A letter obtained by CNN says that Hunter Biden wants Fox News to take down sexually explicit pictures that President Joe Biden’s son says are private. This is part of his plan to publicly fight back against conservative media.
Hunter Biden’s lawyers sent a letter to Fox News and FOX Corp. saying that the news outlets were involved in a plot to smear him and his son by publishing “hacked” pictures without permission. They want the articles and on-air comments about the claims that President Biden and his son were involved in a bribery scheme abroad to be corrected and taken down.
For several months, Hunter Biden’s legal team has been using a tough legal and public relations approach. His lawyers have sent letters asking for probes into Hunter Biden’s opponents and have sued those who disagree with him. Fox has not yet been sued by Hunter Biden’s lawyers, who say they “anticipate” doing so.
Some of President Biden’s political advisors were worried at first about Hunter Biden’s more aggressive plan to protect himself against the attacks. But the president has spoken out in support of his son, who is being charged with gun crimes and tax crimes in both Delaware and California. Hunter Biden has said that he is not guilty of those claims.
“Hunter Biden has been relentlessly attacked and made a caricature by Fox News for the last five years in order to boost ratings and make money for itself,” said Mark Geragos, Bryan Freedman, and Tina Glandian, Hunter Biden’s lawyers.
CNN has asked Fox News what they think about the letter.
The media outlet showed a fake trial of Hunter Biden on the streaming service Fox Nation in 2022, focusing on the unproven bribery claims. The show also included “intimate images of Mr. Biden depicting him in the nude and engaging in sex acts,” according to the letter. It demands that Fox remove the series from all streaming services right away.
“FOX knows that these private and confidential images were hacked, stolen, and/or manipulated digital material,” Hunter Biden’s lawyers wrote in the letter that included some blurred but explicit images.
Lawyers for the people who published these pictures said it was against “the majority of states’ laws against the nonconsensual disclosure of sexually explicit images and videos,” which are sometimes called “revenge porn” laws.
Hunter Biden’s lawyers also don’t like how Fox News wrote several stories about the bribery claims, using an FBI informant who was recently charged with lying to investigators about Hunter Biden and the plan.
The tipster, Alexander Smirnov, has said he is not guilty and will go to court in December.
Fox News “initially remained silent” on news of Smirnov’s indictment, according to lawyers for the president’s son, “despite the fact that this now rendered the prior reporting on these allegations highly misleading.”
“FOX then jumped on the debunked bribery claim twice, rather than taking responsibility and correcting the record, they used Smirnov’s indictment to say this is a “intimidation tactic” meant to silence “whistleblowers,” to blame the FBI for being gullible, and to suggest an even bigger plot,” the letter says.
The letter asks that Fox News add editor’s notes to online articles “informing readers of the indictment” and that several well-known Fox News hosts, such as 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.”
The GOP’s impeachment investigation into President Biden has been centered on the bribes claims. CNN says that Republicans in Congress don’t have enough votes to remove him from office.
