NPR issued a correction on Thursday to a book review that claimed U.S. intelligence discredited the story surrounding a laptop believed to have belonged to Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden.
Now-President Joe Biden's 2020 campaign, along with many in the media, dismissed the Hunter Biden laptop story, which emerged in October, as being part of a Russian disinformation operation, without evidence.
Trump's director of national intelligence, John Ratcliffe, said last year that "There is no intelligence that supports that, and we have shared no intelligence with Chairman Schiff or any other member of Congress that Hunter Biden's laptop is part of some Russian disinformation campaign." A senior intelligence official told the Washington Examiner that "The IC and DOJ are in lock-step on this: there is absolutely zero evidence or intel that the laptop or the information contained therein is a Russian op." And a federal law enforcement official confirmed with the Washington Examiner in October that the FBI and DOJ agreed with Ratcliffe.
A recent report on 2020 foreign election influence released in March by President Joe Biden's Office of the Director of National Intelligence concluded that Kremlin-linked operatives "Sought to use prominent US persons and media conduits to launder their narratives to US officials and audiences" and that "Russian state media, trolls, and online proxies, including those directed by Russian intelligence, published disparaging content about President Biden, his family, and the Democratic Party, and heavily amplified related content circulating in US media, including stories centered on his son." But it did not reference the Hunter Biden laptop story and reached no public conclusions related to it.
A number of media figures, including MSNBC's Chris Hayes, initially claimed the ODNI report had dismissed the Biden laptop story before largely backtracking.
"In case you're still wondering if the Hunter Biden laptop story came from the Kremlin," Defense One reporter Patrick Tucker said Tuesday in a since-deleted viral tweet at the time, "ODNI's new unclassified report says yes." After being challenged by the Washington Examiner and others, he deleted his claim.
After being asked in December if he still thought reports about his son were Russian disinformation, Biden replied, "Yes, yes, yes. God love you, man - you're a one-horse pony, I tell you." Biden said during the presidential debate in late October that he has "Not taken a penny from any foreign source ever in my life." The president has denied any knowledge of his son's overseas business dealings and involvement in any wrongdoing.
It's becoming increasingly difficult to discern fact from fiction, and unfortunately the media has a strong bias. They spin stories to make conservatives look bad and will go to great lengths to avoid reporting on the good that comes from conservative policies. There are a few shining lights in the media landscape-brave conservative outlets that report the truth and offer a different perspective. We must support conservative outlets like this one and ensure that our voices are heard.
Friday, April 2, 2021
NPR issues correction to book review that said US intel discredited Hunter Biden laptop story
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