NPR was forced to issue a correction to its review of Hunter Biden’s memoir after the outlet falsely claimed U.S. intelligence had refuted the reports surrounding Hunter Biden’s alleged laptop.
The original review stated the laptop story, which tied President Joe Biden to his son’s overseas business dealings, had been “discredited by U.S. intelligence and independent investigations by news organizations.”
Now, the review reads: “Numerous news organizations cast doubt on the credibility of the laptop story.”
NPR also issued a correction at the bottom of the review, which says: “A previous version of this story said U.S. intelligence had discredited the laptop story. U.S. intelligence officials have not made a statement to that effect.”
Mainstream media outlets dismissed the bombshell report about Hunter Biden’s laptop as “Russian disinformation” even though there was no evidence to support that claim. President Joe Biden also claimed the report was a part of a “Russian plan.”
Intelligence officials, however, have made it clear that there is no evidence that ties the Hunter Biden laptop revelation to Russia.
“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,” John Ratcliffe, former president Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence, said last year.
In fact, in the aftermath of the bombshell report, the Justice Department reluctantly confirmed that Hunter Biden was under federal investigation related to some of the alleged crimes outlined by reporting on the laptop, including money laundering and tax fraud.
Following his father’s installment as president, Hunter also confirmed that he had been notified of an FBI probe into his business dealings.
After the contents of the abandoned laptop were discovered by a Delaware computer store owner who had taken legal possession of it, the FBI confiscated the laptop as evidence.
However, store owner John Paul Mac Isaac furnished a copy of the data to Trump campaign surrogate Rudy Giuliani when it became clear that the agency had no intention of following up on the scandal.
NPR refused to cover the laptop story at all, saying in a statement that the outlet did not “want to waste our time on stories that are not really stories.”
Why haven’t you seen any stories from NPR about the NY Post’s Hunter Biden story? Read more in this week’s newsletter➡️ https://t.co/CJesPgmGvo pic.twitter.com/jAi7PnpbZf
— NPR Public Editor (@NPRpubliceditor) October 22, 2020
Headline USA’s Ben Sellers contributed to this report.
