An attorney representing Hunter Biden has issued a legal threat against Tucker Carlson and Fox News, demanding the retractions of segments suggesting Biden makes nearly $50,000 a month in rent payments to his father, President Joe Biden.
The implication in the Carlson segments, picked up by other Fox News personalities, was that the money was laundered to Joe Biden before he was elected president.
In the letter, Bryan Sullivan asked Carlson and Fox News Media general counsel Bernard Guger for an acknowledgment that the network “made a mistake by not verifying the information underlying the so-called ‘hire’ story and relying on information what he knew was described as ‘wild speculation.’” Sullivan is also asking for other statements on air, including an apology.
Carlson’s Jan. 16 segment cited a background check for a hiring application allegedly filled out by Hunter Biden in 2018. was indicative of rental payments of nearly $50,000 per month.
In his segment, Carlson claimed the payment was for “housing expenses.” He said: “How did a disgraced drug addict with no professional skills make enough money to pay $50,000 a month in rent?” Who pays and how much do they pay him and why did they pay him? And by the way, what secret documents are still showing up in houses where Hunter Biden lived? The latter referred to the discovery of secretly marked documents found at Joe Biden’s home in Wilmington.
Carlson also asked: ‘So is it possible that Joe Biden’s lifestyle was financed by his son and his son’s dealings with foreign governments? He apparently shared a bank account with his son.”
Other Fox News figures, including Sean Hannity and Jeanine Pirro, picked up the story. Fox News anchor John Roberts said: “Hunter Biden listed this house in Wilmington as his primary residence, which he rented for $50,000 a month. And I assume the papers were then in the garage.”
Sullivan indicated in his letter that the lease payments were actually quarterly payments for office space in Washington, DC at the House of Sweden. Sullivan cited a January 21 fact-checking report in the Washington Post.
The attorney also cited Carlson’s admission that he relied on the anonymous Twitter user for his report, as well as reporting by The New York Post’s Miranda Divine.
But Sullivan pointed out that Devine sent “warning tweets” about the $50,000 monthly rent, pointing out that claims it was for the Wilmington home were “wild speculation.”
Carlson “did not say anything about those tweets, although he did suggest reviewing all of her tweets, describing her as ‘extensive coverage,'” Sullivan wrote. He added: “Despite previous information that the so-called ‘hire story’ was called ‘wild speculation’ by one of its early proponents, Mr. Carlson reports with relentless indifference and real malice about the so-called ‘rent story’. as fact to support his belief that mr. Biden paid the so-called “rent” as part of a money laundering scheme to fund President Biden’s pre-presidential lifestyle.”
After the Carlson segment, Sullivan noted, Hannity provided an article from the Daily Caller, but that article has since been retracted after fact-checking by the Washington Post. Another report in Breitbart has been updated to state that quarterly payments have been made to House of Sweden.
A Fox News spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The legal threat was first reported in The Washington Post as part of a larger story of how Hunter Biden’s team has pursued a more aggressive strategy, calling for federal and state investigations into President Donald Trump’s allies over the distribution of personal laptop information.
Sullivan also demands that Carlson and other Fox News commentators “take the same time” to retract the hiring story.
Meanwhile, House Republicans are pushing for investigations into aspects of Hunter Biden’s history. The House Oversight Committee, led by Rep. James Comer (R-KY), scheduled a hearing next week titled “Protecting Speech from Government Interference and Social Media Bias, Part 1: Twitter’s Role in Suppressing the Biden Laptop Story.” Among the witnesses scheduled to testify are former Twitter executives: Vijaya Gadde, former General Counsel; James Baker, former Assistant General Counsel; and Yoel Roth, former global head of trust and security.
Source: Deadline
Mary Crossley is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. She is a seasoned journalist who is dedicated to delivering the latest news to her readers. With a keen sense of what’s important, Mary covers a wide range of topics, from politics to lifestyle and everything in between.
