Gary Fouse
fousesquawk
This article first appeared in New English Review.
This week, in a truly shocking development, a CBS reporter named Bo Erickson actually asked Joe Biden to comment on the revelations surrounding a laptop purported to belong to his son, Hunter. Former Vice President Biden, who was boarding an airplane, was clearly agitated and refused to comment, calling it a "smear" and basically insulting the reporter.
"I have no response. I know you’d ask it. I have no response, it’s another smear campaign, right up your alley, those are the questions you always ask.”
That is about as close as the mainstream media has come to trying to find out the truth about the laptop and the alleged emails to and from Hunter Biden indicating that he was trading on his father's name in order to do business with China and Ukraine. Other than Fox News, the New York Post, which broke the story, and Mr Erickson, our media is trying its best to bury this story.
CNN continues to ignore the story while trying to deal with the latest in their own embarrassing stories with one of their talking heads, this time, legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, who is "taking some time off". Over at MSNBC, Joy Reid used it to bring up a hit piece on President Trump's children while calling the Hunter Biden story, "fake".
Meanwhile, over on Capitol Hill, Adam Schiff (D-CA) is calling the story another Russian government disinformation piece designed to interfere in our election. Never mind that he has no basis for making such a charge and zero evidence to support it. In rebuttal, the FBI and Justice Department have gone on record this week stating that there is no "Russian connection" to this scandal.
Here is something else that is worth noting. Neither Biden nor his campaign has made any specific denial that the laptop in question (which was turned over to the FBI) belongs to Hunter Biden. Nor are they denying the emails that have been reported. The most that Joe Biden has said to this point that I am aware of is that it is a "smear" and that neither he nor his family has traded on the Biden name as has been alleged. Wouldn't you expect those type of specific denials from Joe Biden? And where is Hunter Biden these days? Where are the reporters camped out in front of his house? Does anyone even know where to look for him?
Of course, the Bidens know that there is a living witness to the story-the computer repair shop owner, who saw the material on the laptop and who apparently stands ready to corroborate everything. It has also been revealed this week that there is a receipt with Hunter Biden's signature on it. Joe Biden also knows that the laptop in question is in FBI custody and has been referred to the US Attorney's office in Delaware.
What we have not heard from Biden or his camp is a statement along the lines of: "the laptop in question does not belong to Hunter Biden", or, "the emails that have been reported are false". He might also throw in something like, "any reports that the laptop shows Hunter using crack cocaine and engaging in sex acts are false". None of that. Instead, they are attacking Rudy Giuliani for his role in the turning over of the material.
As far as the alleged meeting in 2015 in Washington with a Burisma official named Vadiym Pozharskyi, the Biden camp has stated that a review of then-Vice President Biden's schedule reflects no such meeting as being scheduled. That is hardly conclusive. Unscheduled meetings happen all the time with Washington officials.
Then there is Joe Biden's reference to the CBS reporter about the "smear". It's an ugly word with all sorts of negative connotations, but sometimes, a smear can be true. For example, when people bring up Monica Lewinsky and her affair then-President Bill Clinton, that is a smear against Clinton-but it is a true smear. So Joe Biden calling the story a "smear" is not really a denial.
Of course, all this is going to be asked of Joe Biden in Thursday's debate, right? It's the elephant in the back of the room, and it should be the first question asked, right? Don't get your hopes up. The debate is being moderated by pro-Biden Democrat Kristin Welker of NBC. In addition, the Commission on Presidential Debates intends to cut off the microphone of the candidate(s) when "appropriate". So if Welker says nothing about the Hunter Biden issue, and Trump tries to bring it up, we can now look forward to his microphone being cut off.
And then there are social media giants, Facebook and Twitter, trying to short-circuit any discussions about this story while they "fact-check" it.
And to cap it all off, should Biden win this election, once the new administration comes into office and a new attorney general sets up the new Justice Department, we can rest assured that any further investigation of Hunter Biden will quietly disappear-just as the on-going investigations into the corrupt practices of the Obama administration in trying to take Trump down before, during, and subsequent to the 2016 election- will also quietly disappear.
An old colleague of mine once said decades ago, "the only thing the people need to know is the ball scores". That thought may now be coming true. At least we will know who won the World Series.
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