Fox News defended its coverage of Hunter Biden after his legal team threatened to hand them a lawsuit for the alleged “unlicensed commercial exploitation” of the president’s son, the Daily Caller has learned.
Geragos and Geragos, the law firm representing Biden, accused Fox News of engaging in “conspiracy and subsequent actions to defame” Biden and of airing “manipulated” and “hacked” images for good ratings and “financial gain,” NBC News reported. The network said its coverage of Biden is “constitutionally protected” and accurate in a statement to the Daily Caller.
“Hunter Biden’s lawyers have belatedly chosen to publicly attack Fox News’ constitutionally protected coverage regarding their client,” Fox News told the Caller. “Mr. Biden is a public figure who has been the subject of investigations by both the Department of Justice and Congress, has been indicted by two different U.S. Attorney’s Offices in California and Delaware, and has admitted to multiple incidents of wrongdoing.”
“Consistent with the First Amendment, Fox News has accurately covered these highly publicized events as well as the subsequent indictment of an FBI informant who was the source of certain claims made about Mr. Biden,” the statement continued.
Hunter Biden arrives at at Hancock Field Air National Guard Base after disembarking from Air Force One with his father, U.S. President Joe Biden, in Syracuse, New York, U.S., February 4, 2023. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
Biden’s lawyers alleged Fox News aired “intimate images” on their six-part series, “The Trial of Hunter Biden,” that aired in October 2021, according to NBC News. Fox News removed the series Tuesday at the legal team’s request, after they alleged it “manipulates the facts, distorts the truth, narrates happenings out of context, and invents dialogue intended to entertain.” (RELATED: Hunter Biden Sues IRS Alleging Agents Released Private Tax Information)
They are also demanding a correction and retraction from several television anchors — among them Jesse Watters, Sean Hannity and Maria Bartiromo — over their coverage of the allegations made by Alexander Smirnov, who the FBI charged with fabricating a story about Ukrainian energy company Burisma bribing then-Vice President Joe Biden and his son to use his political clout to protect the company, NBC News reported. The president’s son served on Burisma’s Board of Directors from 2014 to 2019, an indictment reads.
Biden has taken issue with Fox News calling Smirnov’s allegations “highly credible,” despite the network allegedly knowing his allegations were unverified, according to the outlet. The lawyers have reportedly demanded the network attach corrections to all of its reporting around the Smirnov allegations.
The attorney sent the letter April 23 and gave Fox News an April 26 deadline, attorney Mark Geragos told NBC News. The team hand-delivered a previous letter to Fox News two weeks prior before sending the Apr. 23 threat, sources told the outlet. Fox’s legal counsel reportedly asked for more time to give a response.