Fox News passed up chance to run Hunter Biden email story amid credibility concerns, reports say
Fox News reportedly declined the chance to run Rudy Giuliani’s Hunter Biden emails story amid reported concerns on its credibility.
The Rupert Murdoch-owned news channel was offered the story by Donald Trump’s personal lawyer but refused it until it could be properly vetted, according to political news site mediaite.com.
Mr Giuliani then took the story to the tabloid New York Post, also owned by Mr Murdoch, who ran the controversial stories with material they claim was taken from Mr Biden’s laptop.
Fox News was reportedly unhappy at the lack of verification that the laptop actually belonged to Mr Biden and had concerns about Mr Giuliani’s reliability as a source, insiders told mediaite.com.
Reporters at the New York Post, including Bruce Golding, refused to let their names be put on the story because of their own concerns, according to the New York Times.
In the end the story appeared in the paper with two bylines, Emma-Jo Morris and Gabrielle Fonrouge.
Ms Morris is a former associate producer on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show and had never had a New York Post byline before, according to the Times.
Her Instagram account, which is now private, had pictures of her posing with Steve Bannon, who is quoted in the story, and Roger Stone, a friend of the president.
New York Post insiders told the Times that Ms Fonrouge had little to do with the story and only found out she was bylined on it after it was published.
Joe Biden’s campaign has denied any impropriety and says that Mr Giuliani is involved in a Russian disinformation campaign.
The White House was previously warned about Mr Giuliani’s alleged dealing with alleged Russian spies and the FBI has now reportedly launched a probe into the former mayor of New York, NBC News reports.
Some of the biggest names on Fox News have also gone to lengths to distance themselves from the story.
“I can understand the concern about this story,” said host Chris Wallace.
“It is completely unverified and frankly, Rudy Giuliani is not the most reliable source anymore. I hate to say that, but it’s just true.”
Fox News declined to comment on the story.
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