Bill Maher: Hunter Biden Cover-Up Is 'Why People Don't Trust the Media'
Talkshow host slams left-wing 'news' outlets for covering up laptop story
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Talkshow host Bill Maher has slammed America's left-wing corporate media for covering up the Hunter Biden "Laptop from Hell" scandal to protect Democrat Joe Biden.
The "Real Time" host warned that the cover-up is the reason "people don't trust the media."
Maher addressed how liberal media outlets are finally acknowledging the Hunter Biden laptop story 18 months after it first broke.
The scandal was first reported in October 2020 by the New York Post.
"I remember reading about this a couple of years ago, the New York Post came across… Hunter Biden's computer, which he apparently left at a computer repair store," Maher recalled.
Maher noted that Hunter Biden should have never left his computer with other people "just for the personal stuff" that was allegedly found on the laptop.
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"But it also had stuff about how, you know, c'mon, he's a ne'er-do-well," Maher remarked.
"I'm sorry, Hunter Biden, but you are.
"You made a living being ne'er-do-well who was taking money just because you were the vice president's son and you had influence."
"He got, I think $4.8, yes, million from Chinese energy companies to sit on the board and consult," Maher stated.
After reviewing government records, court documents, bank statements, and emails from Biden's laptop, the Washington Post confirmed this week that the Chinese energy conglomerate CEFC China Energy paid $4.8 million to entities controlled by Hunter Biden and his uncle, James Biden.
The Chinese energy conglomerate paid a $1 million legal retainer and $3.8 million in consulting fees.
Maher joked, "Yeah, that was his passion in life: energy exploration.
"Hooker exploration was his passion."
Maher acknowledged, "So the New York Post got a hold of what was in the computer.
"And, you know, because the New York Post is a Republican paper, and the New York Times and the Washington Post are the Democratic paper[s]."
"And the Republican paper, Twitter… canceled their account!
"They can't even report on this story," Maher said in regards to the New York Post – a newspaper that was founded by Alexander Hamilton more than 220 years ago – being locked out of its official Twitter account for 16 days for sharing the Hunter Biden scandal accusations on social media.
He added, "And now two years later, the New York Times and the Washington Post have come around and say, ‘Okay, there was something there.'"
The New York Times finally authenticated key details in the Hunter Biden story last month.
Maher conceded that the Hunter Biden laptop story should have been taken with a "giant thing of salt" since the New York Post received the information from hardcore Trump allies Rudy Giuliani and Steve Bannon.
Maher also noted that it shouldn't have taken "two years" to verify the accusations.
"It looks like the left-wing media just buried the story because it wasn't part of their narrative and that's why people don't trust the media," Maher said of the story that was censored and dismissed in the weeks leading up to the 2020 presidential election between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
Former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang was a guest on Friday night's "Real Time with Bill Maher," where he pointed out that trust in media "falls very sharply along party lines."
A Gallup poll from October found that 68% of Democrats had a "great deal" or "fair amount" of trust in the media, but that number plunges to 31% when it comes to independents, and only 11% of Republicans believe the media.
Overall, 7% of Americans have "a great deal" and 29% "a fair amount" of trust and confidence in newspapers, television, and radio news reporting.
This is the lowest since the record low in 2016.
Yang stated, "This is part of the erosion of institutional trust, where one side feels like the media is on their side."
"And it does seem like this Hunter Biden laptop story did get buried because of the timing," he added.
"I mean, it was coming out during the height of the election in 2020.
"And they did not want that out in the mainstream."
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CNN legal analyst Laura Coates attempted to defend corporate media for ignoring the Hunter Biden scandal.
"I think it can also be about the idea of you know, one, the priorities that the media has about what stories to put forward," Coates said.
"And sometimes it's tied to obviously what is in the national zeitgeist.
"Other times, it's according to what actually is there to report on?
"What is the new information that's going to better inform the population?"
"And of course, here we are in the world, as you well know, where not only do we have different slants for different media they are suggesting, but also you've got people who want these silos," Coates continued.
"They just want echo chambers.
"We used to say things like… 'You're preaching to the choir.'
"Well, now it's, 'Why aren't you preaching to the choir? It's all I'm here for.'
"So you preach to as a member of the choir."
WATCH:
Here's how @BillMaher reacted to the Hunter Biden laptop story on his October 16, 2020 show: https://t.co/7mhzrGKTwv
— Brent Baker 🇺🇦 (@BrentHBaker) April 2, 2022
On Wednesday, CNN finally admitted that Hunter Biden's laptop is authentic – 532 days after the initial story broke.
CNN was one of numerous legacy media outlets that dismissed the Hunter Biden laptop scandal as "Russian disinformation."
At the time the New York Post story went viral, Maher dismissed the allegations and passed off the accusations as something Donald Trump Jr. would do.
