Psaki won’t defend claim Post’s Hunter Biden laptop scoop was ‘Russian plant’
White House press secretary Jen Psaki didn’t even bother trying to defend her past claim that The Post’s reporting on Hunter Biden’s laptop was “Russian disinformation” after the New York Times belatedly verified emails from the cache.
Psaki was pressed Thursday at her regular briefing about her own misleading remarks and those of then-candidate Joe Biden.
“The New York Times has authenticated emails that appear to have come from a laptop abandoned by Hunter Biden in Delaware,” began RealClearPolitics reporter Philip Wegmannn. “The president previously said that the New York Post story about this was ‘a bunch of garbage‘ and that it was a ‘Russian plant.’ Does he stand by that assessment?”
Psaki deflected without answering for Biden’s misinformation, which helped fuel Big Tech censorship of The Post’s reporting in the days prior to the 2020 election.
Although she was asked about President Biden’s comments on the laptop, Psaki replied, “I’d point you to the Department of Justice and also to Hunter Biden’s representatives. He doesn’t work in the government.”
Rob Crilly of the Daily Mail followed up, pressing Psaki to answer for her own false spin about The Post’s reporting.
“You were asked about Hunter Biden’s laptop. You also in October 2020 dismissed it as ‘Russian disinformation.’ Do you stand by that assessment?” Crilly asked.
Psaki didn’t offer any defense of herself and instead deflected, saying, “Again, I’d point you to the Department of Justice and Hunter Biden’s representatives. I’m a spokesperson for the United States. He doesn’t work for the United States.”
Psaki generally declines to directly answer questions about the first son’s shady business dealings, including potential conflicts of interest caused by his recent sales of self-made art to buyers whose identities have not been publicly disclosed.
The Times verified emails from the laptop 17 months after The Post revealed its existence in October 2020. The Grey Lady reported late Wednesday that Hunter Biden recently ponied up about $1 million in unpaid taxes, but remains under federal investigation for potentially violating tax, money laundering and foreign lobbying laws.
Twitter and Facebook initially censored distribution of The Post’s bombshell 2020 reports on Hunter’s laptop in response to claims the records may have been hacked or forged by Russia.
The Post’s first scoop from the laptop, which Hunter Biden failed to collect from a Delaware repair shop, revealed that a Ukrainian energy company executive thanked Hunter for introducing him to his father — contradicting Joe Biden’s claim that he’d “never spoken” with his son about “his overseas business dealings.”
Burisma executive Vadym Pozharskyi emailed the then-second son in April 2015 to thank him for the opportunity to meet his father. Burisma paid Hunter Biden a reported $1 million per year, despite no relevant industry experience, while his father led the Obama administration’s Ukraine policy.
Hunter Biden never specifically denied the laptop was authentic, but the Biden campaign vaguely denied that Pozharskyi met with Joe Biden, saying it wasn’t on his “official schedule.”
Additional reporting by The Post corroborated the initial story. Documents and photos indicated that Joe Biden attended a 2015 DC dinner with a group of his son’s associates — including Pozharskyi, a trio of Kazakhs, the Russian billionaire Yelena Baturina and her husband, former Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov. A Senate report released in 2020 said a firm linked to Hunter Biden received $3.5 million from Baturina in 2014. Psaki told The Post last year that she was “not familiar” with that alleged payment.
Another scoop from The Post ahead of the 2020 election revealed a 2017 email recovered from Hunter Biden’s laptop that described a 10 percent set-aside for “the big guy” as part of a prospective deal involving a Chinese energy company. Former Hunter Biden business partner Tony Bobulinski said Joe Biden was the “big guy.”
Psaki has repeatedly deflected questions about the first son even when the matters directly bear on his father’s role as president.
Psaki in December refused to provide basic transparency about Hunter Biden’s alleged divestment from an investment fund controlled by Chinese state-owned entities.
Hunter Biden’s attorney Chris Clark said less than a week after Biden’s November virtual summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping that he sold a 10 percent stake in the Chinese investment firm — but Psaki referred questions about the name of the buyer, the dollar amount of the sale and the timing to Hunter Biden’s reps, who would not respond.
That investment fund, BHR Partners, was registered 12 days after Hunter joined Vice President Biden aboard Air Force Two for a 2013 trip to Beijing.
Other documents recovered from Hunter Biden’s laptop indicate Joe Biden in 2015 hosted his son and a group of Mexican business associates at the vice president’s official residence. In 2016, Hunter Biden apparently emailed one of those associates while aboard Air Force Two for an official visit to Mexico, complaining that he hadn’t received reciprocal business favors.
“I have brought every single person you have ever asked me to bring to the F’ing White House and the Vice President’s house and the inauguration,” he griped.
