'Not Just Right-Wing Media Story': Hunter Biden Scandal May Jeopardize Biden 2024 Run, CNN Host Says

Revelations from Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop shed light on multi-million dollar schemes involving peddling of access to Joe Biden while he was serving as vice president. Originally reported by the NY Post in late 2020, the story was falsely dismissed as “Russian disinformation” by scores of ex-intel officials and buried by mainstream media.

The ongoing federal investigation into Hunter Biden could jeopardize his father President Joe Biden’s chances in a 2024 re-election run, CNN anchor Brian Stelter warned on Sunday.

During a segment on CNN's "Reliable Sources", Stelter spoke with his guest, Michael LaRosa, the former press secretary for First Lady Jill Biden, citing a New York Times column by Maureen Dowd on August 6 urging the 46th POTUS not to run for re-election.

In her opinion piece, titled, "Hey, Joe, Don’t Give It a Go," Dowd urged the president to leave office, adding that "he’s a logical one-termer."

“Maureen Dowd’s column in this morning’s New York Times basically says that Joe Biden should not run for re-election. This has been a narrative for months, and it is getting louder and louder, including from some Democratic lawmakers saying Biden should basically hang it up and say he is a lame duck and not run in 2024. So where do you come down on this as a former White House aide?” the CNN anchor questioned his guest.

“I hope he runs. I know he’s going to run, he’s planning to run, as he said many times. I don’t see why he wouldn’t run. I haven’t heard a reason why,” LaRosa responded, slamming the growing chorus of concerns about Biden as “Democratic bed-wetting time.”

Brian Stelter changes his tune about Hunter Biden:

"This is not just a right-wing media story, this is a real problem” pic.twitter.com/F42M7dSVd2

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) August 7, 2022

Stelter, however, noted that the 79-year-old Biden’s age could be a factor, after which he brought up the Department of Justice probe into Hunter's alleged tax violations and shady business dealings.

“What about his son, what about Hunter? Hunter under federal investigation, charges could be coming at any time. This is not just a right-wing media story. This is a real problem for the Bidens. Could he decide not to run for re-election, given his son?” Stelter asked.

LaRosa insisted that the Bidens would “make that decision when it’s time.”

After Stelter asked, “Do you think they’ve talked about it yet?” LaRosa said that the president was “doing his job” and was “not focused on that.”

When Stelter asked if "the press is getting ahead of the family on that," LaRosa responded:

"Way ahead, way ahead."

Hunter Probe at ‘Critical Stage’

The conversation took place as federal investigators looking into Hunter Biden's business activities are reportedly weighing possible charges, as the probe reaches a "critical stage," according to unnamed sources mentioned by CNN. The added that prosecutors are considering charges in relation to alleged tax violations and a possibly false statement made during the purchase of a firearmwhile he was struggling with substance abuse.

The investigation into Hunter Biden's foreign business activities run by the US Attorney's Office in Delaware started in 2018 after an original tax inquiry expanded to look into whether he had violated other federal laws at the time when his father Joe Biden was vice president.

The scandal surrounding Hunter Biden’s overseas activities gained even more traction this March after The Washington Post and New York Times finally verified documents from the first son’s notorious laptop, abandoned at a Delaware repair shop, and initially reported by the New York Post in October 2020 and dismissed as “Russian disinformation”.

The laptop’s hard drive shed light on potentially illegal activities of the president’s son, including “business deals” involving the trading of cash for access to the elder Biden during his tenure as Barack Obama’s vice president.

Joe Biden has repeatedly dismissed any knowledge of his son’s business activities, with most news outlets and social media companies doing their utmost to sweep the story under the rug ahead of the 2020 presidential election campaign.

While Joe Biden has yet to formally announce his reelection bid for 2024, he has repeatedly said he intends to run again, despite polls consistently revealing majorities of Democrats and other voters saying he should not do so. There has been restlessness both among top donors and longtime Biden supporters ahead of the November midterms. A majority of Democrats want someone else to be the party’s presidential nominee in two years, according to NBC News’s interviews with more than a dozen participants of a virtual conference between President Joe Biden and major fundraisers on August 3.

Several House Democrats, running for reelection this year, have either refused to back Joe Biden as a potential 2024 presidential candidate or refrained from offering a definite answer so far. Democratic strategists have been cited as fearing that the president’s low approval ratings and failure to deal with the issues plaguing the country might result in a heavy defeat to the Republicans in the November midterm elections. A recent Gallup poll found that just 38% of voters approved of Biden's work as president.