NPR slammed for dismissing coverage of Hunter Biden laptop scandal as a 'waste of time'
'This was … a politically driven event and we decided to treat it that way,' managing editor said
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NPR has ignored the ongoing scandal surrounding a laptop purportedly belonging to Hunter Biden ‒ which contained emails revealing his foreign business dealings, first reported by the New York Post – and the nonprofit media organization is being slammed for its attempt to explain the bombshell blackout.
NPR public editor Kelly McBride published an inquiry on the radio's website on Thursday from a listener who didn’t understand why the story has been ignored.
RATCLIFFE SAYS HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP, EMAILS 'NOT PART OF SOME RUSSIAN DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN'
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“Someone please explain why NPR has apparently not reported on the Joe Biden, Hunter Biden story in the last week or so that Joe did know about Hunter's business connections in Europe that Joe had previously denied having knowledge?” listener Carolyn Abbott asked.
NPR has ignored the scandal surrounding a laptop purportedly belonging to Hunter Biden which contained emails revealing his foreign business dealings.
McBride claimed there are “many, many red flags in that New York Post investigation” and Intelligence officials have warned “that Russia has been working overtime” to keep the story in the news.
“Even if Russia can’t be positively connected to this information, the story of how Trump associates Steve Bannon and Rudy Giuliani came into a copy of this computer hard drive has not been verified and seems suspect. And if that story could be verified, the NY Post did no forensic work to convince consumers that the emails and photos that are the basis for their report have not been altered,” McBride said before adding, “But the biggest reason you haven’t heard much on NPR about the Post story is that the assertions don’t amount to much.”
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SENATE HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE INVESTIGATING HUNTER BIDEN EMAILS
In her response to the listener, McBride included a quote by NPR managing editor Terence Samuel, who went even further.
“We don't want to waste our time on stories that are not really stories, and we don't want to waste the listeners’ and readers’ time on stories that are just pure distractions. And quite frankly, that's where we ended up, this was … a politically driven event and we decided to treat it that way,” Samuel said.
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Meanwhile, Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe on Monday said that Hunter Biden’s laptop “is not part of some Russian disinformation campaign."
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is investigating Hunter Biden’s emails which reveal that he introduced his father, the former vice president, to a top executive at Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma Holdings in 2015, among other allegations.
SOURCE ON ALLEGED HUNTER BIDEN EMAIL CHAIN VERIFIES MESSAGE ABOUT CHINESE FIRM
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“Defund NPR. American taxpayer dollars should not be out there being utilized to push false propaganda and cover up for Joe Biden’s corruption! It’s been corroborated with a third-party witness who is on the emails what a disgrace NPR has become,” Donald Trump Jr. responded.
NPR was swiftly mocked when it tweeted out the explanation for censoring the news:
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Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report.