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2024-10-14 Government Corruption
Hunter Biden ‘laptop from hell' scandal turns 4: How media, intelligence community misled Americans
A taste.
[FoxNews] 'The real sin... was the collaboration between social media, legacy media and the intelligence community,' New York Post journalist Emma-Jo Morris says.

Hunter Biden’s scandalous laptop - falsely dismissed as Russian disinformation – became part of the American lexicon four years ago today, on October 14, 2020, kicking off a years-long scandal with big tech, corporate media and the intelligence community.

"I think that virtually every single mainstream outlet disgraced themselves," former New York Post deputy politics editor Emma-Jo Morris told Fox News Digital.

While at the New York Post, Morris first reported on Hunter Biden’s personal computer, which eventually was dubbed the "laptop from hell" by the paper’s staffers. The infamous laptop was filled with shocking videos and photos of drug use, lewd sex acts, and sensitive business communications. It was exposed by the Post only a few weeks before then-candidate Joe Biden was set to square off against then-President Trump.

In an unprecedented act of uniformed censorship, the bombshell Post report was essentially buried by Big Tech and the mainstream press, silencing an "October surprise" that many feel could have swung the election.

Twitter, claiming the story violated its terms of service on hacked materials, locked the New York Post out of its account for weeks and even blocked users from sharing the story link. MSNBC, CNN, CBS, NPR, Washington Post, The New York Times and a variety of other outlets and social media platforms either pushed the since-debunked "Russian disinformation" narrative or ignored the story altogether.

Morris, who had the lead byline on the initial bombshell report, feels the "multiple scandals" that erupted following her story forever changed the trajectory of tech and media in America.

"It definitely did change… the trajectory of the tech history because first of all, obviously, the most glaring example is that… the trust on Twitter was completely collapsed… it led Elon Musk to buy the platform," Morris said.

"Now that he has acquired Twitter, it's completely changed the ability for censors to operate because he is just not playing ball with them," she continued. "And Twitter is obviously, which was why this was so scandalous during the time of laptop censorship, Twitter is the main feeder for the rest of media."

The Russian disinformation narrative stemmed in part from an open letter penned by 51 former intel officials, several of whom endorsed Joe Biden for president that year, who declared that the laptop had "all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation." The open letter quickly went viral and was parroted by Biden supporters, including his then-future White House press secretary Jen Psaki, who is now an MSNBC host.

"These people took the word of spies and completely misled the American public, either wittingly or unwittingly. I'm not sure which one is worse," Morris said.

Biden was quick to cite the letter during a 2020 presidential debate when he called claims the laptop was authentic "a bunch of garbage" and only believed by then-President Trump and his allies.

Morris says she got into journalism to help Americans have "some sort of check on power and on tyranny," but the laptop censorship made her realize something critical. She noted the scandal was eye-opening because she realized corporate America has so much clout that tech and media companies were approached by the intelligence community to do their bidding.

"Who was the central focal point of the corruption here? It was corporations. It was Big Tech and corporate media," Morris said.

Morris, now a senior consultant for Beck & Stone, feels there was never real accountability for the people who pushed the bogus narrative that the "laptop from hell" was Russian disinformation even though people following the saga "learned so much" through investigations by journalists and Congress.

"The real sin in all of this was the collaboration between social media, legacy media and the intelligence community," Morris said.

"Nobody apologized, and I don't mean apologized… to their readers and their listeners," Morris continued. "Not a single one."

Morris’ initial Post story centered on a 2015 email from a Ukrainian energy executive to Hunter Biden, thanking him for introducing him to his father, that it had obtained from the hard drive of the laptop. Joe Biden was vice president at the time of the message, and his son then enjoyed a lucrative position on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy firm, raising concerns of an attempted influence-peddling scheme.

The laptop, which was allegedly dropped off at a repair shop in 2019 by its owner and never recovered, was absolutely authentic and has since been not only confirmed by the FBI, but also by the media that previously insisted it was Russian disinformation.

Morris feels The New York Times was the most egregious of the corporate media bad actors, because the Gray Lady dismissed it as "Russian disinformation" until subtly confirming it years later as a throwaway line buried deep in a story about Hunter Biden's taxes.
Posted by Skidmark 2024-10-14 09:43|| || Front Page|| [11150 views ]  Top

#1 We watched enough of tge debates to see which side the media is on.
Posted by Super Hose 2024-10-14 12:36||   2024-10-14 12:36|| Front Page Top

#2 Misled hell. They outright lied.
Posted by Deacon Blues 2024-10-14 12:46||   2024-10-14 12:46|| Front Page Top

#3 All the 51 “intelligence professionals “ who signed that document should have their security clearances (if any) revoked the day Trump is sworn into office.
Posted by Remoteman 2024-10-14 14:53||   2024-10-14 14:53|| Front Page Top

#4 Revoke clearances also for that 200 or so intelligence professionals who recently signed on to support Kamala Harris because Trump is icky, and probably a fascist.
Posted by trailing wife 2024-10-14 16:58||   2024-10-14 16:58|| Front Page Top

09:38 Mercutio
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