Former Politico reporters outing negative Biden stories.
Two former Politico reporters spoke candidly about their bosses’ efforts to slow down or completely eliminate their coverage of the Biden family during their time at the news outlet.
Mark Caputo and Tara Palmeri, now reporters for Axios and Puck, reflect on their time at Politico on Palmeri’s “Human Conquest” podcast.
Caputo in 2011. He called Politico a “sick headline” for downplaying Hunter Biden’s laptop scandal during the 2020 election.
“I mean, Politico, my former employer and who I knew at the time, didn’t do itself any favors,” Caputo said. “I was covering Biden at the time, and I remember coming to my editor and saying, ‘Hey, we have to write about Hunter Biden’s laptop.’ And I was told this came from higher up at Politico: Don’t write about the laptop, don’t talk about the laptop, don’t talk about the laptop, and that’s the only thing Politico wrote.” It’s a piece of misinformation that can at least be called misinformation.
Caputo was referring to a Politico report, titled The Hunter Biden Story Alleged Russian Intelligence, that an open letter signed by dozens of former Intel officials and 51 intelligence officials contained all the information obtained from Hunter Biden’s laptop. Russian espionage.” The report comes days after The New York Post reported on the laptop bombshell in October 2020.
Politician Hunter Biden Confirms Laptop Emails After Media Revealed ‘Russian Intelligence’ During Election.
In an October 2020 report, Politico said 51 intelligence officials signed a letter saying Hunter Biden’s laptop history had “all the hallmarks of a Russian intelligence operation.” (Main: (Photo by Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images), Screenshot/Politico)
Caputo in 2011. His 2019 report shed light on a report by then-candidate Joe Biden’s rival Democratic campaign about Hunter’s “tax dodging” work at the Ukrainian energy company Burima.
“And you know, I wrote the classic story that the son of the former vice president was slapped with a huge tax lien for working on this controversial Ukrainian oil or natural gas concern.” He’s chasing his father on the campaign trail.’ That story was killed by the editors,’ Caputo said.
When reached by Fox News Digital, Caputo provided a video showing the original Word document on Hunter Biden’s May 8, 2019 tax lien report.
James Clapper accused Politico of ‘deliberately distorting’ what was written on Biden’s laptop as Russian disinfo.
Former political reporter Mark Caputo said his bosses “killed” a story about Hunter Biden’s shady finances when his father, Joe Biden, ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in May 2019. (William B. Plowman/NBC via Getty Images)
Similarly, Palmeri shared an experience with Politico regarding her “serious reporting” on then-President Biden’s son. She broke the story of the Hunter Biden gun incident that led to him being charged with lying about his drug use on a gun form.
“I spent three months on it, I went to the laptop store, and I did all the reports in Delaware, and I did all that. But yeah, it was like, it’s got to be like a lot — it’s got to be 100%. It’s nailed down,” Palmeri told Caputo. “I had everything, you know, the police report… I’m a strong reporter. But if he could have, I think if it was a different kind of story, it would have been published much quicker.”
Speaking to Fox News Digital, Palmeri elaborated on how her bosses dragged their feet before running her story.
“I definitely had to push really hard to get that report published. It was, like, constantly, ‘Hey, when are we going to do this? Hey, when are we going to get it there? Hey, when are you going to do this? It was so hard because that kind of familiar feeling was very much on the Biden administration and family. “It’s going to be hard to report serious things,” Palmeri told Fox News Digital creates. And finally, you know, we work to get published and find our editors. We support our work.”
Palmeri received the police report in 2011. It was shortly after Biden’s graduation in late January 2021, but her story didn’t go to print. End of March 2021.
“I think if it was Trump’s son, it would have been published sooner,” Palmeri said. “I had to work really hard to like it — like, ‘Hey, what’s going on in the story? Hey, what’s going on in the story? Like, what’s going on in the story?’ We gave the White House like a week or so to respond.
The former political reporter went on to cite the Biden administration’s “honeymoon phase” as the reason for the slow pace of her story.
“I think a lot of people, including journalists, wanted to side with the new administration,” Palmeri said. “And so I understand the reluctance to release such a piece in the first few months.”
Former political reporter Tara Palmeri told Fox News Digital that her story about Hunter Biden would have been published sooner had he been a “Trump kid.” (Tassos Katopodis/Getty Images)
Palmeri indicated that her superiors would not do the story unless she could link it to a federal agency.
“The fact that the Secret Service was involved should have been there,” Palmeri told Fox News Digital. “I think, you know, it’s shocking that the president’s son would be involved in a domestic dispute that involved throwing a gun near a school. And the police had to get involved.”
“I think they chose this angle because it increases gravity About the situation. The Secret Service may have misused the gun to cover up what could have been a crime if found by someone else. The quilt that I had lied on the shape of a gun. I had the gun and pointed out that he lied about it. But in the article, we downplayed it, ‘even though many people lie at gunpoint and never get charged with it’ is true, by the way. But it’s not like the headline wasn’t ‘Hunter Biden Sleeping on Gun Shape,’ which is tough. Even though I had a gun form for him to lie on, this was not the topic,” she continued.
“They felt it was fit to be published, that in that case a federal department was involved and that they abused their authority. It’s not as important as the crime itself — it wasn’t fit to run the story alone,” Palmeri continued. “In fairness, they wanted to make sure the story was closed, but they felt the need to rise above the obvious crime we had on the form. We had to cover up the Secret Service part. Class.”
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Palmeri noted that Politico’s coverage was influenced by the “honeymoon” period that took place in the first months of the Biden administration. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
A Politico spokesperson released comments previously made by Caputo and Palmeri on a podcast about how their reporters “conduct extensive reporting on the business dealings of Joe Biden’s close relatives,” as well as the confirmation of the confirmation. Hunter Biden’s laptop suggests his former staffer has a “false memory issue.”
“Our editors adhere to strict standards, each story is thoroughly vetted and ‘closed’ before publication. This approach reflects our unwavering commitment to accuracy and accountability – principles that have guided us and continue to do so,” the statement read.
Politico did not immediately respond to a series of questions sent by Fox News Digital.
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Several members of the media have reflected on Biden’s past coverage in recent months, particularly after his CNN debate performance put his cognitive decline on full display.
Fox News contributor Joe Concha compared reporters covering the Hunter Biden laptop scandal to those waiting to address the former president’s mental breakdown and the legitimacy of the Covid lab leak theory.
“It completes what is a trend in the media,” he said.