NPR issued a correction on Thursday after falsely reporting Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop was “discredited by U.S. intelligence and independent investigations by news organizations.”
The now-edited, inaccurate claim was part of a review of Hunter Biden’s memoir, “Beautiful Things,” in which the president’s son details his past as an alcoholic and a crack addict, Fox News reported.
“A previous version of this story said U.S. intelligence had discredited the laptop story. U.S. intelligence officials have not made a statement to that effect,” the NPR correction stated.
The notorious laptop, first reported on by the New York Post, reportedly contains emails revealing details of his foreign business interests, including contacts in Ukraine and China, along with a series of unflattering photos of the president’s son.
NPR senior editor and correspondent Ron Elving initially wrote, “The laptop story was discredited by U.S. intelligence and independent investigations by news organizations.”
NPR issued the correction after critics blasted the nonprofit media organization for the false statement.
The updated version of the NPR story said, “Numerous news organizations cast doubt on the credibility of the laptop story.”
Fox News learned last year the FBI and Justice Department officials concur with an assessment from Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe that the laptop is not part of a Russian disinformation campaign targeting then-Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
Last year, Ratcliffe said Hunter Biden’s laptop and the emails on it were “not part of some Russian disinformation campaign,” despite claims from House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif.
“Let me be clear: the intelligence community doesn’t believe that because there is no intelligence that supports that,” Ratcliffe said. “And we have shared no intelligence with Adam Schiff, or any member of Congress.”
Ratcliffe went on to say it was “simply not true.”
Hunter Biden confirmed late last year that he is under federal investigation for his “tax affairs” surrounding his overseas business dealings. The FBI has since been in possession of his laptop, Law Officer reported.
Big tech notoriously suppressed sharing of the New York Post’s original story about Hunter Biden’s laptop last year, in an unprecedented example of social media censorship. The news organization’s Twitter account was famously shut down for several weeks.
The computer repairman who went public with the sordid contents of the laptop’s hard drive filed a lawsuit against Twitter for defamation — claiming its content moderation unfairly branded him a “hacker.” The civil action was filed in December, 2020, Law Officer reported.
