Apparently, President Joe Biden is not too fond of the New York Post. Perhaps his aversion to the news outlet is due to its extensive coverage of his son, Hunter Biden, and his shady foreign business dealings. As RedState’s Sister Toldjah reported, the president’s team has reportedly taken a rather questionable step to avoid further scrutiny from The Post.
The New York Post reported on Monday:
The White House press office barred The Post from attending President Biden’s only daytime public event Monday as federal prosecutors near a decision on criminally charging first son Hunter Biden for tax fraud and other crimes.
The Post has closely covered Biden’s own links to Hunter’s foreign dealings and first reported in October 2020 on files from the first son’s abandoned laptop linking Joe Biden to business relationships in China and Ukraine.
The exclusion from the event comes amid ongoing restrictions on press access implemented by Biden’s press staff, with no explanation provided for the criteria used to select reporters for large presidential events. To put it simply, the White House continues to go to great lengths to control how the press reports on this administration.
Post opinion editor Kelly Jane Torrance called the move “Absolutely outrageous.” She tweeted:
Absolutely outrageous. The White House bans the @nypost's stellar Washington reporter @stevennelson10 from his only public event during the day today. https://t.co/MRJI5ttgI3
— Kelly Jane Torrance (@KJTorrance) May 8, 2023
Hunter Biden’s legal team recently met with Justice Department lawyers, signaling a potential final step before a charging decision in the long-running investigation into his activities that began in 2018, according to The Post’s report.
President Biden, who declined to take reporter questions on Friday, falsely claimed he would hold a “major news conference.” This comes as congressional Republicans issued a subpoena for an FBI file containing an allegation that he accepted bribes. The White House did not respond to inquiries regarding The Post’s exclusion, and the press staff has been screening reporters for more than two years at large indoor events, setting a troubling precedent for press access.
The Post’s exclusion from President Biden’s event follows a pattern of limited press access implemented by the White House. The Biden administration has previously cited a lack of space as an excuse to prescreen reporters allowed into large presidential events, despite calls from journalists to end the ambiguous process.
The criteria for selecting reporters remain undisclosed, and press officials have refused to provide explanations to leaders of the White House Correspondents’ Association. This has prompted allegations that the administration is attempting to control press briefings by excluding the few reporters that might ask him tough questions.
The White House did not provide a response to The Post’s inquiries regarding the exclusion from the event, and the press staff has recently formalized a process to revoke press badges, further restricting journalists’ access.
We don’t need to question how this scenario would play out if former President Donald Trump had done the same thing, do we? Yet, as of this writing, there has been no criticism coming from left-leaning establishment media outlets. The issue is that Biden knows he will likely face no real criticism coming from the press because they are in his pocket. However, if the situation for his son becomes even more perilous, he might not be able to avoid the matter for much longer.
As Sister Toldjah noted in her piece, this latest move only further shows how little the Biden administration values transparency. The fact that the president would refuse to face questioning about his son’s legal troubles indicates he is not concerned about addressing the public on this matter or other issues that might cast a negative light on his presidency. Being that he is seeking a second term in office, he is likely trying to avoid anything that might place his campaign in jeopardy.
Hunter Biden’s ongoing legal issues have the potential to impact Joe Biden’s campaign for re-election in 2024. As the president’s son, Hunter’s activities and any legal implications can create negative publicity and raise questions about potential conflicts of interest. If Hunter Biden is charged with crimes such as tax fraud or other offenses, it could further fuel criticism and allegations of corruption within the Biden family.
Opponents may seize upon these issues to undermine Joe Biden’s credibility and portray his presidency as tainted. Moreover, the public’s perception of the president’s handling of his son’s legal situation and any potential involvement could impact their trust in his leadership, making it a challenging hurdle for Joe Biden to overcome during his campaign.
The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of RedState.com.
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