Grand jury investigation into Hunter Biden over possible tax fraud
Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy details the allegations on 'Special Report'
The mainstream media appears to finally be taking Hunter Biden seriously, at least now that his father has already won the presidential election.
In the final weeks of the campaign, there was an unprecedented media blackout of the explosive reporting from the New York Post that shed light on Hunter Biden's questionable business dealings overseas. On Wednesday, the Biden-Harris transition announced that his "tax affairs" were being investigated.
“I learned yesterday for the first time that the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Delaware advised my legal counsel, also yesterday, that they are investigating my tax affairs,” Hunter Biden said in a statement. “I take this matter very seriously but I am confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately, including with the benefit of professional tax advisors.”
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A well-placed government source told Fox News that Hunter Biden is a subject/target of a grand jury investigation. According to the source, a "target" means that there is a "high probability that person committed a crime," while a "subject" is someone you "don't know for sure" has committed a crime.
The source said President-elect Biden is not a subject of any grand jury investigation at this time.
After the New York Post's reporting was dismissed and characterized by members of the media as a "baseless conspiracy theory," a "smear campaign," and "Russian disinformation," Wednesday's announcement from Hunter Biden was ultimately too much for the media to ignore.
All three major networks' evening newscasts addressed the controversy, with "NBC Nightly News" spending the most time on the subject, clocking in at roughly one minute and 16 seconds of coverage while "CBS Evening News" came in a distant second, with roughly 45 seconds of coverage, followed by ABC's "World News Tonight" with roughly just 30 seconds.
CNN anchor Jake Tapper reported the breaking news as it happened during his program, which was quite the opposite tone that he took during the election when he dismissed the allegations against Hunter Biden as "too disgusting" to repeat on-air.
Tapper's colleagues Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper also mentioned the explosive development on their shows, while CNN anchors Erin Burnett, Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon avoided the subject.
The sudden change of coverage from the anti-Trump came just days after it was revealed through leaked recordings from Project Veritas that CNN President Jeff Zucker and CNN Political Director David Chalian urged staff to avoid the New York Post's reporting on Hunter Biden during the election.
Meanwhile, MSNBC star Rachel Maddow dedicated just 80 seconds of her hourlong program on the subject but spent much of that time repeatedly claiming that the tax investigation had nothing to do with the "smear campaign" launched by Republicans during the election amid the reporting from the New York Post.
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Earlier, on that same network, "The Beat" anchor Ari Melber cast some doubt in the legitimacy of the Biden probe calling it "suspicious" after laying out what he suggested was President Trump's politicization of the Justice Department and his past calls for the Bidens to be investigated.
MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace and Brian Williams briefly addressed the Hunter Biden news on their programs, while their colleagues Joy Reid, Chris Hayes and Lawrence O'Donnell skipped over the major developments.
Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report.