Headline RoundupApril 3rd, 2021

Hunter Biden Says Laptop 'Could Be' His In CBS Interview

Summary from the AllSides News Team

President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden addressed his battle with substance abuse and his laptop scandal in two interviews with CBS. Ahead of the 2020 election, the New York Post reported that Hunter Biden left a laptop at a Delaware repair shop, and that the laptop allegedly contained details of his business dealings in Ukraine, as well as images of Hunter Biden using illicit drugs and sexually explicit photos. President Biden previously claimed the information on the laptop was part of a Russian disinformation "smear campaign." For the interview on "CBS Sunday Morning," Hunter Biden told Tracy Smith, "there could be a laptop out there that was stolen from me. It could be that I was hacked. It could be that it was the — that it was Russian intelligence." In October, former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said that the intelligence community did not find evidence to support the laptop's information was Russian disinformation. In his other interview with CBS' Anthony Mason, Hunter Biden also detailed his history with alcohol and cocaine addiction, and described an intervention his family held during the 2020 presidential campaign; he also spoke of his memoir, Beautiful Things, which comes out April 6. Coverage of the interviews from left- and center-rated outlets tended to focus on Hunter Biden's substance abuse, his family intervention, and his upcoming book. Coverage from the right tended to lead with his comments about the laptop, and some voices from the right also pointed out how Facebook and Twitter limited the spread of stories on Biden’s overseas business dealings in October, and claimed that outlets on the left were quick to "dismiss" the Biden laptop stories as Russian disinformation. NPR also corrected a claim on Thursday that reports about Hunter Biden’s alleged laptop had been “discredited” by the intelligence community.

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