the external hard drive and laptop. However, the paper stated that nothing there was of any interest. “People familiarized with the examination claimed that the F.B.I. The laptop was examined but its contents were not relevant to the investigation into money laundering.
It TimesThe investigation into Hunter Biden began as a tax probe under Obama’s administration and was expanded to criminal tax violations, foreign lobbying, and money laundering. Biden is being investigated for violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act. This Act requires that Biden disclose to the Justice Department any lobbying, public relations or assistance provided on behalf foreign clients such as Burisma.
These emails were cited by Post are clearly relevant to that inquiry, but only if they are bona fide—a point the TimesHas been repeatedly challenged until now. Even if PostI didn’t verify that the source of my laptop came from a reliable source. TimesIt could surely have filled the gaps quicker than it did. The Post still described the emails in September as “correspondence found on Hunter Biden’s laptop.”
Today’s editorial contains the following: Post The Gray Lady mocks her late certification of emails as authenticated by unknown sources. It doesn’t. That’s what you mean. It’s true?”
Also, the editorial notes that TimesInitial doubts arose about the authenticity of the Burisma meeting between Joe Biden, and Burisma’s executive. A Biden campaign spokesperson said that Mr. Biden did not have an official schedule showing a meeting between them. TimesAdam Goldman, reporter wrote. “A lawyer for Hunter Biden, George Mesires, told The Washington Post that ‘this purported meeting never happened.'”
Perhaps it happened. TimesThe prosecution now says: “In another series of emails, Hunter Biden, Mr. Archer, and others were discussing inviting foreign business associates, such as a Burisma executive. They also discussed a dinner in April 2015 at Washington’s restaurant where Vice President Biden might stop by. According to sources familiar with the matter, it is unclear if the Burisma executive was present at the dinner. However, the vice president made an appearance.
It Post It is amazing why! TimesReporters took 16 months to complete their jobs: “Now, we’re 16 month away from 2020, Joe Biden is safely in the White House and the Times finally decides that it will report on the news, rather than carrying the Biden campaign’s water. The reporters discover that Joe Biden was a political figure, and Hunter Biden has made a profit from his position. Maybe this topic is worth further investigation.”
Burisma’s deal with Hunter Biden was never a good one. He was well-paid and the only thing that qualified him to sit on the board of directors was his connection with a U.S. official. The suspicion was only heightened by his father’s defensive and angry responses to any questions regarding that arrangement.
During a February 2020 interview with NBC. TodaySavannah Guthrie, show co-host, asked Biden if it was wrong for [Hunter]it wasn’t because they wanted you to.” Biden testified that there wasn’t anything to be seen there. Your statements are not accurate. No one has said that— who said that?” Guthrie said that Burisma might be seen as “sleazy” by some, but Biden responded: “Well, it was regrettable. Let’s hear it. He is a mature man.”
All of these are not to say that Joe Biden was in any way illegal or imprudent. Trump claimed that Biden did Burisma’s bidding by requesting the firing of Ukrainian Prosecutor-General Viktor Shokin. However, Biden argued that this was motivated by widespread concerns about Shokin’s corruption.
Hunter Biden’s relationship with Burisma is not enough to suggest that Trump was right to try to discredit the Democrat he hoped to face in his presidential campaign by pressing the Ukrainian government for an investigation. Guthrie and other unrelated journalists confirmed that it was legitimate to bring up the matter during Trump’s presidential campaign. Post recognized. It is now a question of why. TimesThe paper did not. This clearly reflects partisan sympathies rather than journalistic standards.