The pressure is building for NBC News’ Kristen Welker to address the ongoing scandal surrounding a laptop purportedly belonging to Hunter Biden during Thursday night’s final presidential debate as the mainstream media has essentially dismissed the story.
“This is a moment of truth for Kristen Welker and NBC News, in which they are caught between doing their job or protecting Joe Biden,” Cornell Law School professor and media critic William A. Jacobson told Fox News.
FBI IN POSSESSION OF LAPTOP ALLEGEDLY BELONGING TO HUNTER BIDEN
Pressure is building for NBC News’ Kristen Welker to address the ongoing scandal surrounding a laptop purportedly belonging to Hunter Biden during Thursday night’s final presidential debate. (Photo by: William B. Plowman/NBC)
The laptop, which was first reported by the New York Post, is reported to contain emails suggesting Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden had knowledge of, and was allegedly involved in, his son’s foreign business dealings.
But the media has bent over backward to avoid the scandal, with Twitter and Facebook each coming under fire for censoring the Post bombshell and NPR even dismissed it as a waste of time.
The former vice president has snapped at the few reporters who dared to ask him about the scandal and CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS and MSNBC have all taken heat for their lack of coverage. But millions of voters will be tuned in Thursday as Welker moderates the final presidential debate in Nashville, giving her a chance to force the issue with Biden.
“To avoid or downplay the Biden family influence-pedaling scandal would both create additional claims of media bias and eliminate Welker as a serious journalist.”
— William A. Jacobson
“To avoid or downplay the Biden family influence-peddling scandal would both create additional claims of media bias and eliminate Welker as a serious journalist,” Jacobson added.
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DePauw University professor and media critic Jeffrey McCall agrees that Welker should ask about the Hunter Biden “elephant in the room” or she would open herself up to “criticism that she’s covering” for the Democratic nominee.
“Not because of what Hunter might or might not have done, but because of what Joe Biden’s role might have been, or at least his awareness of what Hunter might have been doing,” McCall told Fox News. “The mainstream media have steered away from this story, but the internet is churning it and it is surely on the minds of some voters. This matter would fit surely into the category of leadership that Welker has on her topic list.”
Welker is choosing to focus on fighting COVID-19, issues facing American Families, race in America, climate change, national security and leadership, the Commission on Presidential Debates said earlier in October.
NBC News did not immediately respond when asked if Welker plans to ask about the controversy surrounding Hunter Biden.
RATCLIFFE SAYS HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP, EMAILS ‘NOT PART OF SOME RUSSIAN DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN’
Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe confirmed this week that the laptop “is not part of some Russian disinformation campaign,” despite Democrats and liberal pundits suggesting otherwise.
The story took another turn on Wednesday when documents obtained by Fox News and verified by multiple federal law enforcement officials suggested that the FBI’s subpoena of the laptop and hard drive came in connection with a money laundering investigation in late 2019. Much like the initial story, the money laundering investigation was largely ignored.
In a 12-hour span following the report, the words “laundering” and “launder” were not mentioned once on CNN, MSNBC, NBC, ABC or CBS, according to a search of closed caption archives.
“It would be absolutely disgraceful if Biden isn’t asked about the contents of the laptop.”
— Chris Barron
“It would be absolutely disgraceful if Biden isn’t asked about the contents of the laptop. There are emails that implicate Joe Biden and he has — to date — not denied that these emails are real and accurate,” conservative strategist Chris Barron told Fox News.
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“President Trump was asked about QAnon. If the media thinks that’s relevant then clearly the Biden emails are,” Barron said, referring to last week’s NBC News town hall event when Savannah Guthrie asked the president about the conspiracy theory.
Fox News’ Brooke Singman and Evie Fordham contributed to this report.
