'Ex-Politico reporters reveal editors quashed, slow-walked negative
Biden stories 'with no explanation''
''Don’t write about the laptop, don’t talk about the laptop, don’t tweet
about the laptop,' ex-Politico reporter Marc Caputo recalled'
<https://www.foxnews.com/media/ex-politico-reporters-reveal-editors-quashed-slow-walked-negative-biden-stories-with-no-explanation>
'Two former Politico reporters spoke candidly about efforts made by
their bosses to either slow-walk or completely quash their reporting on
the Biden family during their time at the news outlet.
Marc Caputo and Tara Palmeri, now journalists for Axios and Puck respectively, reflected on their time at Politico on Palmeri's
"Somebody's Gotta Win" podcast.
Caputo called out Politico's "ill-fated headline" downplaying the Hunter Biden laptop scandal during the 2020 election.
"I mean, Politico, my former employer, and I knew at the time, didn’t do itself any favors," Caputo said in the exchange, which was shared
Thursday on YouTube. "I was covering Biden at the time, and I remember
coming to my editor and saying, ‘Hey, we need to write about the Hunter Biden laptop.’ And I was told this came from on high at Politico: Don’t write about the laptop, don’t talk about the laptop, don’t tweet about the laptop. And the only thing Politico wound up writing was that piece
that called it disinformation, which charitably could be called misinformation, at the least."
Caputo was referencing Politico's report, which had the headline "Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say,"
on the open letter signed by 51 intelligence officials declaring that
the material from Hunter Biden's laptop had "all the earmarks of a
Russian intelligence operation." The report came days after The New York
Post published its bombshell reporting about the laptop in October 2020.
Hunter Biden and a Politico headline
Politico published a report in October 2020 that said 51 intelligence officials signed a letter claiming the Hunter Biden laptop story had
"all the earmarks of a Russian information operation." (Main: (Photo by
Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images), Screenshot/Politico)
Caputo also shed light on a report he had written in 2019 that stemmed
from opposition research from a rival Democratic campaign of
then-candidate Joe Biden regarding a "tax lien" of Hunter's pertaining
to his work at Ukrainian energy company Burisma.
"And I wrote what would have been a classic story saying, you know, ‘The former vice president’s son was slapped with a big tax lien for the
period of time that he worked for this controversial Ukrainian oil
concern, or natural gas concern, which is haunting his father on the
campaign trail.' That story was killed by the editors,' Caputo said.
"And they gave no explanation for that either. So that the general experience- obviously the public doesn't know about those things."
When reached out by Fox News Digital, Caputo provided video showing the original Word document created May 8, 2019 of his tax lien reporting on Hunter Biden.
Marc Caputo
Former Politico reporter Marc Caputo says his bosses "killed" a story
about Hunter Biden's shady finances involving Bursima as his father, Joe Biden, competed in the Democratic presidential primary in May 2019.
(William B. Plowman/NBC via Getty Images)
Palmeri similarly shared an experience at Politico regarding the
"serious reporting" she had done on then-President Biden's son. She had broken the story of Hunter Biden's gun incident that led to a felony
charge for lying about his drug use on a gun form.
"I spent three months on it, I went to the laptop shop, and I did all of
the reporting in Delaware, and I did all of that. But yeah it had, it
had to be like much- it had to be 100% nailed down," Palmeri told
Caputo. "I had everything, you know, the police reports… I’m a solid reporter. But I do wonder if it could have, if it would have been
published a little quicker if it was a different type of story."
Speaking with Fox News Digital, Palmeri expanded on how her bosses
dragged their feet before running her story.
"I certainly had to push very hard to get that reporting published.
Like, it was a constant, 'Hey, when are we going to do this? Hey, when
are we going to get this out there? Hey, when we're going to do this?' Because it was so difficult. Like it was kind of a known feeling that
like, it's gonna be difficult to report stuff that's really tough on the Biden administration and family. It's just like a culture." Palmeri told
Fox News Digital. "And I think when the culture is that a reporter has
to push so hard that it just creates a feeling that there's not an
interest in that type of reporting. And ultimately, you know, we work to
be published and to get our editors to support our work."
Palmeri said she first obtained the police report shortly after Biden's inauguration in late January 2021, but her story wasn't published until
late March 2021.
"I just think if it was a Trump kid, it would have been published much sooner," Palmeri said. "I just had to work really hard to like- you're
like 'Hey, what's going on with the story? Hey, what's going on with the story? Like, what's going on with the story?' We gave the White House a
lot of time, like a week or so to respond. I don't know if that would
have been the case for a Trump story."
The former Politico journalist went on to cite the "honeymoon phase" of
the Biden administration as being a factor behind the slowed pace of her story.
"I think a lot of people there, including reporters, wanted to get on
the good side of the new administration," Palmeri said. "And so I could understand the reluctance to put out a piece like that within the first
few months."
Tara Palmeri
Ex-Politico reporter Tara Palmeri told Fox News Digital her story about Hunter Biden would have been published sooner if it was a "Trump kid."
(Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
Palmeri also suggested her bosses wouldn't run the story unless she was
able to link it to a federal agency.
"It had to be about the fact that the Secret Service was involved,"
Palmeri told Fox News Digital. "I just think the fact that, you know,
the president's son is getting in a domestic dispute that involves a gun being thrown out next to a school is pretty shocking. And the police had
to be involved."
"I think they preferred that angle because I think it increased the
gravity of the situation. The fact that the Secret Service may have been improperly used to cover up what could have been a crime if the gun was
found and used by someone else. The blanket fact that he lied on the gun form, which I had. I had the gun form and I pointed out that he lied on
it. But in the piece, we downplayed it and said, ‘Although many people
lie on gun forms and are not prosecuted for it’ which is true, by the
way. But it's not like the headline wasn't ‘Hunter Biden lies on gun form,’ which is a felony. That was not the headline even though I had
the gun form in which he lied," she continued.
"They felt like for it to be worthy of being published, it had to rise
to that occasion that a federal department was involved and they misused power, basically. Like the crime itself was not important- was not
worthy of just running the story on that alone," Palmeri went on to say.
"In fairness, they wanted to make sure the story was buttoned up, but
they also felt like it needed to be elevated beyond the crime, the
obvious crime which we had from the form. We had to nail down that
element of the Secret Service part."
HUNTER BIDEN ‘LAPTOP FROM HELL’ SCANDAL TURNS 4: HOW MEDIA, INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY MISLED AMERICANS
Hunter Biden gets off plane with president
Palmeri suggested Politico's coverage was impacted by the "honeymoon"
period that took place in the early months of the Biden administration.
(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
A spokesperson for Politico previously released a statement pushing back
at Caputo and Palmeri's comments made on the podcast by touting how its journalists "led the way on wide-ranging reporting on the business
dealings of Joe Biden’s closest relatives" as well as its verification
of the Hunter Biden laptop, suggesting the former staffers have "a case
of false memory."
The spokesperson even called their claims "bulls---."
"Our editors uphold rigorous standards, ensuring every story is
thoroughly vetted and ‘buttoned up’ before publishing. This approach reflects our unwavering commitment to accuracy and accountability—principles that have guided us and will continue to do
so," the statement read.
Politico did not immediately respond to follow-up questions sent by Fox
News Digital.
Several members of the media have reflected on their past coverage of
Biden in recent months, particularly after his disastrous CNN debate performance that put his cognitive decline on full display.
Fox News contributor Joe Concha compared reporters speaking out about
the Hunter Biden laptop scandal to those who waited to address the
former president's mental decline and legitimacy of the COVId lab leak theory.
"It completes what has become a trend in the media," he said'
On 2025-01-24, John Smyth <smythlejon2@hotmail.com> wrote:
'Ex-Politico reporters reveal editors quashed, slow-walked negative
Biden stories 'with no explanation''
''Don’t write about the laptop, don’t talk about the laptop,
don’t tweet about the laptop,' ex-Politico reporter Marc Caputo
recalled'
<https://www.foxnews.com/media/ex-politico-reporters-reveal-editors-qua >>shed-slow-walked-negative-biden-stories-with-no-explanation>
'Two former Politico reporters spoke candidly about efforts made by
their bosses to either slow-walk or completely quash their reporting
on the Biden family during their time at the news outlet.
Marc Caputo and Tara Palmeri, now journalists for Axios and Puck
respectively, reflected on their time at Politico on Palmeri's
"Somebody's Gotta Win" podcast.
Caputo called out Politico's "ill-fated headline" downplaying the
Hunter Biden laptop scandal during the 2020 election.
"I mean, Politico, my former employer, and I knew at the time,
didn’t do itself any favors," Caputo said in the exchange, which
was shared Thursday on YouTube. "I was covering Biden at the time,
and I remember coming to my editor and saying, ‘Hey, we need to
write about the Hunter Biden laptop.’ And I was told this came from
on high at Politico: Don’t write about the laptop, don’t talk
about the laptop, don’t tweet about the laptop. And the only thing
Politico wound up writing was that piece that called it
disinformation, which charitably could be called misinformation, at
the least."
Caputo was referencing Politico's report, which had the headline
"Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel
officials say," on the open letter signed by 51 intelligence
officials declaring that the material from Hunter Biden's laptop had
"all the earmarks of a Russian intelligence operation." The report
came days after The New York Post published its bombshell reporting
about the laptop in October 2020.
Hunter Biden and a Politico headline
Politico published a report in October 2020 that said 51 intelligence
officials signed a letter claiming the Hunter Biden laptop story had
"all the earmarks of a Russian information operation." (Main: (Photo
by Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images), Screenshot/Politico)
Caputo also shed light on a report he had written in 2019 that
stemmed from opposition research from a rival Democratic campaign of
then-candidate Joe Biden regarding a "tax lien" of Hunter's
pertaining to his work at Ukrainian energy company Burisma.
"And I wrote what would have been a classic story saying, you know,
‘The former vice president’s son was slapped with a big tax lien
for the period of time that he worked for this controversial
Ukrainian oil concern, or natural gas concern, which is haunting his
father on the campaign trail.' That story was killed by the editors,'
Caputo said. "And they gave no explanation for that either. So that
the general experience- obviously the public doesn't know about those
things."
When reached out by Fox News Digital, Caputo provided video showing
the original Word document created May 8, 2019 of his tax lien
reporting on Hunter Biden.
Marc Caputo
Former Politico reporter Marc Caputo says his bosses "killed" a story
about Hunter Biden's shady finances involving Bursima as his father,
Joe Biden, competed in the Democratic presidential primary in May
2019. (William B. Plowman/NBC via Getty Images)
Palmeri similarly shared an experience at Politico regarding the
"serious reporting" she had done on then-President Biden's son. She
had broken the story of Hunter Biden's gun incident that led to a
felony charge for lying about his drug use on a gun form.
"I spent three months on it, I went to the laptop shop, and I did all
of the reporting in Delaware, and I did all of that. But yeah it had,
it had to be like much- it had to be 100% nailed down," Palmeri told
Caputo. "I had everything, you know, the police reports… I’m a
solid reporter. But I do wonder if it could have, if it would have
been published a little quicker if it was a different type of story."
Speaking with Fox News Digital, Palmeri expanded on how her bosses
dragged their feet before running her story.
"I certainly had to push very hard to get that reporting published.
Like, it was a constant, 'Hey, when are we going to do this? Hey,
when are we going to get this out there? Hey, when we're going to do
this?' Because it was so difficult. Like it was kind of a known
feeling that like, it's gonna be difficult to report stuff that's
really tough on the Biden administration and family. It's just like a
culture." Palmeri told Fox News Digital. "And I think when the
culture is that a reporter has to push so hard that it just creates a
feeling that there's not an interest in that type of reporting. And
ultimately, you know, we work to be published and to get our editors
to support our work."
Palmeri said she first obtained the police report shortly after
Biden's inauguration in late January 2021, but her story wasn't
published until late March 2021.
"I just think if it was a Trump kid, it would have been published
much sooner," Palmeri said. "I just had to work really hard to like-
you're like 'Hey, what's going on with the story? Hey, what's going
on with the story? Like, what's going on with the story?' We gave the
White House a lot of time, like a week or so to respond. I don't know
if that would have been the case for a Trump story."
The former Politico journalist went on to cite the "honeymoon phase"
of the Biden administration as being a factor behind the slowed pace
of her story.
"I think a lot of people there, including reporters, wanted to get on
the good side of the new administration," Palmeri said. "And so I
could understand the reluctance to put out a piece like that within
the first few months."
Tara Palmeri
Ex-Politico reporter Tara Palmeri told Fox News Digital her story
about Hunter Biden would have been published sooner if it was a
"Trump kid." (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
Palmeri also suggested her bosses wouldn't run the story unless she
was able to link it to a federal agency.
"It had to be about the fact that the Secret Service was involved,"
Palmeri told Fox News Digital. "I just think the fact that, you know,
the president's son is getting in a domestic dispute that involves a
gun being thrown out next to a school is pretty shocking. And the
police had to be involved."
"I think they preferred that angle because I think it increased the
gravity of the situation. The fact that the Secret Service may have
been improperly used to cover up what could have been a crime if the
gun was found and used by someone else. The blanket fact that he lied
on the gun form, which I had. I had the gun form and I pointed out
that he lied on it. But in the piece, we downplayed it and said,
‘Although many people lie on gun forms and are not prosecuted for
it’ which is true, by the way. But it's not like the headline
wasn't ‘Hunter Biden lies on gun form,’ which is a felony. That
was not the headline even though I had the gun form in which he
lied," she continued.
"They felt like for it to be worthy of being published, it had to
rise to that occasion that a federal department was involved and they
misused power, basically. Like the crime itself was not important-
was not worthy of just running the story on that alone," Palmeri went
on to say. "In fairness, they wanted to make sure the story was
buttoned up, but they also felt like it needed to be elevated beyond
the crime, the obvious crime which we had from the form. We had to
nail down that element of the Secret Service part."
HUNTER BIDEN ‘LAPTOP FROM HELL’ SCANDAL TURNS 4: HOW MEDIA,
INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY MISLED AMERICANS
Hunter Biden gets off plane with president
Palmeri suggested Politico's coverage was impacted by the "honeymoon"
period that took place in the early months of the Biden
administration. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
A spokesperson for Politico previously released a statement pushing
back at Caputo and Palmeri's comments made on the podcast by touting
how its journalists "led the way on wide-ranging reporting on the
business dealings of Joe Biden’s closest relatives" as well as its
verification of the Hunter Biden laptop, suggesting the former
staffers have "a case of false memory."
The spokesperson even called their claims "bulls---."
"Our editors uphold rigorous standards, ensuring every story is
thoroughly vetted and ‘buttoned up’ before publishing. This
approach reflects our unwavering commitment to accuracy and
accountability—principles that have guided us and will continue to
do so," the statement read.
Politico did not immediately respond to follow-up questions sent by
Fox News Digital.
Several members of the media have reflected on their past coverage of
Biden in recent months, particularly after his disastrous CNN debate
performance that put his cognitive decline on full display.
Fox News contributor Joe Concha compared reporters speaking out about
the Hunter Biden laptop scandal to those who waited to address the
former president's mental decline and legitimacy of the COVId lab
leak theory.
"It completes what has become a trend in the media," he said'
This should come as no surprise.
The radical, left wing MSM should be forced to register as another organization/lobbyists for the DNC because that is what they are.
They are in lockstep with the DNC as well as each other and it's been
obvious for a long time.
pothead <pothead@snakebite.com> wrote in
news:vn0fon$2ae6i$1@dont-email.me:
On 2025-01-24, John Smyth <smythlejon2@hotmail.com> wrote:
'Ex-Politico reporters reveal editors quashed, slow-walked negative
Biden stories 'with no explanation''
''Don’t write about the laptop, don’t talk about the laptop,
don’t tweet about the laptop,' ex-Politico reporter Marc Caputo
recalled'
<https://www.foxnews.com/media/ex-politico-reporters-reveal-editors-qua >>>shed-slow-walked-negative-biden-stories-with-no-explanation>
'Two former Politico reporters spoke candidly about efforts made by
their bosses to either slow-walk or completely quash their reporting
on the Biden family during their time at the news outlet.
Marc Caputo and Tara Palmeri, now journalists for Axios and Puck
respectively, reflected on their time at Politico on Palmeri's
"Somebody's Gotta Win" podcast.
Caputo called out Politico's "ill-fated headline" downplaying the
Hunter Biden laptop scandal during the 2020 election.
"I mean, Politico, my former employer, and I knew at the time,
didn’t do itself any favors," Caputo said in the exchange, which
was shared Thursday on YouTube. "I was covering Biden at the time,
and I remember coming to my editor and saying, ‘Hey, we need to
write about the Hunter Biden laptop.’ And I was told this came from
on high at Politico: Don’t write about the laptop, don’t talk
about the laptop, don’t tweet about the laptop. And the only thing
Politico wound up writing was that piece that called it
disinformation, which charitably could be called misinformation, at
the least."
Caputo was referencing Politico's report, which had the headline
"Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel
officials say," on the open letter signed by 51 intelligence
officials declaring that the material from Hunter Biden's laptop had
"all the earmarks of a Russian intelligence operation." The report
came days after The New York Post published its bombshell reporting
about the laptop in October 2020.
Hunter Biden and a Politico headline
Politico published a report in October 2020 that said 51 intelligence
officials signed a letter claiming the Hunter Biden laptop story had
"all the earmarks of a Russian information operation." (Main: (Photo
by Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images), Screenshot/Politico)
Caputo also shed light on a report he had written in 2019 that
stemmed from opposition research from a rival Democratic campaign of
then-candidate Joe Biden regarding a "tax lien" of Hunter's
pertaining to his work at Ukrainian energy company Burisma.
"And I wrote what would have been a classic story saying, you know,
‘The former vice president’s son was slapped with a big tax lien
for the period of time that he worked for this controversial
Ukrainian oil concern, or natural gas concern, which is haunting his
father on the campaign trail.' That story was killed by the editors,'
Caputo said. "And they gave no explanation for that either. So that
the general experience- obviously the public doesn't know about those
things."
When reached out by Fox News Digital, Caputo provided video showing
the original Word document created May 8, 2019 of his tax lien
reporting on Hunter Biden.
Marc Caputo
Former Politico reporter Marc Caputo says his bosses "killed" a story
about Hunter Biden's shady finances involving Bursima as his father,
Joe Biden, competed in the Democratic presidential primary in May
2019. (William B. Plowman/NBC via Getty Images)
Palmeri similarly shared an experience at Politico regarding the
"serious reporting" she had done on then-President Biden's son. She
had broken the story of Hunter Biden's gun incident that led to a
felony charge for lying about his drug use on a gun form.
"I spent three months on it, I went to the laptop shop, and I did all
of the reporting in Delaware, and I did all of that. But yeah it had,
it had to be like much- it had to be 100% nailed down," Palmeri told
Caputo. "I had everything, you know, the police reports… I’m a
solid reporter. But I do wonder if it could have, if it would have
been published a little quicker if it was a different type of story."
Speaking with Fox News Digital, Palmeri expanded on how her bosses
dragged their feet before running her story.
"I certainly had to push very hard to get that reporting published.
Like, it was a constant, 'Hey, when are we going to do this? Hey,
when are we going to get this out there? Hey, when we're going to do
this?' Because it was so difficult. Like it was kind of a known
feeling that like, it's gonna be difficult to report stuff that's
really tough on the Biden administration and family. It's just like a
culture." Palmeri told Fox News Digital. "And I think when the
culture is that a reporter has to push so hard that it just creates a
feeling that there's not an interest in that type of reporting. And
ultimately, you know, we work to be published and to get our editors
to support our work."
Palmeri said she first obtained the police report shortly after
Biden's inauguration in late January 2021, but her story wasn't
published until late March 2021.
"I just think if it was a Trump kid, it would have been published
much sooner," Palmeri said. "I just had to work really hard to like-
you're like 'Hey, what's going on with the story? Hey, what's going
on with the story? Like, what's going on with the story?' We gave the
White House a lot of time, like a week or so to respond. I don't know
if that would have been the case for a Trump story."
The former Politico journalist went on to cite the "honeymoon phase"
of the Biden administration as being a factor behind the slowed pace
of her story.
"I think a lot of people there, including reporters, wanted to get on
the good side of the new administration," Palmeri said. "And so I
could understand the reluctance to put out a piece like that within
the first few months."
Tara Palmeri
Ex-Politico reporter Tara Palmeri told Fox News Digital her story
about Hunter Biden would have been published sooner if it was a
"Trump kid." (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
Palmeri also suggested her bosses wouldn't run the story unless she
was able to link it to a federal agency.
"It had to be about the fact that the Secret Service was involved,"
Palmeri told Fox News Digital. "I just think the fact that, you know,
the president's son is getting in a domestic dispute that involves a
gun being thrown out next to a school is pretty shocking. And the
police had to be involved."
"I think they preferred that angle because I think it increased the
gravity of the situation. The fact that the Secret Service may have
been improperly used to cover up what could have been a crime if the
gun was found and used by someone else. The blanket fact that he lied
on the gun form, which I had. I had the gun form and I pointed out
that he lied on it. But in the piece, we downplayed it and said,
‘Although many people lie on gun forms and are not prosecuted for
it’ which is true, by the way. But it's not like the headline
wasn't ‘Hunter Biden lies on gun form,’ which is a felony. That
was not the headline even though I had the gun form in which he
lied," she continued.
"They felt like for it to be worthy of being published, it had to
rise to that occasion that a federal department was involved and they
misused power, basically. Like the crime itself was not important-
was not worthy of just running the story on that alone," Palmeri went
on to say. "In fairness, they wanted to make sure the story was
buttoned up, but they also felt like it needed to be elevated beyond
the crime, the obvious crime which we had from the form. We had to
nail down that element of the Secret Service part."
HUNTER BIDEN ‘LAPTOP FROM HELL’ SCANDAL TURNS 4: HOW MEDIA,
INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY MISLED AMERICANS
Hunter Biden gets off plane with president
Palmeri suggested Politico's coverage was impacted by the "honeymoon"
period that took place in the early months of the Biden
administration. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
A spokesperson for Politico previously released a statement pushing
back at Caputo and Palmeri's comments made on the podcast by touting
how its journalists "led the way on wide-ranging reporting on the
business dealings of Joe Biden’s closest relatives" as well as its
verification of the Hunter Biden laptop, suggesting the former
staffers have "a case of false memory."
The spokesperson even called their claims "bulls---."
"Our editors uphold rigorous standards, ensuring every story is
thoroughly vetted and ‘buttoned up’ before publishing. This
approach reflects our unwavering commitment to accuracy and
accountability—principles that have guided us and will continue to
do so," the statement read.
Politico did not immediately respond to follow-up questions sent by
Fox News Digital.
Several members of the media have reflected on their past coverage of
Biden in recent months, particularly after his disastrous CNN debate
performance that put his cognitive decline on full display.
Fox News contributor Joe Concha compared reporters speaking out about
the Hunter Biden laptop scandal to those who waited to address the
former president's mental decline and legitimacy of the COVId lab
leak theory.
"It completes what has become a trend in the media," he said'
This should come as no surprise.
The radical, left wing MSM should be forced to register as another
organization/lobbyists for the DNC because that is what they are.
Everything that disagrees with
Trump is "radical left wing". Even his
own appoitees.
'Ex-Politico reporters reveal editors quashed, slow-walked negative
Biden stories 'with no explanation''
This should come as no surprise.
The radical, left wing MSM should be forced to register as another organization/lobbyists
for the DNC because that is what they are.
They are in lockstep with the DNC as well as each other and it's been obvious for a long time.
'Ex-Politico reporters reveal editors quashed, slow-walked negativeNo, that did not happen.
Biden stories 'with no explanation''
On 2025-01-24, Mitchell Holman <noemail@aol.com> wrote:qua
pothead <pothead@snakebite.com> wrote in
news:vn0fon$2ae6i$1@dont-email.me:
On 2025-01-24, John Smyth <smythlejon2@hotmail.com> wrote:
'Ex-Politico reporters reveal editors quashed, slow-walked negative
Biden stories 'with no explanation''
''Don’t write about the laptop, don’t talk about the laptop,
don’t tweet about the laptop,' ex-Politico reporter Marc Caputo
recalled'
<https://www.foxnews.com/media/ex-politico-reporters-reveal-editors-
fromshed-slow-walked-negative-biden-stories-with-no-explanation>
'Two former Politico reporters spoke candidly about efforts made by
their bosses to either slow-walk or completely quash their reporting
on the Biden family during their time at the news outlet.
Marc Caputo and Tara Palmeri, now journalists for Axios and Puck
respectively, reflected on their time at Politico on Palmeri's
"Somebody's Gotta Win" podcast.
Caputo called out Politico's "ill-fated headline" downplaying the
Hunter Biden laptop scandal during the 2020 election.
"I mean, Politico, my former employer, and I knew at the time,
didn’t do itself any favors," Caputo said in the exchange, which
was shared Thursday on YouTube. "I was covering Biden at the time,
and I remember coming to my editor and saying, ‘Hey, we need to
write about the Hunter Biden laptop.’ And I was told this came
intelligenceon high at Politico: Don’t write about the laptop, don’t talk
about the laptop, don’t tweet about the laptop. And the only thing
Politico wound up writing was that piece that called it
disinformation, which charitably could be called misinformation, at
the least."
Caputo was referencing Politico's report, which had the headline
"Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel
officials say," on the open letter signed by 51 intelligence
officials declaring that the material from Hunter Biden's laptop had
"all the earmarks of a Russian intelligence operation." The report
came days after The New York Post published its bombshell reporting
about the laptop in October 2020.
Hunter Biden and a Politico headline
Politico published a report in October 2020 that said 51
Screenshot/Politico)officials signed a letter claiming the Hunter Biden laptop story had
"all the earmarks of a Russian information operation." (Main: (Photo
by Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images),
editors,'
Caputo also shed light on a report he had written in 2019 that
stemmed from opposition research from a rival Democratic campaign of
then-candidate Joe Biden regarding a "tax lien" of Hunter's
pertaining to his work at Ukrainian energy company Burisma.
"And I wrote what would have been a classic story saying, you know,
‘The former vice president’s son was slapped with a big tax lien
for the period of time that he worked for this controversial
Ukrainian oil concern, or natural gas concern, which is haunting his
father on the campaign trail.' That story was killed by the
thoseCaputo said. "And they gave no explanation for that either. So that
the general experience- obviously the public doesn't know about
storythings."
When reached out by Fox News Digital, Caputo provided video showing
the original Word document created May 8, 2019 of his tax lien
reporting on Hunter Biden.
Marc Caputo
Former Politico reporter Marc Caputo says his bosses "killed" a
allabout Hunter Biden's shady finances involving Bursima as his father,
Joe Biden, competed in the Democratic presidential primary in May
2019. (William B. Plowman/NBC via Getty Images)
Palmeri similarly shared an experience at Politico regarding the
"serious reporting" she had done on then-President Biden's son. She
had broken the story of Hunter Biden's gun incident that led to a
felony charge for lying about his drug use on a gun form.
"I spent three months on it, I went to the laptop shop, and I did
had,of the reporting in Delaware, and I did all of that. But yeah it
story."it had to be like much- it had to be 100% nailed down," Palmeri told
Caputo. "I had everything, you know, the police reports… I’m a
solid reporter. But I do wonder if it could have, if it would have
been published a little quicker if it was a different type of
a
Speaking with Fox News Digital, Palmeri expanded on how her bosses
dragged their feet before running her story.
"I certainly had to push very hard to get that reporting published.
Like, it was a constant, 'Hey, when are we going to do this? Hey,
when are we going to get this out there? Hey, when we're going to do
this?' Because it was so difficult. Like it was kind of a known
feeling that like, it's gonna be difficult to report stuff that's
really tough on the Biden administration and family. It's just like
aculture." Palmeri told Fox News Digital. "And I think when the
culture is that a reporter has to push so hard that it just creates
thefeeling that there's not an interest in that type of reporting. And
ultimately, you know, we work to be published and to get our editors
to support our work."
Palmeri said she first obtained the police report shortly after
Biden's inauguration in late January 2021, but her story wasn't
published until late March 2021.
"I just think if it was a Trump kid, it would have been published
much sooner," Palmeri said. "I just had to work really hard to like-
you're like 'Hey, what's going on with the story? Hey, what's going
on with the story? Like, what's going on with the story?' We gave
knowWhite House a lot of time, like a week or so to respond. I don't
onif that would have been the case for a Trump story."
The former Politico journalist went on to cite the "honeymoon phase"
of the Biden administration as being a factor behind the slowed pace
of her story.
"I think a lot of people there, including reporters, wanted to get
know,the good side of the new administration," Palmeri said. "And so I
could understand the reluctance to put out a piece like that within
the first few months."
Tara Palmeri
Ex-Politico reporter Tara Palmeri told Fox News Digital her story
about Hunter Biden would have been published sooner if it was a
"Trump kid." (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
Palmeri also suggested her bosses wouldn't run the story unless she
was able to link it to a federal agency.
"It had to be about the fact that the Secret Service was involved,"
Palmeri told Fox News Digital. "I just think the fact that, you
liedthe president's son is getting in a domestic dispute that involves a
gun being thrown out next to a school is pretty shocking. And the
police had to be involved."
"I think they preferred that angle because I think it increased the
gravity of the situation. The fact that the Secret Service may have
been improperly used to cover up what could have been a crime if the
gun was found and used by someone else. The blanket fact that he
theyon the gun form, which I had. I had the gun form and I pointed out
that he lied on it. But in the piece, we downplayed it and said,
‘Although many people lie on gun forms and are not prosecuted for
it’ which is true, by the way. But it's not like the headline
wasn't ‘Hunter Biden lies on gun form,’ which is a felony. That
was not the headline even though I had the gun form in which he
lied," she continued.
"They felt like for it to be worthy of being published, it had to
rise to that occasion that a federal department was involved and
wentmisused power, basically. Like the crime itself was not important-
was not worthy of just running the story on that alone," Palmeri
"honeymoon"on to say. "In fairness, they wanted to make sure the story was
buttoned up, but they also felt like it needed to be elevated beyond
the crime, the obvious crime which we had from the form. We had to
nail down that element of the Secret Service part."
HUNTER BIDEN ‘LAPTOP FROM HELL’ SCANDAL TURNS 4: HOW MEDIA,
INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY MISLED AMERICANS
Hunter Biden gets off plane with president
Palmeri suggested Politico's coverage was impacted by the
ofperiod that took place in the early months of the Biden
administration. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
A spokesperson for Politico previously released a statement pushing
back at Caputo and Palmeri's comments made on the podcast by touting
how its journalists "led the way on wide-ranging reporting on the
business dealings of Joe Biden’s closest relatives" as well as its
verification of the Hunter Biden laptop, suggesting the former
staffers have "a case of false memory."
The spokesperson even called their claims "bulls---."
"Our editors uphold rigorous standards, ensuring every story is
thoroughly vetted and ‘buttoned up’ before publishing. This
approach reflects our unwavering commitment to accuracy and
accountability—principles that have guided us and will continue to
do so," the statement read.
Politico did not immediately respond to follow-up questions sent by
Fox News Digital.
Several members of the media have reflected on their past coverage
aboutBiden in recent months, particularly after his disastrous CNN debate
performance that put his cognitive decline on full display.
Fox News contributor Joe Concha compared reporters speaking out
the Hunter Biden laptop scandal to those who waited to address the
former president's mental decline and legitimacy of the COVId lab
leak theory.
"It completes what has become a trend in the media," he said'
This should come as no surprise.
The radical, left wing MSM should be forced to register as another
organization/lobbyists for the DNC because that is what they are.
Everything that disagrees with
Trump is "radical left wing". Even his
own appoitees.
Spin. Spin. Spin.
Sorry Hollow, when the media lies by omission and that ends up
influencing an election, then we have a problem.
There is no way you can defend the radical left wing media.
None.
Move on to another TDS induced topic.
How about answering the question "why did Joe Biden
| Sysop: | Keyop |
|---|---|
| Location: | Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK |
| Users: | 546 |
| Nodes: | 16 (2 / 14) |
| Uptime: | 06:39:12 |
| Calls: | 10,386 |
| Calls today: | 1 |
| Files: | 14,058 |
| Messages: | 6,416,635 |