NPR under fire for claiming Hunter Biden laptop story was 'discredited' by US intelligence, media

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NPR is under fire for falsely reporting Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop was "discredited by U.S. intelligence and independent investigations by news organizations."

The inaccurate claim was part of a review of Hunter Biden’s memoir, "Beautiful Things," in which the president’s son details his past as an alcoholic and a crack addict. NPR senior editor and correspondent Ron Elving wrote that President Trump and Rudolph Giuliani spent much of the 2020 campaign attempting to tie the Biden family to various scandals and controversies.

HANNITY WARNS CONTENTS OF HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP WILL 'SHOCK THE SOUL OF THIS NATION'

The laptop, first reported by the New York Post, allegedly contains emails revealing details of his foreign business interests, including contacts in Ukraine and China, along with a series of unflattering photos of the president’s son.

"The last gasp of Giuliani's campaign against the Bidens featured a laptop supposedly obtained from sources that would document the younger Biden's drug use and other offenses. The laptop story was discredited by U.S. intelligence and independent investigations by news organizations," Elving wrote.

Washington Examiner editor Daniel Chaitin noticed the inaccurate sentence and blasted NPR on Twitter.

"No, the contents of the laptop have not been discredited," Chaitin wrote.

Fox News learned last year the FBI and Justice Department officials concur with an assessment from Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe that the laptop is not part of a Russian disinformation campaign targeting then-Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

NPR did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

RATCLIFFE SAYS HUNTER BIDEN EMAILS, LAPTOP 'NOT PART OF SOME RUSSIAN DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN'

Conservative strategist Arthur Schwartz responded by directly attacking the reporter.

"John Ratcliffe publicly & explicitly said that he had seen no intelligence suggesting that the laptop was part of any Russian disinformation campaign. @NPRrelving is a garbage reporter who shouldn’t be collecting a taxpayer subsidized paycheck," Schwartz wrote.  

Many others took to Twitter with feedback for NPR:

Last year, Ratcliffe said that Hunter Biden’s laptop and the emails on it were "not part of some Russian disinformation campaign," despite claims from House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif.

"Let me be clear: the intelligence community doesn’t believe that because there is no intelligence that supports that," Ratcliffe said. "And we have shared no intelligence with Adam Schiff, or any member of Congress." 

Ratcliffe went on to say it was "simply not true."

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"If you thought it wasn’t possible for Schiff to have any less credibility, DOJ just proved you wrong," a senior intelligence official told Fox News at the time.

Hunter Biden confirmed late last year that he is under federal investigation for his "tax affairs" surrounding his overseas business dealings. The FBI has since been in possession of his laptop. 

Twitter and Facebook famously suppressed sharing of the New York Post's original story about Hunter Biden's laptop last year, in an unprecedented example of Big Tech censorship.

Fox News’ Jack Durschlag, Jake Gibson and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.