Fox Nation: Who is Hunter Biden? Part 3 - Episode 2 & 3
Unpacking more of the crazy nonsense your Fox-loving uncle mutters about Hunter Biden.
This article is part of a series.
“Fox Nation: Who is Hunter Biden Part 1 episodes 1-2” can be found here.
“Fox Nation: Who is Hunter Biden Part 1 episodes 3-5” can be found here.
“Fox Nation: Who is Hunter Biden Part 2 episodes 1-5,” can be found here.
“Fox Nation: Who is Hunter Biden Part 3 episode 1,” can be found here.
Episode 2 - Intelligence Failure - Aired 1/30/23
This episode mainly focuses on the letter that was signed by 51 former intelligence agents who said that the Hunter Biden laptop story had all the earmarks of Russian disinformation.
The letter was published on October 19th, 2020.
The first article about the Hunter Biden laptop was published by the New York Post on October 14th, 2020.
The language used in the letter is quite specific and not definitive. The intelligence experts didn’t make any claims they could not back up.
At the time the letter was written the former agents knew the following.
The New York Post had a copy of a hard drive from a laptop, not the laptop itself.
The New York Post has a somewhat sketchy reputation. It’s known as a right-leaning tabloid and is owned by News Corp the same company that owns Fox News.
Rudy Giuliani was the source of the hard drive. He was working directly for Trump at the time so he was hardly unbiased.
The timing of the release of the hard drive was suspect as it was extremely close to an election.
The FBI allegedly had the laptop for months and hadn’t issued any statement about it.
The origin story of the laptop seemed a bit fantastical - Hunter Biden dropped off a computer for repair at a small shop and never picked it up. The computer repair shop owner was an eccentric character who claimed he couldn’t identify Hunter Biden because he was legally blind yet insisted he could still repair computers.
The laptop contained embarrassing photos that involved sexual encounters and illegal drug abuse. The Russian government has been known to secretly collect compromising images and video for use of blackmail in a practice called kompromat, the Russian word for compromising materials.
Fox News Experts
Miranda Devine - NY Post - Columnist and writer. The NY Post is owned by the same parent company that owns Fox News. She is also the author of “Laptop from Hell: Hunter Biden, Big Tech, and the Dirty Secrets the President Tried to Hide,” Devine is originally from Australia and has always approached stories with a strong conservative bias.
She’s been criticized for having anti-LGBTQ, anti-environmental and racist views. The Guardian accused her of promoting the white genocide conspiracy theory.
Devine was sued for defamation after she claimed, in a series of tweets, that Quaden Bayles, an Indigenous boy with achondroplasia dwarfism, was actually an adult actor pretending to be an abused child. In the video Bayles is crying after being bullied at school. Devine alleged the video was faked as some type of scam. Quaden’s mother, Yarraka sued Devine and was ultimately awarded close to $200,000 in a settlement. Devine apologized publicly to the family in a Tweet on her personal account.
Josh Boshwell - Dailymail - A British journalist based in Los Angeles. He’s a frequent guest on Fox News.
Kellyanne Conway - Fox News contributor, formerly Senior Counselor to President Trump. Conway is a political consultant and pollster. She was the first woman to run a successful presidential campaign.
She’s probably best known for the use of the phrase “alternative facts,” to describe completely fabricated numbers for the audience at Trump’s inauguration ceremony.
She also spoke about the “Bowling Green Massacre,” which is an event involving Islamic terrorism that pulled completely from her imagination.
Members of Congress from both parties called for an investigation into ethics violations after Conway publicly endorsed Ivanka Trump’s clothing and jewelry line, even jokingly calling it a commercial for the brand. In June 2019, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel recommended that Conway be fired for "unprecedented" multiple violations of the Hatch Act of 1939.
Since 2022 she’s been a Fox News contributor and often co-hosts “Outnumbered,” as well as “The Five.”
Bryon York - Washington Examiner - York is a highly partisan journalist who has worked for a number of conservative publications. He’s best known for his book about George W. Bush, The Vast Left Wing Conspiracy: The Untold Story of How Democratic Operatives, Eccentric Billionaires, Liberal Activists, and Assorted Celebrities Tried to Bring Down a President—and Why They'll Try Even Harder Next Time.
John Paul Mac Isaac - Owner of The MacShop the computer repair shop where Hunter Biden allegedly dropped off his laptop for repair and never returned to retrieve it. Mac Isaac ended up giving the laptop to the FBI and then a copy of its contents to Robert Costello, Rudy Giuliani’s personal lawyer.
Mac Isaac is legally blind due to albinism. He is known for wearing a green balmoral cap,
K. Gus Dimitrelos - former Secret Service agent and cyber forensics expert. Certified in US Federal Court as a Digital Evidence Forensic Expert, Dimitrelos has assisted the FBI, ATF, DEA, ICE and the U.S. Secret Service with digital investigations, conducting computer / cellular forensics and reconstructing historical cellular data. He is probably the most qualified person I’ve seen on anything on Fox News regarding Hunter Biden.
Jerry Dunleavy - Washington Examiner - Justice Department reporter. Before working for the Washington Examiner, Dunleavy worked for Judicial Watch a right-wing conservative activism group that targets Democrats. Judicial Watch has made a number of false claims involving voter fraud and other conspiracy theories. The organization has also been linked to the Oath Keepers, one of the militia groups whose leaders were found guilty of seditious conspiracy for their role on the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6th.
Dunleavy was also a volunteer and state coordinator for Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign. He has a BA in Psychology, Political Science and Security and Intelligence.
Rep. James Comer (R-KY) - Chair of the House Oversight Committee. Comer has stopped investigations into former President Donald J. Trump and his family while aggressively investigating the Biden family.
When classified documents were found at one of President Biden’s homes, Comer demanded a visitor log for the residence. When classified documents were found at Mar-a-Lago during an FBI search, Comer had no interest in seeking visitor logs to the publicly accessible club.
In March 2023, Comer confirmed that he had ended a House investigation into Trump's financial dealings. Trump's former accounting company, Mazars USA, had been turning over documents as part of a court-supervised settlement. The investigation was to see how Trump may have profited from his role as president.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), also a member of the Oversight Committee, accused Comer of working with Trump’s lawyers to kill the investigation. Comer said he "didn’t even know who or what Mazars was" and that he was instead investigating "money the Bidens received from China.
Intelligence Failure - The Introduction
Fox continues to pivot its focus on this scandal. In this episode the filmmakers focus on the letter written by 51 former intelligence experts that cast doubt on the legitimacy of the Hunter Biden laptop story.
The episode starts with Judge Jeanine Pirro looking directly into the camera while standing in front of a giant image of Hunter Biden’s face.
“In our last episode, we revealed how the FBI and big tech worked to shut down the Hunter Biden laptop story. Now we turn to a group of former intelligence officials, 51 of them, who helped that effort by releasing a letter stating the laptop had all the classic earmarks of Russian disinformation. That letter allowed the media to continue to ignore the New York Post's scoop,” said Pirro.
Tony Bobulinkski - The Source Who Has No evidence.
Tony Bobulinski is introduced again as a key witness who can destroy the Biden family.
Tony Bobulinski - A business associate of Hunter Biden. He’s allegedly an extremely important character but Fox News has been inconsistent regarding how much he is featured in this story.
Bobulinski is the CEO of Sinohawk Holdings and a retired U.S. Navy lieutenant.According to reporting by the Wall Street Journal, Sinohawk Holdings attempted to form a new venture with CEFC, a Chinese energy company but the deal fell through. No money was exchanged between the two companies.
The Wall Street Journal also reported that James Biden (Joe’s brother), Hunter Biden and two other associates were part of the proposed deal but Joe Biden was not.
Since 2020 Bobulinski has claimed he has proof from 2017 that Joe Biden was working with his son on deal with a CEFC.
Bobulinski has insisted that incriminating evidence exists in emails, text messages and audio recordings that then private citizen Joe Biden was an integral part of Hunter Biden’s business in China. Other business partners of Hunter have disputed Bobulinski’s claims as has President Biden.
Bobulinski appears on Fox News and other right-wing media outlets often repeating this accusation. He has also stated that he tried to testify in the grand jury investigation led by federal prosecutor David Weiss but was ignored and that the FBI also doesn’t want to speak to him.
In 2020 Bobulinski handed over some of his records to the Wall Street Journal and Fox News and both said his documentation did not show Joe Biden had business dealings with SinoHawk Holdings or took money from the Chinese company. The New York Times also came to the same conclusion.
In the Wall Street Journal “Hunter Biden’s Ex-Business Partner Alleges Father Knew About Venture,” October 23, 2020, the sub headline reads as follows,
“Former vice president says he had no involvement; corporate records reviewed by The Wall Street Journal show no role for Joe Biden.”
According to reporting by the Wall Street Journal this is what the WSJ found.
The venture between Hunter Biden and CEFC was set up in 2017 when his father was no longer Vice President and was not a candidate for president.
No funds were exchanged as the deal fell apart.
The Wall Street Journal found no role for Joe Biden in the documents Bobulinski gave them.
Text messages and emails supplied by Bobulinski also showed no role for Joe Biden in this business venture.
James Gillar, a British national who was a partner in this proposed deal made the following statement to the WSJ. “I would like to clear up any speculation that former Vice President Biden was involved with the 2017 discussions about our potential business structure. I am unaware of any involvement at anytime of the former Vice President. The activity in question never delivered any project revenue.”
Trump’s 60 Minute appearance - October 26th, 2020
Fox Nation included an un-aired portion of Trump’s interview with Lesley Stahl. The clip doesn’t show much except Stahl repeatedly saying that the laptop and its contents could not be verified.
Outrageous Claims of Election Interference
As dramatic violin music played underneath his statement, Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) described what he called election interference.
“Fifty-one former intelligence officials engaged in their own information operation. One of them wrote said this. You know, this laptop has all the earmarks of a Russian information operation. They had no evidence whatsoever with that letter interfered in our election to a far greater extent than anything Russia or China ever could hope to accomplish,” said Johnson.
The filmmakers cut to a clip from one of the presidential debates between Trump and Biden.
“If this is true about Russia, Ukraine, China, other countries, Iraq. If this is true, then he's a corrupt politician. So don't give me this stuff about how you're this innocent baby. Joe, they're calling you a corrupt politician. . . (as Trump shouted over the moderator) it’s on the laptop from hell, the laptop from hell.” said Trump.
Biden responded.
“There are 50 former national intelligence folks who said that what this he's accusing me of is a Russian plan. They have said that this is has all the four or five former heads of the CIA. Both parties say what he's saying is a bunch of garbage. Nobody believes it except his and his good friend Rudy Giuliani,” said Biden.
The filmmakers then include a screenshot of headlines from other media companies confirming the authenticity of at least some portions of the laptop.
Senator Johnson repeats an assumption promoted in right-wing circles.
“I mean, you've seen the polls. It had Joe Biden voters knowing about that potential corruption. Enough of them would not have voted for Joe Biden and Joe Biden would not be president today. The poll showed that if Biden voters had known about the Hunter Biden laptop and by extension Joe Biden and Hunter Biden's involvement, they would have changed their vote,” said Johnson
The poll Johnson referenced is often cited on Fox News. It was conducted by the Media Research Center, a highly partisan media watchdog group.
According to Influence Watch, Media Research Center is currently funded by numerous major Republican and conservative donors, including Robert Mercer’s Mercer Family Foundation, the Sarah Scaife Foundation, and Donors Trust/Donors Capital Fund.
The Filmmakers Go Back to The Twitter Files
False and misleading claims made in this episode.
Twitter was paid millions by the FBI - This statement is factually correct but it’s presented in a misleading way. Twitter was reimbursed for processing of legal requests for user information. Federal law allows companies to seek compentation for complying with government requests for information.
Twitter finally admits the company made a mistake. The filmmakers present this as a new development. The New York Post published its first article about Hunter Biden’s laptop on October 16, 2020. Two days later, Jack Dorsey, then the CEO and founder of Twitter, publicly acknowledged that it was a mistake to suppress the Hunter Biden story. Dorsey has remained consistent on this issue.
Huge Flaws in the Claims in this Episode.
Since the laptop was given to the FBI then disseminated through the press, no credible evidence has linked Hunter Biden or his father to any financial crimes. Fragments from emails and other correspondence that reference “The Big Guy,” have been attributed to President Biden but there’s no direct links.
The only evidence of crimes on the laptop include video of the solicitation of prostitutes and possession of crack cocaine. These crimes are unlikely to be prosecuted given the fact that the drug use and the solicitation occurred several years ago in multiple jurisdictions. President Biden did not play a role in his son’s interaction with sex workers or his drug use.
When the laptop was given to the FBI Donald J. Trump was the chief executive. The filmmakers try to blur the lines between the Biden campaign and the Biden administration but Joe Biden didn’t take office until January 2021.
Trump was president when Twitter decided to suppress the Hunter Biden laptop story for 24 hours.
Trump was president when 51 former intelligence experts signed a letter stating they thought the laptop had all the earmarks of a Russian disinformation campaign.
Biden’s Classified Documents
Fox Nation then brings up how classified documents were found at Biden’s home. The filmmakers try to link the documents to Hunter Biden despite even knowing the nature of the documents.
Hunter Biden did list his father’s residence as his home on a number of documents in 2017 but Fox Nation neglects to mention that he was going through a divorce at the time. His ex-wife filed for divorce in 2016 and the divorce was finalized in 2017 when Hunter Biden listed his father’s address as his own on a number of financial documents.
According to Hunter’s ex-wife Kathleen Buhle in her memoir “If We Break,” the properties owned by Hunter Biden were underwater in terms of mortgage debt so everything was sold during the dissolution of the marriage.
The Letter - 51 Intelligence Former Intelligence Agents and the Hunter Biden Laptop
The filmmakers also included media clips of John Ratcliffe, former director of national intelligence during the Trump administration. Ratcliffe said he didn’t agree with the 51 intelligence professionals who signed the letter saying the laptop had all the earmarks of Russian propaganda.
Public Statement on the Hunter Biden Emails
October 19, 2020
We are all individuals who devoted significant portions of our lives to national security. Some of us served in senior positions in policy departments and agencies, and some of us served in senior positions in the Intelligence Community. Some of us were political appointees, and some were career officials. Many of us worked for presidents of both political parties.
We are all also individuals who see Russia as one of our nation’s primary adversaries. All of us have an understanding of the wide range of Russian overt and covert activities that undermine U.S. national security, with some of us knowing Russian behavior intimately, as we worked to defend our nation against it for a career. A few of us worked against Russian information operations in the United States in the last several years.
Perhaps most important, each of us believes deeply that American citizens should determine the outcome of elections, not foreign governments. All of us agree with the founding fathers’ concern about the damage that foreign interference in our politics can do to our democracy.
It is for all these reasons that we write to say that the arrival on the U.S. political scene of emails purportedly belonging to Vice President Biden’s son Hunter, much of it related to his time serving on the Board of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma, has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.
We want to emphasize that we do not know if the emails, provided to the New York Post by President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, are genuine or not and that we do not have evidence of Russian involvement -- just that our experience makes us deeply suspicious that the Russian government played a significant role in this case.
If we are right, this is Russia trying to influence how Americans vote in this election, and we believe strongly that Americans need to be aware of this.
There are a number of factors that make us suspicious of Russian involvement.
Such an operation would be consistent with Russian objectives, as outlined publicly and recently by the Intelligence Community, to create political chaos in the United States and to deepen political divisions here but also to undermine the candidacy of former Vice President Biden and thereby help the candidacy of President Trump. For the Russians at this point, with Trump down in the polls, there is incentive for Moscow to pull out the stops to do anything possible to help Trump win and/or to weaken Biden should he win. A “laptop op” fits the bill, as the publication of the emails are clearly designed to discredit Biden.
Such an operation would be consistent with some of the key methods Russia has used in its now multiyear operation to interfere in our democracy – the hacking (via cyber operations) and the dumping of accurate information or the distribution of inaccurate or misinformation. Russia did both of these during the 2016 presidential election – judgments shared by the US Intelligence Community, the investigation into Russian activities by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and the entirety (all Republicans and Democrats) on the current Senate Intelligence Committee.
Such an operation is also consistent with several data points. The Russians, according to media reports and cybersecurity experts, targeted Burisma late last year for cyber collection and gained access to its emails. And Ukrainian politician and businessman Adriy Derkach, identified and sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department for being a 10-year Russian agent interfering in the 2020 election, passed purported materials on Burisma and Hunter Biden to Giuliani.
Our view that the Russians are involved in the Hunter Biden email issue is consistent with two other significant data points as well. According to the Washington Post, citing four sources, “U.S. intelligence agencies warned the White House last year that Giuliani was the target of an influence operation by Russian intelligence.”
In additon, media reports say that the FBI has now opened an investigation into Russian involvement in this case. According to USA Today, “...federal authori<es are investigating whether the material supplied to the New York Post by Rudy Giuliani...is part of a smoke bomb of disinformation pushed by Russia.”
We do not know whether these press reports are accurate, but they do suggest concern within Executive Branch departments and agencies that mirrors ours. It is high time that Russia stops interfering in our democracy.
Signed by,
Due to space I cannot include all of the signatures on this letter but you can find them here.
Two of the people who signed the intelligence letter received appointments in the Biden administration.
Episode 3 - Sins of the Father - Aired 1/30/23
This episode is by far the weakest in the entire series. The filmmakers attempt to make a pivot to link everything they believe is incriminating towards Hunter Biden and connect it to his father.
This installment also aired right as the Republican Party took over the House with a slim majority. Although Judge Jeanine Pirro predicted huge developments would come from a series of aggressive investigations not much as happened.
Judge Jeanine Pirro introduced “Sins of the Father” with her usual battle-axe delivery.
“A lot of people have worked hard to prevent America from learning exactly who Hunter Biden is. But now that Republicans have taken control of the House, they have the power of subpoena. So we may be on the verge of finding out more. There is much at stake, not just for Hunter, but for his father, Joe, The FBI, those 51 intelligence officials and who knows who else,” said Pirro.
Fox News Experts
Miranda Devine - NY Post
Josh Boshwell - Dailymail
Kellyanne Conway - Fox News contributor, formerly Senior Counselor to President Trump.
Bryon York - Washington Examiner
John Paul Mac Isaac - Owner of The MacShop the computer repair shop where Hunter Biden allegedly dropped off his laptop for repair and never returned to retrieve it.
K. Gus Dimitrelos - former Secret Service agent and cyber forensics expert.
Jerry Dunleavy - Washington Examiner
Rep. James Comer (R-KY)
Chaos in the House
The filmmakers include a quick recap of the comically chaotic process the GOP went through to elect Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House.
What if?
Nearly everything in this portion of the series are these so called experts proposing what they might find in the Congressional investigation.
Byron York summed it up perfectly.
“What we found out from the Hunter Biden situation is that it could be that his son was out there trading on his name, making lots of money and using some of it to help support his father, the poorest man in Congress in the 118th Congress,” said York.
York basically said that despite investigations into Hunter Biden’s business dealing that started during the Trump administration there’s still no actual evidence that links President Biden. The best York can muster is “it could be.”
Josh Boswell basically says the same thing.
“What does that mean? That means we're going to get hopefully, bank records. We're going to get communications. We're going to get on record under oath, testimony from many of the key people involved in some of these companies, in some of these allegedly corrupt and illegal business transactions,” said Boswell.
A Summary of Everything Revealed So Far
The filmmakers basically rehash everything mentioned in previous episodes. They put a lot of focus on CEFC. It’s been well established that the multi-million dollar scheme fell through. In 2020 the Wall Street Journal verified that no money was exchanged with the failed venture.
The Infamous Voicemail
The same voicemail President Biden made to his son is played again as if it is new evidence. This voicemail was first reported by the NY Post in June 2022.
“Hey pal, it’s Dad. It’s 8:15 on Wednesday night. If you get a chance, just give me a call. Nothing urgent. I just wanted to talk to you. I thought the article released online, it’s going to be printed tomorrow in the Times, was good. I think you’re clear. And anyway if you get a chance, give me a call, I love you,” said Biden.
The voicemail was left in December 2018. Joe Biden was referring to an article in The NY Times that explored a possible connection between Hunter Biden and Ye Jianming, a Chinese businessman who founded CEFC who was in Chinese custody when the article was published.
The article didn’t include much about Hunter Biden except that he met with Ye shortly before Ye’s business partner Patrick Ho was arrested on allegations that he had bribed African officials.
The New York Times also linked Ye to a few prominent Republicans, Columbia University, and the Clinton Foundation. CEFC also owned a $5 million apartment on the 78th floor of Trump Tower.
At the time the article in the Times was published Ye had been arrested by Chinese authorities and CEFC was deeply in debt. Absolutely nothing in the article linked Hunter Biden to any wrongdoing or crimes.
New Character - Jackie Bao
The filmmakers introduce a Chinese woman named Jackie Bao who worked as a secretary for Hunter Biden at some point and then immediately state that she has not been implicated in any crime.
Suspicious Activity Reports
Fox News has tried to make a lot out of the fact that regulators issued 150 suspicious activity reports (SARS) for transactions involving Hunter Biden.
Suspicious transactions are any event within a financial institution that could be possibly related to fraud, money laundering, terrorist financing, or other illegal activities. Suspicious transactions are flagged to be investigated, but many suspicious transactions are simply false positives.
In 2022 over 3.6 million SARS were filed by regulators, a 57% increase from 2019. The number of SARS is expected to increase in 2023. Only about 4% of SARS result in any follow-up by law enforcement.
In the film Rep. Comer claims Biden changed the rules regarding Congressional access to SARS but the House Oversight and Accountability Committee was granted access to any SARS related to Hunter Biden in March 2023.
Chinese Energy Executives Met with Biden in the White House in 2014
The filmmakers referenced an article in the DailyMail about an meeting in the White House between President Biden and executives from Wanxiang, a Chinese energy company in 2014.
This connection is messy and complicated as Wanxiang is quite large and had various business ventures in the United States. The DailyMail doesn’t actually indicate a direct connection with Hunter Biden and an investment in the company. A client of Rosemont Seneca Global Advisors partnered with Wanxiang.
Hunter bought an EV car that was manufactured by Fisker in 2012, a company that Wanxiang later purchased. In 2014 Fisker went bankrupt and Hunter couldn’t find anyone to service his car. Soon after the White House visit an executive with Wanxiang offered to fix it and then invited him to visit the company.
Wanxiang is linked to an automotive parts supplier and solar panels manufacturer in the United States. In 2012 the company bought A123, a bankrupt auto battery company that received a loan as part of the Obama administration’s efforts to boost electric car production.
The DailyMail presented this connection as a damning story that proved corruption on the part of then Vice President Joe Biden but it doesn’t seem like much.
Coming up…
Fox Nation came out with “Who is Hunter Biden? Part 4” along with an additional episode of “Who is Hunter Biden LIVE.” I’ve already captured every episode and plan to go through everything. This is the never-ending story. I’m also planning on doing more the the “Tucker Carlson Today,” series which includes over 200 episodes. So far I’ve captured over half.
Very interesting!
Republicans will still be accusing Hunter Biden long after he’s gone.