When stories about the purported contents of Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop first emerged in October 2020, virtually all of the mainstream media outlets summarily dismissed the damning information as alleged foreign disinformation that was intended to harm then-candidate Joe Biden and help then-President Donald Trump.
Now more than two years later, CBS News has finally acknowledged and confirmed that the laptop and information thereon are authentic and legitimate and real, Fox News reported.
CBS News now joins the likes of CNN, NBC News, Politico, The New York Times, and The Washington Post as the latest to have belatedly, and likely begrudgingly, independently confirmed the authenticity of the Hunter Biden laptop and veracity of the initial reports from the New York Post in 2020 that were widely censored on social media and dismissed or simply ignored by the mainstream media.
Belated confirmation
According to CBS News correspondent Catherine Herridge, a “clean” and “exact copy” of the laptop’s hard drive was obtained through the lawyer for the owner of the computer repair shop in Delaware where Hunter Biden had abandoned the device in 2019.
That copy was then independently analyzed by two cyber forensics experts who determined that there was “no evidence that the user data had been modified, fabricated or tampered with.”
One of those expert analysts, Sean Lanterman, told CBS News, “There is such a vast amount of data that was accumulated over time that is personal in nature. Everything from pictures, to personal documents to photographs, and text messages, and emails. And just the sheer volume of what we’re dealing with it would be difficult, if not impossible, to fabricate.”
Lanterman noted that the accumulated data was “consistent with normal, everyday use of a computer,” and added, “I have no doubt in my mind that this data was created by Hunter Biden, and that it came from a computer under Mr. Biden’s control.”
CBS News has obtained data from a laptop purported to have belonged to Hunter Biden. The data came directly from the source who said they provided it to the FBI under subpoena.@CBS_Herridge shares what was found during an independent forensic review. pic.twitter.com/uMWf1vB2Zv
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) November 21, 2022
For what it is worth, Hunter Biden’s attorney Chris Clark still attempted to downplay the significance and authenticity of the laptop’s data by asserting that “there have been multiple attempts to hack, infect, distort, and peddle misinformation regarding Mr. Biden’s devices and data.”
Clark also added that “there are ongoing efforts to utilize the infected and distorted data to spread disinformation. At no time did any individual … have Mr. Biden’s consent to access his computer data or share it with others.”
Why the sudden about-face?
Fox News suggested, and even the report from Herridge seemed to imply, that the underlying reason for this sudden about-face on the veracity of the laptop is due to the fact that the Republican-controlled House in the next congressional term has made it exceedingly clear that the laptop and allegations of Biden family corruption in domestic and foreign business dealings will be key focal points for investigations.
The New York Post, which faced social media censorship, intense criticism, and even mockery from other media outlets over its initial reporting on Hunter Biden’s laptop couldn’t help but point out that “It only took them 769 days” for CBS to finally confirm that the laptop and its data were real and legitimate.
