CNN finally covers the Hunter Biden story, omits name of key witness, faces backlash for waiting until after the election

After going quiet in the months before the election,

CNN is now actively reporting the federal investigation into
the business dealings of Hunter Biden.

Now that the election is over, the media reporting of

Hunter Biden’s business deals with foreign governments has
entered a new phase as federal prosecutors in Delaware, along with
the IRS Criminal Investigation agency and the FBI, have issued
subpoenas and are seeking interviews in their investigation.
Biden’s finances are being scrutinized, as federal authorities want
to know whether he or his associates violated tax and
money-laundering laws in their business deals with China and other
foreign countries.

CNN reported that after it contacted Biden’s attorney and the
Joe Biden campaign for comment about the investigation, Hunter
Biden released the following statement:

I learned yesterday for the first time that the U.S.
Attorney’s Office in Delaware advised my legal counsel, also
yesterday, that they are investigating my tax affairs. I take this
matter very seriously but I am confident that a professional and
objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled
my affairs legally and appropriately, including with the benefit of
professional tax advisors.

But according to CNN, the scope of the investigation goes beyond
Biden’s taxes, covering business transactions involving individuals
the FBI believes may have sparked counterintelligence concerns.

Two sources that spoke to CNN indicated that Hunter Biden has
been under investigation since at least 2018.

CNN credited Sinclair Broadcast Group with

reporting the existence of the FBI criminal investigation on
Oct. 29. CNN did not cover the federal investigation when it was
reported, just days before the 2020 U.S. presidential election. CNN
also at the time ignored
the “smoking gun” New York Post report about emails obtained
from a laptop allegedly belonging to Hunter Biden showing Biden
pursuing “lasting and lucrative” business ties with a Chinese
energy company. A former business associate of the Biden family,
Tony Bobulinski,
publicly corroborated the Post’s reporting and implicated
former vice president Joe Biden’s involvement in his son’s business
dealings.

To the extent that CNN did cover the story in the weeks leading
up to the election, the network
sought to discredit the New York Post’s reporting and allege
that the emails obtained from the laptop were

part of a Russian disinformation campaign.

Now, CNN reports that the FBI took possession of the laptop in
2019 and that it is “unclear whether the laptop’s contents are
relevant to the ongoing federal probe and whether investigators can
even use them, given potential chain of custody requirements for
evidence.”

CNN’s report makes a reference to “a former Hunter Biden
business associate who publicly made claims about potential
wrongdoing” but does not mention Tony Bobulinski by name or report
the claims he made about the Biden family.

Freelance writer Drew Holden noted on Twitter that a search for
“Bobulinski” on CNN’s website turns up no results.

Others have criticized CNN’s lack of coverage on the Hunter
Biden story. Former Acting Director of National Intelligence
Richard Grenell responded to CNN anchor Jake Tapper after Tapper
shared the story, demanding to know if he was “instructed” not to
report the Hunter Biden investigation when the story broke in
October.

Journalist Piers Morgan, a self-described liberal and former CNN
employee, bashed his former employer in a

blistering op-ed criticizing the mainstream media for its
“shameful dereliction of journalistic duty driven by the inherent
liberal bias,” noting that he publicly said so at the time “as a
liberal myself.”

Predictably, and equally shamefully, the media
responded by then trying to censor me too: I was dropped from an
appearance on Brian Stelter’s CNN media show after going on Fox
News and lambasting news organisations like my former CNN employers
for refusing to follow up the Post’s Biden exposé.

They were happy to buy into Joe Biden’s line that it was all a hoax
driven by nefarious Russians to discredit him.

Now the same CNN is reporting that the federal investigation is
‘examining multiple financial issues, including whether Hunter
Biden and associates violated tax and money laundering laws in
business dealings in foreign countries, principally
China.’

“If I were appearing on Stelter’s show this Sunday, I might ask
him if he is still comfortable that CNN refused to pursue the
Post’s story before the election?” Morgan continued. “And what
would they have done if it had been about Donald Trump Jr
instead?”

As Morgan pointed out, CNN is not the only mainstream media
outlet that initially ignored the Hunter Biden story only to just
now decide that a federal criminal investigation into the son of a
major presidential candidate is newsworthy. The Daily Beast covered
CNN’s report, noting that documents providing evidence of a federal
investigation were made public in October but went “largely
unnoticed.” Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey was

quick to observe that conservative media and right-of-center
publications certainly took notice and widely covered the story
even as
social media companies attempted to suppress the report and the
Biden campaign and the rest of the media claimed it was Russian
disinformation.

Glenn Greenwald, formerly of the Intercept,
published an article Thursday
calling out various reporters and big tech for promoting this claim
without mentioning the FBI investigation into Biden before the
election.

“That’s the choice these media outlets made. They got the
election outcome they wanted. But they and their reputations and
legacy will have to live with this choice,” Greenwald wrote.

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