Biden reportedly spoke to Hunter about China deals in leaked voicemail
Fox News contributor Joe Concha joined 'Fox & Friends First' to discuss the voicemail, the 2024 presidential election, and the November midterm elections.
The mainstream media has largely ignored a leaked voicemail President Joe Biden purportedly left for his son Hunter Biden about his overseas business dealings, maintaining that any materials that allegedly originated from his son’s now-infamous laptop would not be discussed.
President Biden has repeatedly denied discussing Hunter's business ventures with him, but on June 27, the Daily Mail first published a bombshell voicemail that many feel contradicts previous claims.
"Hey pal, it’s Dad. It’s 8:15 on Wednesday night. If you have a chance give me a call. Nothing urgent—I just wanted to talk with you," Biden is heard saying in a voicemail from 2018. "I thought the article released online, it’s going to be printed tomorrow in the Times, was good. I think you’re clear."
President Joe Biden purportedly left for his son Hunter Biden about his overseas business dealings, maintaining that any materials that allegedly originated from his son’s now-infamous laptop would not be discussed. (Andrew Harnik-Pool/Getty Images)
The article Biden was referring to was published by the New York Times in December 2018 and reported a private meeting between the chairman of a now-defunct Chinese energy company, CEFC, and Hunter at a Miami hotel in May 2017.
CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC and CBS all ignored the story from June 27 through the morning of July 7, according to a review of transcripts conducted by Fox News Digital.
On June 28, the conservative Media Research Center scolded network newscasts for not covering the initial report on the day it was published.
"The voicemail is a veritable smoking gun but ABC, CBS and NBC have yet to report on the latest bombshell development," MRC director of media analysis Geoffrey Dickens wrote. "It’s a stunning revelation that ABC, CBS and NBC have yet to air on any of their evening or morning shows, because they are so in the tank for the Biden administration."
The blackout has continued, and the story has received little attention, even online.
The New York Times has not mentioned Hunter since May 14, according to a search of its website. The Washington Post has not covered the latest in the story, either, according to a search.
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White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked Tuesday why there was a voicemail of President Biden speaking to his son about his business dealings if he has repeatedly said he has never spoken to his son about his ventures.
"Well, first, I’ll say that what the president said stands," Jean-Pierre said. "So, if he, if that’s what the president said, that, that is what stands."
When pressed further, Jean-Pierre said she was "not going to talk about alleged materials from the laptop" from the podium.
When asked by Fox News if she was disputing that it was, in fact, Biden’s voice on the voicemail, Jean-Pierre said: "I’m not going to talk about alleged materials on the laptop."
Biden administration officials and those in the president’s camp have long cast materials that came from the laptop purportedly belonging to Hunter Biden as disinformation, but intelligence community officials have said, as far back as October 2020, that neither the laptop nor materials on it are part of any sort of disinformation campaign. (RMBI / BACKGRID)
Afterwards, the New York Post editorial board mocked the situation with a piece headlined, "Compliant media can’t protect Hunter Biden forever."
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"If a press secretary ‘no comments’ a story away, does it make a sound? Apparently not — if the media are compliant enough," the editorial board wrote, noting that Jean-Pierre declined to talk about "the laptop" when pressed by Fox News’ Peter Doocy.
"Of course she won’t. After all, such stonewalling has worked since October 2020, when Joe and Hunter cast vague aspersions on the New York Post’s laptop reporting without ever denying its authenticity. They knew it was real, but by dropping "alleged" and ‘Russian disinformation!,’ reporters had an excuse to ignore it," the editorial board wrote. "Of course, this strategy only succeeds if enough of the press cooperates. And true to form, no one from the Times, Politico, CNN, MSNBC, Washington Post, et al. bothered to follow up Doocy’s questions."
This is far from the first time prominent media outlets have avoided bombshell stories related to Hunter.
In November 2021 it was revealed that an investment firm, of which Hunter is touted as a founder, helped a Chinese company known as China Molybdenum purchase a lucrative cobalt and copper mine from American company Freeport-McMoran. The $2.65-billion deal was struck in 2016 while President Biden was vice president.
Chinese business records reviewed by Fox News in April 2021 showed that Hunter continued to hold a 10% stake in Chinese private equity firm Bohai Harvest RST (BHR) Equity Investment Fund Management Co. through Hunter's company, Skaneateles LLC, despite Hunter’s lawyer claiming otherwise.
According to transcripts, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS and NBC aired zero coverage of the story. Only The New York Times covered it.
Hunter Biden, left, the son of President Joe Biden, holds his son, Beau Biden, and waves to people in the audience during the White House Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House, Monday, April 18, 2022. ((AP Photo/Andrew Harnik))
In an email dated Jan. 3, 2017, and sent to Hunter and his business associates Devon Archer and Jim Bulger, CEO of BHR Jonathan Li asked for help getting his son into Brown, Cornell, and New York University.
Soon after, Joe Biden purportedly wrote a college recommendation letter for the son of the Chinese executive.
The email correspondences were found by Fox News Digital on the laptop belonging to Hunter, another bombshell story the media dismissed.
Over an 18-month period, ABC, CBS, and NBC spent only 25 minutes discussing the story, and when they were, they called it Russian "misinformation."
CNN’s top bosses were also caught on leaked audiotapes choosing to initially forego coverage of the laptop.
Biden administration officials and those in the president’s camp have long cast materials that came from the laptop purportedly belonging to Hunter Biden as disinformation, which was parroted by the media. However, intelligence community officials have said, as far back as October 2020, that neither the laptop nor materials on it are part of any sort of disinformation campaign.
Since then NBC News, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Politico have all acknowledged the laptop was indeed legitimate and belonged to Hunter.
Fox News Digital reached out to CNN, MSNBC, NBC, ABC, CBS, The New York Times and Washington Post for comment on why the story was ignored but did not immediately hear back from any of them.
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Fox News’ Brooke Singman and Peter Doocy contributed to this report.
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