Fox News Hits Back at Hunter Biden’s Legal Threats Citing ‘Constitutionally Protected Coverage’
(Sipa via AP Images)
Fox News released a statement that hits back at Hunter Biden’s legal threat, citing their “constitutionally protected coverage” of the contents revealed from his laptop of mysterious origins in October 2020.
On Monday, Biden and his legal team demanded that Fox News remove explicit images from its platforms, images that were reportedly taken from a hard drive obtained by Rudy Giuliani, personal attorney to former President Donald Trump, just weeks before the 2020 election. Many of the images are deeply embarrassing to Hunter Biden and even pornographic in nature.
Biden’s lawyers sent a letter to Fox News and Fox Corps that alleges the network is involved in a “conspiracy to defame” the son of President Joe Biden while it covered House Republicans’ efforts to impeach the latter:
The letter sent by attorneys for Hunter Biden to Fox News and FOX Corp. alleges conspiracy to defame and unlawful publication of “hacked” images, seeking corrections and retractions on air and in online articles to claims that President Biden and his son engaged in a bribery scheme abroad.
Hunter Biden’s legal team has undertaken an aggressive legal and public relations strategy for several months. His lawyers have fired off letters demanding investigations into Hunter Biden’s opponents and filed a series of lawsuits against his detractors. Hunter Biden’s lawyers say they “anticipate” suing Fox but have not yet done so.
CNN’s Dana Bash and Holmes Lybrand, reported that, at issue is a “mock trial” of Hunter Biden that aired on Fox Nation that used sexually explicit images, as well as months’ worth of coverage about the alleged bribery scheme involving Hunter and his father, which largely rested on a now-indicted FBI informant whose claims have both been debunked and linked to Russian intelligence. Biden’s lawyers claimed that these images violated revenge porn laws. They also wrote:
“[I]n a brazen show of no remorse, rather than walk back the story and correct the record, FOX double-downed on the debunked bribery allegation and used Smirnov’s indictment to claim this is an ‘intimidation tactic’ aimed at silencing ‘whistleblowers,’ to blame the FBI for its credulity, and to suggest an even deeper conspiracy,” the letter alleges.
The letter demands Fox News issue editor’s notes to online articles “informing readers of the indictment” and have several prominent Fox News hosts including Sean Hannity, Maria Bartiromo and Jesse Watters “inform their viewers on air that they have been sharing a debunked allegation from a source who has been federally indicted.”
Fox News’ statement cited its First Amendment-protected rights in what it has either broadcast, streamed, or published, noting, “Mr. Biden is a public figure who has been the subject of investigations by both the Department of Justice and Congress, has been indicted by two different US Attorney’s Offices in California and Delaware, and has admitted to multiple incidents of wrongdoing.” The statement reads in full:
Hunter Biden’s lawyers have belatedly chosen to publicly attack Fox News’ constitutionally protected coverage regarding their client. Mr. Biden is a public figure who has been the subject of investigations by both the Department of Justice and Congress, has been indicted by two different US Attorney’s Offices in California and Delaware, and has admitted to multiple incidents of wrongdoing. Consistent with the First Amendment, Fox News has accurately covered these highly publicized events as well as the subsequent indictment of an FBI informant who was the source of certain claims made about Mr. Biden.
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