Fox News host Sean Hannity took his already over-the-top promotion of the Hunter Biden laptop story to new heights on Tuesday night, setting up a camera outside Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s house and calling for Biden to “walk outside” and do a live interview to “answer these pressing questions.”
Over the past few days, Trumpworld has gone all-in on Trump personal attorney Rudy Giuliani’s “October surprise”—a series of New York Post stories centered on materials purportedly from Hunter Biden's laptop that supposedly show “smoking gun” evidence of corruption on the part of the Bidens. The emails that have been disseminated so far, however, do not show any direct wrongdoing.
While conservative media has run wild with the story of the supposed corruption involving China and the Ukrainian gas company Burisma, mainstream outlets have shown restraint in reporting it out, due to questions about the provenance of the supposed laptop and materials, Giuliani’s reputation as a hatchet man for President Donald Trump, and concerns it could be part of a targeted disinformation campaign. Credibility concerns around the story reportedly even exist within the Post itself, as reporters declined to have their bylines on the initial story and have decried the “flimsy” journalistic standards of the report.
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Hannity kicked off his program by noting that Fox News—whose news division reportedly passed on the story initially because of its lack of credibility—is now reporting that a law enforcement official says the FBI concurs that Hunter Biden’s emails and laptop aren’t part of a Russian disinformation plot. He then addressed the former vice president through the camera while the screen showed Biden’s darkened house.
“Joe Biden, you have a lot of questions to answer,” Hannity declared. “It’s time for you to answer them. What did you know? When did you know it? Did you take a cut of your son’s seedy international pay for play schemes?”
The informal Trump adviser then issued his challenge to the ex-veep.
“I know it’s 9 p.m. Eastern, Joe, but if you are still awake, we have a camera right outside of your house—right there, right now,” he exclaimed, pointing forward. “You could walk outside of your house, leave your basement bunker, step out and answer these pressing questions. We will be happy to hear you out.”
Moments later, with the camera still focused on Biden’s home, the pro-Trump host said the emails show “Joe and Hunter Biden’s scheme might be legitimate” before touting a supposedly damning photograph of the Bidens with a Kazakh oligarch.
“This picture obtained by the New York Post allegedly shows Joe and Hunter alongside that Kazakh oligarch who wired Hunter Biden and his firm $142 grand earmarked for a brand new car,” Hannity said. “And now Fox News cannot independently verify the photograph but, guess what? Joe said he never spoke to his son about his overseas business dealings. So Joe, do you care to explain the picture?”
Notably, the Post also reported they were unable to independently verify the photograph, but still decided to publish it.
“Joe, if this is a really big smear campaign as you suggested over the weekend when you got one hard question that wasn’t about your milkshake—you can come outside, that’s Joe Biden’s house, his bunker is inside and the outside light is on,” Hannity said, once again pointing through the screen. “Come out and tell us why. Now we’re all ears, you have a full hour of the show. It’s all yours.”
