It didn’t take long for CBS and NBC to move on from the collapse of President Joe Biden’s criminal son Hunter’s plea deal. In fact, just 24 hours after all three networks led their respective evening newscasts with the news, only ABC’s World News Tonight stuck with the story and kept their viewers in the loop about the new revelations. Including what was actually in the plea agreement, as well as details about Hunter’s shakedown of foreign governments for millions of dollars.
CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News apparently had better things to do like cover the New York City crane collapse for the second night in a row (CBS) or complain about the July summer heatwave (NBC).
Sticking with the story and performing a random act of journalism, ABC’s justice correspondent Terry Moran kept on the story for his network. He did get in the obligatory partisan labeling and crying about how Hunter was a victim.
However, Moran reported: “Hunter Biden, once again living in a legal limbo, under investigation for five years, and that plea deal negotiated for months by his lawyers and a Trump-appointed lead prosecutor now in doubt, after federal Judge Maryellen Noreika, also appointed by Trump, refused to sign off on it yesterday.”
Detailing what was in the unsealed court document, Moran was forced to highlight the millions Hunter has been paid from some of the most corrupt and tyrannical countries on the planet:
The document describes the huge sums Hunter Biden was earning from his overseas business dealings in Ukraine, China, and Romania, noting that Hunter continued to earn handsomely and spend wildly, making some $2.6 million in 2018 alone, spending almost all of it that year while in the throes of addiction. The key problem that led the judge to derail the deal, paragraph 15, immunity. Where prosecutors agree not to prosecute Biden for any federal crimes relating to the facts investigators had uncovered. When Judge Noreika asked if the President's son would be immune from prosecution for other possible crimes, including any related to his foreign business dealings, the prosecutor said no. But Biden's lawyer then threatening to "Rip up the deal." Both sides seeing their long-fought negotiations fall apart in front of their eyes in dramatic fashion. Judge Noreika insisting she wouldn't be a rubber stamp on their agreement.
Ending his report and laying out what’s next, Moran explained that “Hunter Biden wants to put all his legal problems behind him in this deal, and prosecutors, they say they're still investigating him. So, the judge has given both sides 30 days to talk, find ways to address her concerns, and forge a new deal, if they can.”
This bias by omission from CBS andNBC were made possible by Ensure on CBS, and Allstate on NBC. Their information is linked.
To read the transcript, click “expand”:
ABC’s World News Tonight
7/27/2023
6:40:35 p.m. EasternDAVID MUIR: In the meantime, we do move on now, and to Hunter Biden, of course, President Biden's son. And tonight, we have new reporting in that case, as well, from inside the federal courtroom and the collapse of that plea deal involving the President's son. Tonight, just one day after that judge raised serious questions and put it all on hold, this evening, the White House has been asked, would the President pardon his son? And their answer was swift. Here's Terry Moran.
TERRY MORAN: One day after the stunning collapse of Hunter Biden's plea deal with federal prosecutors, his father, the President, facing a stark, and now possibly relevant, question.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mr. President, are you considering pardoning your son? Are you considering pardoning your son?
MORAN: While President Biden didn't answer, the White House press secretary did.
MARK MEREDITH: Is there any possibility that the President would end up pardoning his son?
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: No.
MORAN: Hunter Biden, once again living in a legal limbo, under investigation for five years, and that plea deal negotiated for months by his lawyers and a Trump-appointed lead prosecutor now in doubt, after federal Judge Maryellen Noreika, also appointed by Trump, refused to sign off on it yesterday. Today, the terms of that deal were revealed. Politico obtaining a copy of it, and a source authenticating it for ABC. The document describes the huge sums Hunter Biden was earning from his overseas business dealings in Ukraine, China, and Romania, noting that Hunter continued to earn handsomely and spend wildly, making some $2.6 million in 2018 alone, spending almost all of it that year while in the throes of addiction. The key problem that led the judge to derail the deal, paragraph 15, immunity. Where prosecutors agree not to prosecute Biden for any federal crimes relating to the facts investigators had uncovered.
When Judge Noreika asked if the President's son would be immune from prosecution for other possible crimes, including any related to his foreign business dealings, the prosecutor said no. But Biden's lawyer then threatening to "Rip up the deal." Both sides seeing their long-fought negotiations fall apart in front of their eyes in dramatic fashion. Judge Noreika insisting she wouldn't be a rubber stamp on their agreement. Hunter Biden eventually pleading not guilty for now. So, now, it's back to the drawing board, and that may not be easy. Hunter Biden wants to put all his legal problems behind him in this deal, and prosecutors, they say they're still investigating him. So, the judge has given both sides 30 days to talk, find ways to address her concerns and forge a new deal, if they can. David?
