The unprecedented cover-up of Joe Biden is finally seeing the light of day. Critics of the legacy media have long accused news organizations of shielding the 46th president from bad press, particularly with regards to revelations of his family’s shady financial dealings and his cognitive decline.
As early as May 2019, efforts to cover up for Biden began, with reports of a tax lien on his son Hunter’s work at a Ukrainian energy company, Burisma, being quashed. In October 2020, The New York Post published a bombshell report on Hunter Biden’s laptop, revealing his overseas finances and potential ties to his father.
Politico reporter Marc Caputo revealed that his report on the tax lien was killed by editors with no explanation, and that his pleas to write a story about Hunter’s financial dealings were also ignored. Caputo described the situation as a “classic case of the old-school partisanship, where the mainstream press corps is doing its job to help the Democratic Party candidate.”
The media’s attempts to cover up the scandal did not stop there. In October 2020, CNN executives directed their staff to blackout the story, labeling it “Russian disinformation.” The network’s political director, David Chalian, instructed staff to “not cover the story” and “not inform our audience about it.”
Other major news outlets, such as ABC News and NPR, also refused to cover the story. ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos failed to mention the laptop during a Biden town hall, while NPR public editor Kelly McBride dismissed the story as “purely a political win” for Republicans.
The media’s lack of coverage was not limited to the Burisma scandal. When Biden’s cognitive decline became a topic of concern, the media deliberately downplayed the issue. The New York Times used the term “cheap fakes” to describe viral videos showing Biden’s struggles, while NBC News and CNN anchors dismissed the allegations as “unsubstantiated smears.”
The media’s efforts to cover up the scandal were met with widespread criticism from conservative media outlets and social media users. The hashtag #DiscreditAllMedia trended on Twitter, with many calling out the media’s bias and propaganda.
In recent months, some journalists have expressed regret over their lack of coverage of Biden’s cognitive decline. New York Times correspondent Peter Baker suggested that journalists need to “do some soul-searching” over their handling of the issue, while former CNN editor-at-large Chris Cillizza offered an “apology” for not pushing harder to question Biden’s mental health.
