There is “no evidence that Biden is behind Trump’s indictment,” NBC News reporter Sahil Kapur claimed Monday.
NBC News, a media organization that frequently ignores the Biden business scandal, announced no evidence exists linking President Joe Biden in any way to the indictments of former President Donald Trump, Biden’s political rival and likely 2024 opponent:
There is no evidence that Biden is behind Trump’s indictments — two from special counsel Jack Smith, and one each from prosecutors in New York and Georgia who don’t answer to Washington. Yet the claims have been echoed by Speaker Kevin McCarthy and many congressional Republicans.
Biden has declined to comment on Trump’s cases, saying the Justice Department operates independently from his White House. He has also stayed silent on criminal charges against his son Hunter Biden, who is the subject of a special counsel investigation.
A majority of voters do not agree with NBC News’ assessment, according to a McLaughlin & Associates poll.
“How much of a role would you say President Joe Biden has played in the indictments of former President Donald Trump?” the poll asked 1,000 general election voters.
Sixty percent said Biden had a role in the indictments, while just 29 percent said he had no role. Eleven percent did not know.
Among those who said Biden had a role, 39 percent said it was a “major” role. Twenty-one percent said it was a minor role.
A majority of independents (55 percent) also said Biden had a role in indicting his political rival. Among independents, 31 percent said it was a major role. Twenty-four percent said it was a minor role.
NBC News’ defense of Joe Biden and his Justice Department mirrors its reporting, or the lack thereof, on the Biden family scandal.
The outlet, along with CBS and ABC News, only spent four minutes and 50 seconds on the scandal from August 1-8 while simultaneously spending 332 minutes reporting on Trump’s third indictment, according to News Busters.
NBC News also spent “0 seconds” in October 2021 reporting on Joe and Hunter Biden’s alleged shared bank account, the Republican National Committee’s research team found.
One year later, NBC News aired only 298 seconds on Hunter Biden’s “Laptop from Hell” story since March 16, 2022, when the New York Times confirmed authentication of the laptop, according to the Media Research Center.
In June 2023, NBC News spent zero time on the alleged Biden “bribery” scandal, compared to 291 minutes on the Trump indictment, according to a media watchdog report.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.