Most importantly, there's no word yet on whether the Biden team and their media allies (ranging from CNN to The New York Times) will continue to argue this investigation is part of a Russian disinformation effort.
But when it came to the network evening newscasts, ABC and CBS couldn't be bothered to each give it even a minute's time or even allude to the efforts by those such as the New York Post and Tucker Carlson to expose his dealings in China.
ABC's World News Tonight threw together only 29 seconds on Hunter as part of a much larger report fawning over President-Elect Joe Biden's selection of Lloyd Austin to run the Defense Department.
Anchor David Muir noted a "developing headline involving Hunter Biden" in a tease and later shifted gears from Austin to Hunter at the tail end of ABC correspondent Mary Bruce's report by inviting her to speak about "news....involving the President-Elect's son."
An ever-loyal Biden flack, Bruce downplayed it by summarizing it as a probe "over his taxes" with "specifics" "unknown."
After touting Hunter's insistence that he did nothing wrong, Bruce concluded: "Sources tonight tell us that this investigation began in 2018, well before Joe Biden launched his candidacy."
Given how ABC couldn't dare to speak ill of China due to parent company Disney's business dealings there, one isn't entirely surprised.
The CBS Evening News gave the Hunter investigation 43 seconds, but it wasn't much better. Anchor Norah O'Donnell similarly downplayed the revelation, saying that the Lloyd "announcement comes as Mr. Biden's son, Hunter Biden, revealed that the U.S. Attorney in Delaware is investigating his taxes."
Political correspondent Ed O'Keefe both opened and ended his Biden report with esoteric summations of what Hunter could have been up to and how Biden was "proud of" him:
Hunter Biden's admission today that his tax affairs are under investigation comes as CBS News learned the FBI has been looking into the younger Biden's financial records since 2018. Hunter Biden said it will be proven he asked legally and appropriately while aides to his father said he is "proud of his son" who emerged stronger after enduring "vicious personal attacks" by Republicans during the campaign.Talk about a lack of journalistic curiosity there, Ed.
(....)
On that Hunter Biden investigation, CBS News has learned that law enforcement didn't actively pursue the case in the weeks leading up to November 3rd. Keeping with Justice department policy of mostly freezing political-sensitive cases leading up to Election Day, but now clearly the case is active again.
Though nowhere close to anything resembling real journalism and lacking any mea culpa for having refused to cover this story for years, NBC Nightly News was able to at least spend an entire segment talking about Hunter over 79 seconds.
"As President-Elect Joe Biden moves forward with his transition, tonight there is new scrutiny of his son Hunter. A federal investigation involving his taxes," anchor Lester Holt said in his lead-in to White House correspondent Kristen Welker's story.
However, Welker refused to concede President Trump's "attacks" were legitimate or utter Bobulinski's name:
WELKER: Tonight, President-Elect Joe Biden's son Hunter revealing he is under federal investigation by the U.S. Attorney's office in Delaware for his taxes. In a statement, the younger Biden saying: "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 advisers." Hunter Biden's business dealings in Ukraine and China while his father was vice president were the target of attacks by President Trump during the campaign.So with the liberal networks largely refusing to go into any specifics over the last few months about what Hunter Biden has been up to in his adult life or continually speak ill of their beloved China, it was no surprise that ABC, CBS, and NBC decided to do the bare minimum and hope that viewers take their medicine and move on.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Where's Hunter?
WELKER: In 2019, President Trump was impeached for pressuring the president of Ukraine to investigate the Bidens but was ultimately acquitted. Hunter Biden denying any wrongdoing. I pressed Joe Biden in the final presidential election. [TO BIDEN] [on 10/22/20] In retrospect, was anything about those relationships inappropriate or unethical?
JOE BIDEN [on 10/22/20]: Not one single solitary thing was out of line. Not a single thing.
WELKER: Tonight, a spokesperson saying Biden's deeply proud of his son. The Justice Department declining to comment.
Thankfully, more than a few Americans know better.
This latest act of media deference toward the Biden family was made possible by advertisers such as Dove (on ABC), Google (on NBC), and TD Ameritrade (on CBS). Follow the links to the MRC's Conservatives Fight Back page.
Comment: For full transcripts of the ABC's World News Tonight with David Muir, CBS Evening News with Norah O'Donnell, NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt reports, see the original article.
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