If you blinked, you might have missed the turn in the national spotlight of Tony Bobulinski, a disgruntled former business partner of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden. Bobulinski’s claims of corruption by Joe Biden were promoted by President Donald Trump and his campaign, then debunked within hours. But the affair shows why journalists should be wary of the information control strategy that Trump’s allies are using to smear the former vice president through his son’s business interests.
Here’s a brief timeline of yesterday’s events. At around 3:45 p.m. ET yesterday, reporters learned that the Trump campaign was bringing Bobulinski to the debate as the president’s “special guest.” Bobulinski had previously alleged that Joe Biden had been involved in a business venture involving Bobulinski, Hunter Biden, and the Chinese oil company CEFC China Energy Co. Three hours later, the campaign informed the White House press pool that it would be holding an event with Bobulinski before the debate. At 7:17 p.m. ET, Bobulinski appeared before the press cameras. He spoke for seven minutes, showed reporters three old cell phones that he claimed contained incriminating evidence about the Bidens that he planned to turn over to the authorities, and took no questions. At 8 p.m., Fox News star Tucker Carlson opened his showby calling Bobulinski’s appearance a “surprising, maybe shocking, maybe history-altering development.” At 9:32 p.m., Trump brought up the allegations during his debate with Biden. And at 10:47 p.m., just minutes after the debate concluded, The Wall Street Journal published a story that brought the entire narrative crashing down.
Bobulinski provided the Journal with access to his text messages and emails about the venture. But after reviewing those materials, the paper’s reporters found that they “don’t show either Hunter Biden or James Biden” — the former vice president’s brother — “discussing a role for Joe Biden in the venture.” The Journal provided a denial from the Biden campaign that Joe Biden had been involved in the company, and further reported: Continue reading.