WEBVTT - Hunter Biden's Laptop 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:02.640 Here's a relatable question. You ever get a job that 0:00:02.720 --> 0:00:06.000 you weren't totally qualified for? I know I have turns 0:00:06.000 --> 0:00:08.479 out not everyone's cut out to be a thoracic surgeon, 0:00:08.800 --> 0:00:11.040 but maybe things would have turned out differently for me 0:00:11.119 --> 0:00:13.560 if I had a famous dad, like if my dad 0:00:13.640 --> 0:00:16.000 was the President of the United States. This is the 0:00:16.000 --> 0:00:19.520 focal point of the Republican conspiracy theory around Hunter Biden, 0:00:19.760 --> 0:00:22.280 that he used his connection to his dad, Joe Biden, 0:00:22.520 --> 0:00:25.960 to make money and overseas deals. And yes, obviously this 0:00:26.040 --> 0:00:28.720 is coming from the people who supported Donald Trump and 0:00:28.800 --> 0:00:32.200 his family as they milked every government connection they could 0:00:32.240 --> 0:00:35.120 for four years, like in Oceans eleven movie if it 0:00:35.200 --> 0:00:38.519 took place during a Nickelodeon shopping spree. Now, if that 0:00:38.600 --> 0:00:42.360 reference is too far removed for you, then apologies in advance. 0:00:42.600 --> 0:00:45.000 Because the Hunter Biden story has so many references to 0:00:45.040 --> 0:00:49.280 things that seem fake Kafe Milano, Sinohawk, the secret Willard 0:00:49.280 --> 0:00:52.280 Hotel breakfast, that we probably should have made a Hunter 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:54.560 Wiki ahead of time just to help you through it. 0:00:54.920 --> 0:00:58.800 This Jordan Klepper fingers the conspiracy. We gotta packed episode today. 0:00:58.840 --> 0:01:00.960 We're going to walk through the fariracy theory known as 0:01:01.040 --> 0:01:04.959 Hunter Biden's Laptop with a Fox News expert. Then Democratic 0:01:05.000 --> 0:01:08.520 Congressman Jerry Connolly will discuss the House of Strategy responding 0:01:08.800 --> 0:01:11.959 to an investigation, and then Tippany Cross will talk the 0:01:12.080 --> 0:01:15.959 media's responsibility. Before we even start, you should know that 0:01:16.040 --> 0:01:19.800 it's not even proven there is a laptop. There is 0:01:19.840 --> 0:01:22.480 a hard drive copied from what a Trump supporter who 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:25.319 owns a computer repair shop in Delaware says was a 0:01:25.360 --> 0:01:28.400 laptop that he handed over to the FBI. But nobody's 0:01:28.440 --> 0:01:30.760 seeing a picture of it, and what the hell, let's 0:01:30.760 --> 0:01:33.840 just take his word for it. The Hunter Biden laptop 0:01:33.959 --> 0:01:37.480 saga is a fantastical right wing reverie concocted during the 0:01:37.520 --> 0:01:40.840 twenty twenty campaign by Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump, and of 0:01:40.880 --> 0:01:44.120 course Fox News, which means it's inevitable that I heard 0:01:44.120 --> 0:01:48.000 the words hunter Biden laptop constantly at Trump rallies, even 0:01:48.000 --> 0:01:51.160 if the people there didn't exactly know what it is. 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:55.480 You can see on Fox and One American News about 0:01:55.480 --> 0:01:59.920 the laptop, Hunter Biden's laptop, and then all the Crumpton 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:04.840 taking money from the different countries, you know, from Russian. 0:02:05.000 --> 0:02:09.640 Then Joe Biden would do whatever these countries needed. Did 0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:12.040 oh he what? Either what he did or did not do? 0:02:12.200 --> 0:02:14.360 What didn't? What did he do? You have to be 0:02:14.400 --> 0:02:18.440 determined exactly what he did. I saw pedophilia and China 0:02:18.720 --> 0:02:22.240 something like that. Do you believe it? I don't know. 0:02:22.520 --> 0:02:25.480 We see about like the Hunter Biden scandal. What exactly 0:02:25.480 --> 0:02:28.000 happened with that? I think they found a laptop that 0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:31.399 had you know, emailed and um there was an FBI. 0:02:31.600 --> 0:02:33.760 They found a laptop with like emails and pictures of 0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:36.400 you know, Biden talking with like Ukraine and China about 0:02:36.440 --> 0:02:39.360 business deals and stuff like that. Which Biden, Hunter Biden 0:02:39.400 --> 0:02:42.679 did it? Something happened? I mean the conspiracy theorists would 0:02:42.720 --> 0:02:45.880 say that it's Joe Biden and Hunter Biden communicating with 0:02:46.000 --> 0:02:48.360 you know, outside countries on business deals and stuff like that. 0:02:48.480 --> 0:02:50.480 Are you calling him a conspiracy theorist? That's just what 0:02:50.639 --> 0:02:54.919 he said, right. Okay, let's help these private investigators out 0:02:54.919 --> 0:02:57.920 a little bit. Joining me today is Andrew Lawrence, the 0:02:57.960 --> 0:03:01.840 deputy director of Rapid Response at ME It Matters for America. Basically, 0:03:01.880 --> 0:03:04.720 that means he watches Fox News all day. Andrew, thanks 0:03:04.720 --> 0:03:07.960 for being here to talk about the laptop from Hell. Yeah, 0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:09.920 of course, thank you for having me. I'm excited to 0:03:10.240 --> 0:03:12.919 finger this conspiracy with you. Oh it sounds sexy when 0:03:12.919 --> 0:03:15.280 you say thank you. Hunter Biden is sexy. It's a 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:18.000 sexy top he is. He is a sexy man. He's 0:03:18.120 --> 0:03:23.320 all over. If you're into pin up dudes and Fox News, 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:26.160 he's your guy. I want to jump into it because 0:03:26.240 --> 0:03:29.400 House Republicans are about to become the majority, and they've 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:32.639 announced that they're going to investigate Hunter Biden. So let's 0:03:32.639 --> 0:03:37.280 start with just establishing who Hunter Biden is, because some 0:03:37.320 --> 0:03:39.360 of the things Hunter Biden has done are probably not 0:03:39.560 --> 0:03:42.720 very becoming of a son of a public official, like 0:03:43.520 --> 0:03:47.960 using the Biden family name to make foreign business deals done. 0:03:48.000 --> 0:03:50.160 A good place to start. Yeah, I mean, I think 0:03:50.200 --> 0:03:52.640 I think it's fair to say that, Um, Hunter Biden is, 0:03:52.920 --> 0:03:56.480 you know, he's essentially a fail son. Um. I think, Um, 0:03:57.240 --> 0:04:00.240 he's He's had a lot of tough things happen into 0:04:00.320 --> 0:04:02.240 him in his life. You know. I think that it's 0:04:02.400 --> 0:04:06.200 it's fairly well known Joe Biden's history of tragedy with 0:04:06.840 --> 0:04:09.280 I believe it was his wife dying in a in 0:04:09.320 --> 0:04:11.560 a car accident. I know Hunter was involved in that, 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:14.280 and Um, and you know that's something that's going to 0:04:14.360 --> 0:04:17.560 affect you. And then his brother Bo Biden as well, 0:04:18.120 --> 0:04:21.600 passing from from cancer not all that long ago. Um, 0:04:21.600 --> 0:04:24.120 and that's sort of when, according to what I've seen, 0:04:24.200 --> 0:04:28.360 his tailspin really began. Um. But you know, I think, 0:04:28.440 --> 0:04:30.760 like you're right, Like it is fair to say that 0:04:30.760 --> 0:04:35.080 that there is there's some questionable things there that Republicans 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:37.760 and right wing media are trying to to glom onto 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:39.920 this as some sort of giant scandal that's going to 0:04:40.000 --> 0:04:43.320 bring down Joe Biden and the Democratic Party is is 0:04:43.320 --> 0:04:45.960 a little bit ridiculous. And I mean, there's so much 0:04:46.000 --> 0:04:47.920 to get into the weeds here. Uh. You know, you 0:04:48.240 --> 0:04:51.000 got into it a little bit with that that nobody's 0:04:51.040 --> 0:04:54.120 really even seen this laptop yet. Um. And here we 0:04:54.160 --> 0:04:56.680 are with months and months. What's it been like two 0:04:56.760 --> 0:04:59.120 years now since this first came up. I mean, I 0:04:59.120 --> 0:05:01.280 think it is fast. Part of the reasons we wanted 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:03.240 to cover it one, I'm running into people on the 0:05:03.320 --> 0:05:06.039 road and it's always a go to hunter Biden And 0:05:06.080 --> 0:05:07.640 more often than not, the stuff that I run into 0:05:07.720 --> 0:05:09.839 with people on the road, what is the dodge? What 0:05:10.000 --> 0:05:12.279 is the quickest thing you can grab a hold onto. 0:05:12.320 --> 0:05:15.039 It's easy to say Hunter Biden laptop. It's harder to 0:05:15.080 --> 0:05:19.880 say what Hunter Biden's laptop contains. But I think it's 0:05:19.920 --> 0:05:22.920 fascinating because I also think on the left, the left 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:25.160 is trying as hard as they can not to address 0:05:25.560 --> 0:05:28.520 what is potentially on this laptop and some of the allegations, 0:05:28.560 --> 0:05:32.840 which are some dire allegations. Now I need a download 0:05:33.160 --> 0:05:36.240 on what I need to know about this, where the 0:05:36.279 --> 0:05:39.000 reality is, where we should be suspicions and what is 0:05:39.000 --> 0:05:41.360 the bullshit people are slinging at the board to try 0:05:41.400 --> 0:05:44.120 to distract you from something else. So so you're helping 0:05:44.120 --> 0:05:45.480 me out here with Hunter Biden, and I do think 0:05:45.480 --> 0:05:47.840 it is it's important to point out it is true. 0:05:47.880 --> 0:05:50.040 He's gone through a lot of tragedy in his life. 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:54.880 We've seen images. He's dealt with drug addiction publicly, He's 0:05:54.920 --> 0:05:56.320 written about that in a book. A lot of these 0:05:56.320 --> 0:05:59.239 things are things that he verifies and talks openly about. 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:04.040 He himself is an attorney and he's been a foreign lobbyist. 0:06:04.240 --> 0:06:07.000 Is that correct? Yes, And that's where some of this 0:06:07.000 --> 0:06:10.839 this drama starts too. And he's currently under investigation in 0:06:10.880 --> 0:06:13.760 Delaware as well. For I believe it's tax fraud. I'm 0:06:13.839 --> 0:06:15.600 not one hundred percent sure on that, but it's something 0:06:15.640 --> 0:06:17.280 like that. And I think that's that's an important thing too. 0:06:17.279 --> 0:06:20.239 When they talk about Hunter bid being under investigation, it's 0:06:20.800 --> 0:06:23.680 one of the little tax fraud God bless investigate that 0:06:23.760 --> 0:06:26.560 tax fraud. Not for me though, I and all of 0:06:26.600 --> 0:06:30.440 my tax fraud comes from imbecility. I really don't know 0:06:30.560 --> 0:06:33.520 the difference between W nin and W four, So so 0:06:33.880 --> 0:06:37.159 don't come at me. That's just that's my naivete. But 0:06:37.200 --> 0:06:39.400 so Hunter Biden is under investigation, but not exactly for 0:06:39.520 --> 0:06:43.000 the stuff that Republicans are arguing. So we got nepotism, 0:06:43.000 --> 0:06:45.200 and we got corruption, we got hardware repair, we got 0:06:45.360 --> 0:06:49.799 Ukrainian gas companies. What does that say about the nature 0:06:50.080 --> 0:06:54.039 of this conspiracy theory? Well, I think you know, we 0:06:54.080 --> 0:06:56.000 can take this. The Hunter Biden laptop is like the 0:06:56.080 --> 0:06:59.640 latest thing, right, and so you had in this every 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:04.080 elect and it seems the Republican Party and conservative media 0:07:04.080 --> 0:07:06.520 are looking for something to grab hold of. And you 0:07:06.560 --> 0:07:08.880 said it yourself earlier that that people are fired up 0:07:08.920 --> 0:07:11.120 about this, but they don't really know why. Right, they 0:07:11.120 --> 0:07:13.480 know Hunter Biden's laptop is something that they should be 0:07:13.640 --> 0:07:15.960 they should be upset about and that that there's something 0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:18.040 nefarious there. But you can take a look back at 0:07:18.480 --> 0:07:23.160 you know, the her emails, same thing. You know, nobody 0:07:23.240 --> 0:07:25.600 really knew what was what was wrong with that, but 0:07:25.680 --> 0:07:28.120 they knew that there was something wrong with it. Um 0:07:28.560 --> 0:07:31.240 it proved her untrustworthiness, the same thing with you can 0:07:31.240 --> 0:07:33.760 go back to. It's also it also proves how little 0:07:33.800 --> 0:07:36.760 people know about technology. The fact that you can say 0:07:36.880 --> 0:07:39.720 emails and laptop. It's as if America is just a 0:07:39.720 --> 0:07:42.440 bunch of seventy four year old grandparents who lost for 0:07:42.480 --> 0:07:46.160 remote and they're like, I don't know, it's cinches and devils, right, 0:07:46.240 --> 0:07:49.240 that's your controls, the magnets. It's the magnets who could 0:07:49.240 --> 0:07:51.480 ever figure these things out. But you just describe the 0:07:51.520 --> 0:07:54.080 Republican base right there, right for the most part. I 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:57.000 mean that's and and so they they hear Hunter Biden, 0:07:57.080 --> 0:07:59.960 they hear laptop and it just sounds it just sounds nefarious. 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:02.200 And then all right, and then you throw into this 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:07.520 was uncovered by a laptop repairman who contacted the FBI 0:08:07.800 --> 0:08:11.080 and talked to the FBI, and you know it, all 0:08:12.080 --> 0:08:15.360 the Deep States involved in this now and it's all though, 0:08:15.400 --> 0:08:18.640 these little buzzwords that they've they've spent years, you know, 0:08:18.720 --> 0:08:21.680 making these into buzzwords, making these into things that Republican 0:08:21.760 --> 0:08:24.960 voters just have a reaction to, a visceral reaction just 0:08:25.080 --> 0:08:27.800 hearing these words, you know, at this point, and I 0:08:27.800 --> 0:08:30.160 know we're going to get into the investigations and stuff 0:08:30.200 --> 0:08:32.679 like that, but if you remember back with Benghazi, I 0:08:32.720 --> 0:08:35.440 believe it was Kevin McCarthy, he was bragging about how 0:08:35.440 --> 0:08:38.959 there would not have been her emails without the Benghazi investigations. 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:43.439 Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right, but we put 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:48.520 together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee. What are 0:08:48.559 --> 0:08:53.280 her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping? Why because she's untrustable. 0:08:53.520 --> 0:08:55.880 But no one would have known any of that had happened, 0:08:56.160 --> 0:08:58.520 had we a great And that's really the point of this. 0:08:58.800 --> 0:09:01.160 They want to investigate this laptop just so they can 0:09:01.200 --> 0:09:04.320 find something to go after Joe Biden and by extension, 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:07.679 the Democratic Party with fun exciting. So let's figure out 0:09:07.720 --> 0:09:10.160 what they're gonna what they're gonna find. So, so let's 0:09:10.160 --> 0:09:15.080 break this down. Twenty nineteen. There's three water damage laptops 0:09:15.880 --> 0:09:21.000 that allegedly Hunter Biden brings to a Delaware computer repair shop, 0:09:21.040 --> 0:09:24.439 and the shop owner, who's a Trump supporter, sees the receipt. 0:09:24.600 --> 0:09:28.800 It's from Hunter Biden allegedly. He starts going through some 0:09:28.840 --> 0:09:32.400 of these files, notices some pictures. He's also legally blind to. 0:09:32.960 --> 0:09:36.400 The shopkeeper is a bright and he can't he can't 0:09:36.440 --> 0:09:38.960 confirm that it was actually Hunter that dropped it off, 0:09:39.000 --> 0:09:40.520 you know, but there is a receipt with what books 0:09:40.520 --> 0:09:43.360 to be Hunters Hunter's signature, so you know, give them 0:09:43.360 --> 0:09:45.840 the benefit of the doubt. So okay, yes, there's a receipt, 0:09:46.040 --> 0:09:51.880 and supposedly Hunter doesn't pay for the repair, and therefore 0:09:52.960 --> 0:09:54.680 this is where things get legal. Now there's a moral 0:09:54.760 --> 0:09:58.320 question here too. But that laptop, multiple laptops are left 0:09:58.320 --> 0:10:02.200 there for past ninety day, so they become the owner 0:10:02.240 --> 0:10:04.880 of the repair shop. It's now his laptop. Yes it's 0:10:05.000 --> 0:10:07.440 it's it's his property by law. So he starts going 0:10:07.440 --> 0:10:10.320 through this stuff and he starts fighting pictures, he starts 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:13.720 fighting emails like what happens next after he he sort 0:10:13.760 --> 0:10:17.440 of connects the dots of whose whose laptop this supposedly 0:10:17.559 --> 0:10:19.640 is and what he might have on it. Okay, so 0:10:19.679 --> 0:10:22.360 this guy's name is John mac Isaac and like you said, 0:10:22.400 --> 0:10:26.000 he's he's a conservative Trump supporter. This is all like 0:10:26.040 --> 0:10:28.160 you said, you know, twenty nineteen. It's important to sort 0:10:28.200 --> 0:10:31.440 of set the time frame as well. This is a 0:10:31.600 --> 0:10:34.120 month I think maybe three weeks before the election something 0:10:34.160 --> 0:10:38.000 like that. So he's, uh, he's deep into this world 0:10:38.080 --> 0:10:41.839 of right wing politics, conservative media. He's very worried about 0:10:41.840 --> 0:10:44.480 the deep state, but decide he talks to his dad 0:10:44.480 --> 0:10:47.199 about it, who I believe was formerly in the army. 0:10:47.240 --> 0:10:49.160 I believe I might be wrong about that, but his 0:10:49.240 --> 0:10:52.439 dad recommends any contacts the local FBI field office. UM. 0:10:53.200 --> 0:10:56.840 So so he does that. The FBI comes by and 0:10:57.160 --> 0:11:01.040 apparently they seize the laptop and that's it. That's the 0:11:01.080 --> 0:11:04.640 last time that the laptop was ever actually seen. Um. 0:11:04.679 --> 0:11:07.640 Mister Isaac made copies of the laptop and put it 0:11:07.679 --> 0:11:10.760 onto a hard drive. Um. And then at that point, 0:11:10.800 --> 0:11:13.920 you know, it's just him handing it off trying to 0:11:13.960 --> 0:11:17.920 contact Juliani. I know Steve Bannon ended up with with 0:11:17.960 --> 0:11:21.280 a copy of it. Um. And and then you end 0:11:21.360 --> 0:11:23.760 up with Bannon contacting the New York Post. And that's 0:11:23.760 --> 0:11:26.880 sort of how this became a thing. What does he 0:11:26.920 --> 0:11:29.840 think he has to begin with he's got a laptop. 0:11:29.880 --> 0:11:31.880 It's Hunter Biden. But what what what does he thinks 0:11:31.960 --> 0:11:36.240 on the laptop that's worthy of getting it to Steve Bannon. Now, 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:39.959 according to him, he pretty much ignored the salacious pictures, 0:11:40.000 --> 0:11:43.520 the salacious details, things like that. He they say, they 0:11:43.520 --> 0:11:46.080 say that this thing's got a ton of that, right 0:11:46.160 --> 0:11:50.080 that all years and years of of of pictures of 0:11:50.280 --> 0:11:58.320 Hunter with UH and sexually compromising positions UH doing, using drugs, 0:11:58.400 --> 0:12:01.199 using drugs, things of that nature like that that's on there. 0:12:01.240 --> 0:12:03.600 So he claims he's not interested in that. He's not 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:05.960 interested in that. He says, what he's interested in more 0:12:06.040 --> 0:12:11.120 is the emails, particularly about foreign policy type stuff. Hunter 0:12:11.320 --> 0:12:16.480 stealings with agents of say China. Um and there was 0:12:16.520 --> 0:12:19.400 Barismo was the one thing that he was really focused on, 0:12:19.440 --> 0:12:24.040 according to Isaac. According to the repairman, and Barismo was 0:12:24.040 --> 0:12:28.559 was an energy company where Hunter received I mean it's 0:12:28.600 --> 0:12:30.760 basically a no show job a million dollars a year, 0:12:30.840 --> 0:12:33.680 you know, a no show job, which again which is 0:12:33.880 --> 0:12:37.839 you know, look that sucks, um and and I mean 0:12:37.880 --> 0:12:40.320 not for not for him, you know, for him it's great. 0:12:40.360 --> 0:12:43.679 But that's like I mean, welcome to America, right, Like 0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:46.280 I mean, yeah, like like the sons of politicians get 0:12:46.400 --> 0:12:48.920 million dollars a year, no show jobs, and so it's 0:12:48.960 --> 0:12:51.360 not really that big of a scandal, but that's what 0:12:51.360 --> 0:12:54.480 they're trying to turn it into, you know. Um, and 0:12:54.640 --> 0:12:57.320 I'm not too much into like what about what about? 0:12:57.400 --> 0:13:00.360 But I mean we're talking about a few months after 0:13:00.400 --> 0:13:03.840 Ivanka gets those those trademarks in China for whatever it was, 0:13:03.920 --> 0:13:06.520 twenty million dollars, you know, things like that. So at 0:13:06.520 --> 0:13:10.360 that point, it's it becomes barisma. And honestly, before this interview, 0:13:10.880 --> 0:13:13.560 before I started researching this stuff again, I totally forgot 0:13:13.600 --> 0:13:17.200 about barisma, but this was like a huge thing. That 0:13:17.240 --> 0:13:18.760 was the big talking point that they're trying to get 0:13:18.800 --> 0:13:21.439 stick before stick before that. I think it is. It's 0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:24.160 a good point. It shows just how broken this system is, 0:13:24.200 --> 0:13:25.599 and I think it is true. I think folks on 0:13:25.679 --> 0:13:28.400 the left need to look at this. And there's some 0:13:28.440 --> 0:13:31.800 shady stuff that happens, but it didn't look like there 0:13:31.840 --> 0:13:35.680 was a connection between Joe Biden having influence and the 0:13:35.720 --> 0:13:38.480 money that was paid to his son. Correct, that's sort 0:13:38.480 --> 0:13:41.560 of where it stood. Yes, yeah, and it doesn't show that. 0:13:41.600 --> 0:13:43.920 But so now what they're doing is they need a thing, right, 0:13:43.960 --> 0:13:46.120 Conservatives just need a thing that they can repeat and 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:48.560 what they can say. And you know, I don't know 0:13:48.600 --> 0:13:51.400 if you remember. I think there was only one presidential debate, 0:13:51.440 --> 0:13:55.120 but in that debate, Donald Trump kept yelling asking Biden 0:13:55.160 --> 0:13:56.959 who was the big guy? Who was the big guy? 0:13:57.000 --> 0:13:58.679 And that's because there was there was an email where 0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:00.560 Hunter said, I'm going to set up a meet with 0:14:00.720 --> 0:14:03.480 the big guy. And conservatives are just like, all right, 0:14:03.520 --> 0:14:06.040 that proves that's Joe Biden. Joe Biden is meeting with 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:08.560 this business partners, Joe Biden is taking money. You know, 0:14:08.840 --> 0:14:10.880 they say, that's what all of this proves, and like 0:14:11.280 --> 0:14:13.600 it doesn't, you know, I mean, all the proves is 0:14:13.600 --> 0:14:16.880 that Hunter Biden like was connected and got a bunch 0:14:16.920 --> 0:14:21.600 of money, and like there's there's there's a scandal there. 0:14:21.600 --> 0:14:24.080 But it's not like we're impeaching Joe Biden over this stuff, 0:14:24.160 --> 0:14:27.040 you know, And yeah, yeah, we're probably going to be 0:14:27.080 --> 0:14:30.440 impeaching Joe Biden over all of this stuff. Yeah yeah. 0:14:30.440 --> 0:14:32.680 So at that point is that the smoking gun when 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:35.320 people are talking about what is there are they putting 0:14:35.400 --> 0:14:39.640 to this this email that says and maybe am I 0:14:39.640 --> 0:14:41.840 correct that there's maybe a couple of emails that reference 0:14:41.920 --> 0:14:44.440 one the big guy, a meeting with the big guy 0:14:44.480 --> 0:14:47.400 that perhaps Hunter could have was that with because there's 0:14:47.880 --> 0:14:52.800 there's Barizma uh, which is Ukraine U created gas company. Yes, right, 0:14:52.960 --> 0:14:55.080 but then we also had there's a Chinese there's Chinese 0:14:55.080 --> 0:14:57.080 money in there. There's Chinese there was there was a 0:14:57.160 --> 0:14:59.760 Chinese company as well. Yeah, that was in there as well, 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:04.120 the Chinese company. And they're paying money to to Hunter 0:15:04.320 --> 0:15:08.000 and also Joe's brother is that correct? And yeah, I 0:15:08.000 --> 0:15:09.840 mean the whole family is kind of mixed up. I mean, 0:15:09.920 --> 0:15:11.640 this is shitty. This is it is what are we 0:15:11.680 --> 0:15:15.000 doing where we're are a good we're a good, clean politician. 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:18.640 So so Joe's brothers maybe getting money from China, Hunters 0:15:18.640 --> 0:15:21.080 maybe getting money from China. I think the timeline is 0:15:21.120 --> 0:15:23.880 important here too, because they're maybe getting money after Joe's 0:15:23.880 --> 0:15:26.680 out of power, when he when he wasn't in office. Right, 0:15:26.880 --> 0:15:30.320 So so technically, even if Joe's getting money at that point, 0:15:30.440 --> 0:15:35.480 not illegal, but not ideal. No, not illegal and certainly 0:15:35.520 --> 0:15:37.760 not ideal. I mean I think that's that's definitely fair. 0:15:37.840 --> 0:15:40.200 But you know, I mean we're talking about this, it's like, 0:15:40.200 --> 0:15:42.320 all right, if you want to make make that type 0:15:42.320 --> 0:15:44.520 of stuff illegal, like make it illegal. But it's just 0:15:44.640 --> 0:15:49.040 it's it's not right now. Um. And so that's like 0:15:49.080 --> 0:15:50.480 that's the world we live in, you know, and it 0:15:50.560 --> 0:15:53.680 sucks like it sucks, but that's that's where we're at 0:15:53.760 --> 0:15:56.320 right now. Talk to me how the how Fox and 0:15:56.360 --> 0:15:59.280 sort of the Meca the Medio echo chambers started to 0:15:59.280 --> 0:16:03.280 elevate this story. Yeah, so you know there was when 0:16:03.320 --> 0:16:06.680 this four story first broke, This had been shopped around 0:16:06.880 --> 0:16:10.880 a lot by ilieve. I'm pretty sure it was Giuliani, 0:16:10.960 --> 0:16:13.320 I guess at that point shopping this around. Wall Street 0:16:13.400 --> 0:16:16.200 Journal turned it down, So they turned it They went 0:16:16.240 --> 0:16:18.320 with the New York Post, who ended up running the story. 0:16:18.320 --> 0:16:21.240 And so why are they turning it down because you 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:23.640 can't even I mean, at that point, you can't verify 0:16:23.800 --> 0:16:28.240 that it's even actually the laptop. Right. And again, like 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:29.880 we we got to remember like what we're coming off 0:16:29.880 --> 0:16:34.800 from in twenty sixteen with just the flood of misinformation 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:38.200 and nonsense. And you know, I've worked on on some 0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:41.840 pretty big political campaigns and in the last few weeks 0:16:41.840 --> 0:16:43.920 of the election, the press isn't going to just take 0:16:43.960 --> 0:16:46.240 something like out of the blue that hasn't been vetted 0:16:46.280 --> 0:16:48.400 or verified, or at least most of the press isn't. 0:16:48.480 --> 0:16:50.440 You know, well, the press at this point was spooked 0:16:50.440 --> 0:16:53.240 because of what happened with Hillary and Trump just weeks before. 0:16:53.280 --> 0:16:57.200 Correct exactly, yeah, yeah, and and this type of thing, 0:16:57.680 --> 0:16:59.240 there's just no way to vet it. I mean, you 0:16:59.280 --> 0:17:01.800 need time to verify that this is true, that there's 0:17:01.840 --> 0:17:04.240 actually a scandal here. And you know, we're three weeks 0:17:04.240 --> 0:17:06.360 three weeks in, so I'm pretty sure that's why Wall 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:09.199 Street Journal didn't didn't run. So the major media outlets 0:17:09.240 --> 0:17:11.440 are not running with this. They're scared to run with it. 0:17:13.320 --> 0:17:16.600 But now here we are a couple of years later, 0:17:16.800 --> 0:17:20.480 looking back at this, even this week, CBS News has 0:17:20.720 --> 0:17:26.560 verified parts of information that's on the hard drive. They 0:17:26.560 --> 0:17:30.159 still don't have a laptop. Correct. Yes, it seems as 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:33.440 if there is some verification of what was potentially there, 0:17:33.480 --> 0:17:38.119 and there's already criticism of At the time, Facebook was 0:17:38.240 --> 0:17:43.720 limiting the amounts of stories that were showing up around hundreds. 0:17:43.840 --> 0:17:45.639 Nobody could share it, I think. I don't know anybody 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:47.520 could share. You couldn't share, right, I think, And that 0:17:47.600 --> 0:17:49.840 was Zuckerberg at the at that point had been told 0:17:49.880 --> 0:17:54.600 by the FBI, Uh, careful because Russian misinformation is all 0:17:54.640 --> 0:17:56.960 over the campaign or there's a potential for it, so 0:17:57.119 --> 0:18:00.320 be on the lookout for it. Like in hindsight, they're 0:18:00.320 --> 0:18:04.560 more there there than the media gave credit to. All right, 0:18:04.600 --> 0:18:09.320 maybe there was more there there, but what like just 0:18:09.359 --> 0:18:12.439 looking back at twenty sixteen, the firestorm that would have 0:18:12.440 --> 0:18:15.800 come out, there was no controversy known at that time 0:18:15.840 --> 0:18:18.320 other than like just Hunter Biden has a laptop, right, 0:18:18.640 --> 0:18:21.080 and the way that that conservative media and right wing 0:18:21.160 --> 0:18:25.000 media works in Unison, it would have drowned out everything else, 0:18:25.040 --> 0:18:27.960 you know. But it's about that that Steve Bannon flood 0:18:28.000 --> 0:18:30.439 the zone was shit uh strategy. You know, you just 0:18:30.520 --> 0:18:33.680 keep throwing stuff out there. And I mean you got 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:35.679 to give conservative media credit for the way that they 0:18:35.680 --> 0:18:38.520 all reply in Unison and they can make a thing 0:18:38.640 --> 0:18:41.119 out of nothing. Yeah, I mean yeah, the flood the 0:18:41.200 --> 0:18:44.640 zone with the shit Bannon strategy, this feels like this 0:18:44.720 --> 0:18:46.960 was this had so much shit you could put into 0:18:47.000 --> 0:18:50.240 that zone. Yeah, yeah, and that's you know, that's something 0:18:50.240 --> 0:18:53.520 that he actually admitted. He said, Um, Hunter Biden's laptop, 0:18:54.200 --> 0:18:56.919 you put your own obsessions into it, you know. So 0:18:57.080 --> 0:18:59.440 for For Bannon, it was China, you know, he went 0:18:59.480 --> 0:19:01.280 he went after and the China thing. For other people, 0:19:01.280 --> 0:19:03.840 it was the drugs and the women, you know, and 0:19:03.840 --> 0:19:06.119 for others, and you just put whatever it is that 0:19:06.200 --> 0:19:10.040 you that is your obsession. You you channel that into like, oh, 0:19:10.080 --> 0:19:13.199 that Hunter Biden's laptop proves that that's real. I love it. 0:19:13.200 --> 0:19:16.639 It's it's a Maga Rorschach test. Yeah, yeah, exactly, stare 0:19:16.680 --> 0:19:20.480 into it. See see your peccadillo staring right back at you. 0:19:21.040 --> 0:19:24.879 I think that's fascinating. When Bannon has talked about it correctly. 0:19:24.880 --> 0:19:27.640 If I'm wrong, he had some moral issues with the 0:19:27.680 --> 0:19:31.000 idea of putting out some of these pictures of Hunter. 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:34.320 I mean, this is some man's privacy. It's it's his 0:19:34.400 --> 0:19:37.960 personal pictures. For all the pictures of him with illicit 0:19:38.000 --> 0:19:41.000 drug use, there's pictures of like his brother's grave site. 0:19:41.080 --> 0:19:44.600 There's all these personal emotional moments that this person put 0:19:44.640 --> 0:19:47.400 on their laptop, and then now somebody else has They 0:19:47.440 --> 0:19:49.639 have their search histories, they have all these types of things, 0:19:49.720 --> 0:19:55.200 and and I believe Ben encountered that with but we're 0:19:55.240 --> 0:19:57.359 at war, yes, so you do it. And I think 0:19:57.440 --> 0:20:01.639 that's what's so fascinated and where we're so fucked right now, 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:05.680 because there are legitimate things to be curious about with 0:20:05.720 --> 0:20:09.040 this information, and we should be critical of people who 0:20:09.119 --> 0:20:12.560 have close connections to powerful people. But when it's approached 0:20:12.640 --> 0:20:16.359 by operatives who treat this not as an investigation towards 0:20:16.400 --> 0:20:19.840 justice but as war, then what you have is people 0:20:19.880 --> 0:20:22.800 acting with warlike tendencies who will stop at nothing to 0:20:22.880 --> 0:20:26.080 only win that benefits their side, and that doesn't benefit justice, 0:20:26.160 --> 0:20:29.959 it benefits the person who is fighting, and that general 0:20:30.000 --> 0:20:32.440 at that point, that's somebody like Steve Bannon, who's trying 0:20:32.480 --> 0:20:35.119 to rip people off for building a new wall on 0:20:35.160 --> 0:20:37.720 the Mexico border at the same time, right well, and 0:20:37.760 --> 0:20:40.080 you have to understand, they're not just demanding that the 0:20:40.119 --> 0:20:43.120 press cover Hunter Biden's laptop. They're demanding that they cover 0:20:43.160 --> 0:20:45.280 it right now the way that I want you to, 0:20:45.520 --> 0:20:47.840 you know, and like these outlets, they do have a 0:20:47.880 --> 0:20:50.719 responsibility to vet this stuff and make sure that it's 0:20:50.760 --> 0:20:53.119 true before putting it out there, especially you know, and 0:20:53.119 --> 0:20:54.879