Newsweek deputy opinion editor Batya Ungar-Sargon joined Hill.TV’s “Rising” on Tuesday to discuss the media’s coverage of investigations involving President Biden’s son, Hunter.
“We know what the story would’ve been covered like if this was like a Trump son,” Ungar-Sargon said. “Whereas here you see just like a total taboo on covering this.”
“There could have been legitimate reasons, legitimate conversations happening there,” she said of Hunter Biden’s business dealings.
“But at least President Biden should have to answer questions about it, right? And the only person even asking him about it is Peter Doocy from Fox News,” Ungar-Sargon added.
“I do think that, to me, the prevailing sentiment that I’m coming away with is the idea that during the campaign, then-candidate Biden really portrayed his relationship with Hunter as he has this sort of failed son who he loves dearly and really hopes will continue his recovery,” she also said.
“But now, the impression that’s sort of seeping out from these continued revelations of the laptop is sort of the opposite,” the editor added, saying that the narrative was shifting toward the idea that “Hunter Biden was supporting the family and sort of paving the way for his father’s post-vice presidency from a very financial, literal point of view.”
Hunter Biden sat on the board of a Ukrainian energy firm, Burisma, and the Justice Department has continued to look into potential illegal lobbying allegations against the company.
As his past business dealings have come under increased scrutiny, the president’s chief of staff Ron Klain has said that Biden doesn’t believe his son broke any laws.
“Of course the president’s confident that his son didn’t break the law,” Klain said in an interview on ABC. “But, most importantly, as I said, that’s a matter that’s going to be decided by the Justice Department, by the legal process. It’s something that no one at the White House has involvement in.”