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Hunter’s Lawyers, Biden Transition Burned CNN Something Fierce On The Tax News

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Shelby Talcott Senior White House Correspondent
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Hunter Biden’s lawyers and President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team undercut CNN on an upcoming story about the U.S. attorney investigation Wednesday, according to anchor Jake Tapper.

Federal prosecutors in Delaware are investigating Hunter in regards to potential tax crimes, he announced Wednesday. Hunter’s statement noted that he “learned yesterday for the first time” about the investigation. The statement was released through his father’s presidential transition team, which also issued a comment on the news.

While the news may have come as a surprise to some, according to Tapper, CNN had been working on this story since Monday. CNN senior justice correspondent Evan Perez “reached out to Hunter’s legal team for comment” Monday, Tapper tweeted.

“They spoke on Tuesday and said they would get back to him today,” he continued. “They didn’t. Instead the transition team issued a press release.”

Tapper’s tweet suggests that Hunter and his father’s transition team undercut the network regarding the story. What’s more, Hunter’s statement notes that he first learned about the investigation Tuesday, whereas Tapper wrote that Perez reached out Monday.

Biden’s transition team and CNN did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the Daily Caller. (RELATED: Here’s What We’ve Found Digging Through Hunter Biden’s Alleged Laptop)

The apparent burn comes just after some publications lauded Biden’s incoming all-female communications team as a reset between the White House and the media following four years with President Donald Trump. Business Insider, for example, declared that “Trump waged a 4-year war with the media. Now Biden has hit the reset button with a historic all-female White House communications team” in one Nov. 29 article.

“But Mr. Biden is entering office with the stated intent of restoring credibility to government — and to the briefing room,” one article from The New York Times read. “His advisers have said that the communications team will endeavor for a return to pre-Trump ‘normalcy.’ And that seemed to be reflected in the communications team he announced this week.”

The Columbia Journalism Review even published an article wondering how “Biden’s new team” will “treat the press.” That article suggested the relationship will be professional, boring, normal and transparent.