FNC’s Kurtz: Media Dismissed Hunter Laptop over Claims from People, ‘Many of Whom Were Democrats,’ with ‘No Firsthand Knowledge’

On Friday’s edition of his “MEDIA BUZZmeter” podcast, FNC host Howard Kurtz said it’s “an embarrassment to the media” that they dismissed the Hunter Biden laptop story as Russian disinformation based on assertions from former intelligence officials, “many of whom were Democrats,” who “had no firsthand knowledge” to back up their claims.

Kurtz stated, [relevant remarks begin around 9:25] “Two weeks before the 2020 election, POLITICO ran a piece saying, ‘Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say’. Yeah, they all signed a letter. They had no firsthand knowledge. And there was this counterattack and Joe Biden embraced this, that this was all Russian disinformation. Except, apparently, the emails are real and this is not one that you can lay off on the Russians. … So, looking back, this is an embarrassment. It is an embarrassment to the media that they rushed to pretend this wasn’t a story or say, well, yeah, it’s a story, but it’s not really a story or to say, it’s really just Russian disinformation, when it obviously is a legitimate story about a federal investigation of the then-Democratic nominee’s son, now the president of the United States’ son. Now, will there be any soul-searching over this? Of course not. People will just say, well, The New York Times now says it.”

He added, “This is why people, especially on the right, think the media are biased.”

Kurtz further stated, “Look, all those intel. officials, many of whom were Democrats, did sign that letter. And you could report that, but if you embrace that, you’re saying it’s not really true, it’s B.S. And I think it’s an embarrassment.”

In the letter, the officials wrote, “We want to emphasize that we do not know if the emails, provided to [T]he New York Post by President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, are genuine or not and that we do not have evidence of Russian involvement — just that our experience makes us deeply suspicious that the Russian government played a significant role in this case.”

In its story on the letter, POLITICO noted, “Several of the former officials” who signed the letter “endorsed Biden.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett