Joe Biden ‘can get away with’ dismissing questions about Hunter Biden investigation: Ari Fleischer
The former White House press secretary argues the lack of media interest in the Hunter Biden story is ‘troubling.’
President-elect Joe Biden has a pony problem. While campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination, he bizarrely responded to a college student who asked why voters should believe that he could win a national election by telling her: "You’re a lying dog-faced pony soldier."
That encounter came to mind when Biden this week mocked Fox News reporter Peter Doocy, who violated a virtual news blackout by asking about the president-elect’s son Hunter. Joe Biden immediately walked off stage and then stopped and told Doocy: "Yes, yes, yes. God love you, man — you're a one-horse pony, I tell you."
Like many kids this Christmas, many voters are still angling for a pony. Joe Biden has spent months mocking the Hunter Biden story — and anyone asking about it. When CBS News reporter Bo Erickson asked Biden about his son’s scandal, Erickson drew a similar rebuke from Biden. The reporter simply asked: "Mr. Biden, what is your response to the New York Post story about your son, sir?"
JOE BIDEN MOCKS QUESTIONS ABOUT HUNTER AS MAINSTREAM MEDIA REMAINS LARGELY UNINTERESTED
Joe Biden’s response was again a personal attack: "I know you’d ask it. I have no response, it’s another smear campaign, right up your alley, those are the questions you always ask."
Biden also blew up at a question that referred by the scandal by an NBC reporter and a Fox News reporter.
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Biden’s response is just not working. Much of the media openly worked to bury the Hunter Biden scandal before the election, but the ponies keep finding their way back. The problem is when one reporter like Doocy refuses to be corralled and insists on an answer to serious questions.
A question this week was a good one. Doocy yelled out: "Mr. President-elect, do you still think that the stories from the fall about your son Hunter were Russian disinformation and a smear campaign like you said?"
Biden’s response of "yes, yes, yes" seemed to continue a discredited claim (indeed, "disinformation") put out by figures like House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who assured the public that "this whole smear on Joe Biden comes from the Kremlin."
Some 50 former intelligence officials, including President Barack Obama’s CIA Directors John Brennan and Leon Panetta, also insisted the story about material found on a laptop purported to belong to Hunter Biden was likely the work of Russian intelligence. Many cable news hosts and journalists laughed at the laptop story as fake news to justify the blackout on coverage before the election.
Then the pony showed up again. After the election, it was confirmed (as some of us discussed in columns before the election) that Hunter Biden is under federal investigation. The claim about the laptop belonging to Hunter Biden appears to be genuine. The emails appear to be genuine. And Doocy has continued to ask the obvious questions.
Joe Biden is still hoping that he can continue to mock and the media will continue to do the rest. One reporter this week did raise the scandal but only to ask if Biden discussed it with people he is considering nominating for attorney general (the campaign already said that Biden was going to allow the Justice Department to reach its own conclusions).
There are other obvious questions, including whether a key business associate of the Bidens, Tony Bobulinski, is lying. Either Bobulinski or Joe Biden is lying.
Bobulinski, who is repeatedly praised by Hunter Biden in emails and is identified as the person in control of transactions for "the family," has directly contradicted Joe Biden’s denial of any knowledge or involvement in his son’s dubious dealings.
There is a reason why Joe Biden does not just answer that question. If he calls Bobulinski a liar, Biden would be hit with a defamation lawsuit within days. He would then be forced to go under oath to answer questions.
Such depositions present their own dangers. Just ask former President Bill Clinton. So it is not a pesky pony but a sworn deposition that Biden may be trying to avoid.
The same problem exists on other questions. For example, not only were Joe Biden and his wife Jill n included as "office mates" with a controversial Chinese investor (and associate of Hunter), but emails also refer to unsecured loans going to the Biden family and shares going to "the big guy."
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The "big guy" appears to be Joe Biden. Moreover, Biden spent the election campaign denying that his son did anything wrong and made any money from China.
The question is when Joe Biden learned of the federal investigation and whether he was aware of the dealings over multimillion-dollar unsecured loans, as well as gifts like a valuable diamond to his son. Answering those questions falsely could trigger a congressional investigation and then more ponies would show up.
That is the problem with a bunker press strategy of denial and isolation. Truth, like water, has a way of coming out. Clearly many in the media will continue to be in the bag for Biden. However, horses tend to gather where the water is at.
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First, there was one pony (Doocy). Then another showed up (Erickson). Soon what you have is a herd and the threat of a stampede. Then it could be too late.
In mocking Doocy, Biden was clearly trying to say a "one-trick pony." That trick, however, was once called "journalism" back in the day when reporters doggedly demanded answers, particularly on questions like influence peddling. So many of us still hoping for ponies — and even some answers — for Christmas.
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