What To Make Of The Media Blackout Of The Latest Hunter …

The establishment media have settled a new motto: If we dont cover it, it didnt happen.The uniform silence of the supposed standard-bearers of journalism in response to last weeks release of another Hunter Biden video confirms the corrupt medias adoption of this maxim.

On Wednesday, The Daily Mail first broke the story that it had obtained a copy of a video showing a naked Hunter Biden telling a prostitute that in the summer of 2018 he nearly overdosed during a drug-laden binge in Las Vegas. After coming to, a Russian woman, Hunters drug dealer, and two of the dealers associates remained in the Vegas penthouse, he said, and Hunter later discovered his laptop missing.

I think hes the one that stole my computer, Hunter told the prostitute. I think the three of them, the three guys that were like a little group. The dealer and his two guys, I took them everywhere. They have videos of me doing this. They have videos of me doing crazy f-cking sex f-cking, you know, the video posted by The Daily Mail showed Hunter saying. My computer, I had taken tons of like, just left like that cam on, Hunter continued, and somebody stole it during that period of time.

In response, the prostitute asked Hunter if he worried the Russian thieves would try to blackmail him. Yeah, in some way yeah, Hunter replied, noting his father was running for president, and that I talk about it all the time.

While BBC monitoring of Russian media reported that by Thursday all three Russian primetime TV news stations had focused on the newly released video of President Bidens son, American legacy networks and print outlets ignored the story entirely, even while reporting on the upcoming auction of Hunter Bidens artwork and concerns over influence-peddling.

Coverage of the story remained mainly limited to Fox News and conservative media outlets. While Newsweek ran a piece on the tape, the articles focus was more on how conservatives were reacting to the news than on the national security implications flowing from the video.

After providing a synopsis of The Daily Mail article, the Newsweek article pivoted, stating, A number of conservative commentators and lawmakers are discussing the Mailreport on social media. Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee shared the article and referred toprominent Democratic lawmakersinvolved in the impeachment of former PresidentDonald Trump.

Screengrabs of tweets from Huckabee, Mollie Hemingway, Nick Adams, and Liz Wheeler followed, as if the importance lay not in the national security risk revealed, but in conservatives response to the video. But as pundit and law professor Jonathan Turley noted, The Daily Mail story is major news from any standpoint. Turley continued:

Either the Presidents son admitted that Russians have blackmail material on him or the media (or others) have created a fake videotape and falsely framed Biden. One would expect, if it is the latter, that the Biden team will be announcing a lawsuit today. However, like the coverage in most major news outlets, there are only the familiar sound of crickets.

Turley is correct, but understates the significance of the video: If authentic, the video reveals national security risks extending much beyond Russians having blackmail material on the presidents son.

First, given the emails and text messages saved on the MacBook that Hunter abandoned at a Delaware repair shop, it is extremely likely the second laptop (the stolen Vegas one) provided the Russians blackmail material on Joe Biden concerning the Big Guy and the pay-to-play scandal under which the elder Biden reportedly received a 10 percent cut.

Second, given how Hunter says the computer was stolen, questions abound over whether Russian operatives had gotten close to Hunter and, if so, what else they may have learned besides what was contained on the laptop.

Third, the incident raises serious concerns about the strength of American intelligence agencies. Did our intelligence communities know of the existence of this video before the Daily Mail published it? Were they aware of the stolen laptop? Do they know who stole the laptop and whether they were Russian agents? Do they know the extent of damaging material in the hands of our adversaries? Did they brief Joe Biden and his national security team on their findings?

The potential blackmailing of Hunter Biden pales in comparison to the real national security risks revealed by the videos, yet the corrupt media couldnt care less.

That the media is not questioning the authenticity of the video indicates they both believe the videos are real and know a repeat of their performance in October 2020 wont fly in the publics eye. That time, in response to The New York Posts release of similar videos, the corrupt press and intelligence officials spun the video as misinformation long enough to squelch the story, get The New York Post de-platformed, and prop up Joe Bidens candidacy until election day.

So the only option for a press wishing to protect President Biden is to ignore the story.

Margot Cleveland is a senior contributor to The Federalist. Cleveland served nearly 25 years as a permanent law clerk to a federal appellate judge and is a former full-time faculty member and adjunct instructor at the college of business at the University of Notre Dame.The views expressed here are those of Cleveland in her private capacity.

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What To Make Of The Media Blackout Of The Latest Hunter ...