NY Post 2 murdoch tabloid

PRIMARY 6 25 ESCALATOR MINNE ASSASSINATION

12 22 sep node, see tabloid for older

main driver of hunter laptop BS

merri ok

some gp viral? laptop? = amplify? escalator? fever swamp to fox murdoch ecosystem? farm team trial balloon?

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this f guy murdoch; once a liberal rag broke import invest stories

murdoch added tits // news of the world UK

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SEE PROJECTION RUBBER REVERSE // LIE PWR GASLT

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EARTH2 // AI SLOP DAY BEF TRUMP TWT MISSION ACOMPL 2026

MMA

The delusional right-wing media figures declaring victory in Iran

The Trump administration’s war of aggression against Iran has failed to achieve its stated objectives. Just don’t tell that to its most die-hard sycophants.

Written by John Knefel

Published 08/28/26

By any objective metric, the Trump administration has failed in its war of aggression against Iran. Once maximalist goals of destroying Iran’s nonexistent nuclear weapons program have been tabled. In the United States, energy costs — especially diesel fuel — are skyrocketing, while missile stockpiles are dwindling. Iran has exerted control over the Strait of Hormuz, an outcome U.S. war planners had long predicted in the event of an extended conflict. Reports that the U.S. military has wrested control of the waterway should be taken with a shipping-freighter-sized grain of salt, as recent data shows that traffic through the strait dwindled on Thursday, and even days with the most activity only reached to about half of pre-war levels.

But what if all of that wasn’t the case? What if President Donald Trump had already won the war, and the only thing that was missing, geopolitically speaking, was the recognition of that fact? That would really be something. And, thanks to a set of especially sycophantic pundits aligned with the White House, that alternate reality is just one livestream or TV show away.

Fox News’ Sean Hannity, as reliable a hack for the Trump administration as you can find on cable news, argued on August 19 that the president hadn’t gotten enough “credit” for stopping Iran’s ability to build a nuclear bomb. (Of course, an obvious consequence of bombing a country, assassinating its leadership, and threatening to destroy its entire civilization is that the new government, entirely rationally, is more interested than ever in developing a nuclear deterrent to avoid such attacks being repeated.)

Hannity also claimed that Iran was “breaking financially,” though close observers believe it is well-positioned to withstand even escalated U.S. sanctions.

The next day, CNN contributor Scott Jennings — currently auditioning for the role of White House press secretary — was even more obsequious.

“It may be time for the president to declare victory in this war because it's obvious that we've won,” Jennings said on his YouTube show.

Video

Citation

From the August 19, 2026, edition of The Scott Jennings Show, streamed on YouTube

MAGA media influencer Benny Johnson was similarly shameless, titling an August 21 segment: “Iran's President SURRENDERS | Calls To 'End The War' With America Immediately As US CONQUERS Hormuz.” Then, on August 22: “Iran Thought They Won…Now It’s All OVER | How Trump Secretly DESTROYED Them Without a Single Bomb.”

Citation

From BennyJohnson.com, posted on August 21, 2026.

On August 24, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced a series of punishing sanctions on Iran — a so-called “economic D-Day” — and much of the right-wing media coverage framed it as the latest sign of victory.

That morning, Fox News’ Lawrence Jones, echoing a recurring theme in right-wing media, argued, “You know what’s worse that no new wars — and this is not a new war, this has been going on 47-plus years — is losing. And we're winning right now."

The chyron referenced a New York Post editorial headlined: “Trump is winning the Iran war— stay the course.”

Citation

From the official website of the New York Post, published August 23, 2026.

Citing Bessent’s comments, Newsmax’s Rob Finnerty claimed, “Despite what they’re saying about this war on CNN or MS NOW or in The New York Times, this war's about to end and America is about to win.”

Back on his YouTube show, Jennings offered a list of accomplishments the United States had not in fact accomplished.

“The United States has won the war against Iran,” Jennings said, arguing that “many in our political class refuse to acknowledge” this fact.

“Iran entered this war with four great pillars of strength: its nuclear program, its missiles and drones, its regional terror network, and its ability to hold the world economy hostage through the Strait of Hormuz,” Jennings said. “Every one of those pillars has been severely damaged or outright destroyed.”

Video

Citation

From the August 24, 2026, edition of The Scott Jennings Show, streamed on YouTube

On August 26, Trump posted an image on Truth Social reading, in part, “Mission Accomplished 2026.”

Like with Bessent’s announcement, the administration’s media allies ran with it.

Johnson once again painted a rosy picture of the conflict. “Iran is effectively admitting defeat,” he said. “The Iranian leadership is saying what we all know to be true, which is that you cannot fight a war if you cannot feed your army.”

Hannity boasted that “we have a nuclear-free Iran” among a list of Trump’s supposed successes — a thin accomplishment given that Iran has never had a nuclear weapon and U.S. intelligence agencies determined as recently as last summer it was not pursuing one.

Within the first few days after the United States and Israel attacked Iran in late February, right-wing media figures were eager to declare victory. Half a year later, that outcome remains easier said than done.

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Trump delights in savage new nickname for Democrats ...

New York Post

https://nypost.com › 2026/05/15 › us-news › trump-rev...](https://nypost.com/2026/05/15/us-news/trump-reveals-inspiration-for-savage-new-nickname-for-democrats/)

7 hours ago — “This lunatic, Hakeem 'Low IQ' Jeffries, should be charged with INCITING VIOLENCE!” Trump raged on Truth Social. Trump said House Minority ...Read more

[### Trump torches 'low-IQ' Hakeem Jeffries after he made ' ...

YouTube · Sky News Australia

3.5K+ views · 2 weeks ago](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdKZQaQO8PM)

US President Donald Trump has clapped back at House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries after he went on an unhinged anti-Republican rant

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AN 12 254

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday amplified an op-ed article calling for a Trump-backed regime change in Venezuela as administration continues to float the possibility of a ground war in the country.

The New York Post, a notably MAGA-friendly outlet often described as President Donald Trump's "favorite paper," published the piece Leavitt's official government X account shared on Wednesday. It was written María Corina Machado, an Venezuelan activist and leader of the country's opposition against President Nicolás Maduro. She was the recipient of the 2025 Nobel Prize, and has frequently praised Trump for his opposition to Maduro and attempted to court his help in removing the Venezuelan president from office.

Leavitt's account shared a link to the piece alongside its headline, "President Trump is a champion in the fight for ‘Venezuelan freedom.'"

"White House press secretary amplifies column calling for US-led regime change in Venezuela," Olivier Knox, a senior political reporter for U.S. News & World Report, wrote in comment responding to Leavitt's.

In the piece, Machado characterized the Maduro government as hijacking the country by way of a regime-backed drug cartel, Cartel de los Soles. The Trump administration recently designated the group as a terrorist organization, though critics have pointed out that the term "Cartel de los Soles" does not refer to a specific, distinct organization, but it rather used as a catch-all term for corrupt government officials involved in drug trafficking.

She further accuses the Maduro government of "crimes against humanity and other grave atrocities," and of running Venezuela "the way mobsters control territory: through fear, torture and the systematic destruction of the nation’s democratic pillars."

She also praises Trump's actions against Maduro as "decisive action" and dismisses criticisms that military intervention would destabilize Venezuela.

Critics have accused the Trump administration of seeking to gain access to Venezuelan oil fields by deposing Maduro, not pursuing regime change to support democracy. Machado has also been criticized overall for her enthusiastic support of Trump, raising concerns the country would become overly deferential to him with her in power.

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mma

Murdoch media find a scapegoat for New Jersey’s high electric rates

As data centers demand enormous energy outputs and Garden State grid operators reportedly slow-walk new projects, right-wing media take shots at renewable energy

Special ProgramsClimate & Energy

Written by Ilana Berger

Published 08/27/25

• Murdoch media outlets are blaming high electricity bills in New Jersey on “green-energy mandates.” But experts and local politicians say price hikes are being driven by data centers, which “guzzle electricity around the clock,” and decisions made by the regional operator.

The price of electricity has been on the rise across the country. Between 2021 and 2024, the average monthly residential electricity bill in America went up by $22 per month. Now, energy prices are rising twice as fast as inflation and are expected to increase further.

Several factors, including increased demand for electricity to power new data centers and New Jersey grid operator PJM’s reported failure to quickly connect renewable projects to the grid, are contributing to the rate hikes in New Jersey.

As electricity bills become a prominent concern in New Jersey and across the country, Energy Secretary Chris Wright complained to Politico, “We’re going to get blamed.” Indeed, Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill is set to increase energy costs “by around $165 per household per year in 2030, and by more than $280 in 2035 — a jump of over 13% compared to current costs.” Instead of acknowledging that, Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, and the New York Post are scrambling to find a way to blame rate hikes on now-imperiled renewable energy projects — projects that tech companies fought to keep as they search for ways to make their data centers viable.

• ## Electricity bills have spiked in New Jersey, a result of changes in the state’s energy market

• • In New Jersey, wholesale electric bills rose by 20% in 2025, and ratepayers will likely pay up to 5% more on top of that starting in June 2026. The rate hike has impacted customers of the regional transmission operator PJM, which serves 13 states including New Jersey. The spike came a year after PJM held its annual capacity auction in 2024. During auctions, power generators sell electricity to providers and commit to meet future energy demand. Utility Dive, [7/23/25; Inside Climate News, 8/18/25; Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, accessed 8/19/25]

• • State policymakers and industry insiders agree the key to driving down costs is boosting energy supply.In a letter, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and eight other governors from states where PJM operates accused it of failing to “efficiently connect new resources to its grid and to engage in effective long-term transmission planning.” According to The Gothamist, although “New Jersey currently has 33 large-scale, shovel-ready solar projects awaiting approval by PJM … many could take a year or 18 months longer to get approval.” The Gothamist, [8/19/25]

• ## Trump has railed against renewables in New Jersey and across the nation

• • Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social: “STUPID AND UGLY WINDMILLS ARE KILLING NEW JERSEY. Energy prices are up 28% this year, and not enough electricity to take care of state. STOP THE WINDMILLS.” Twitter/X, [8/19/25]

• • Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social: “Any State that has built and relied on WINDMILLS and SOLAR for power are seeing RECORD BREAKING INCREASES IN ELECTRICITY AND ENERGY COSTS. THE SCAM OF THE CENTURY! We will not approve wind or farmer destroying Solar. The days of stupidity are over in the USA!!! MAGA” Twitter/X, [8/20/25]

• ## Murdoch media claim that “green-energy mandates” and fossil fuel plant closures are to blame for rate hikes seen in states like New Jersey

• • When asked about skyrocketing electricity bills on Fox Business, Rep. Jeff Van Drew, (R-NJ) told guest host Cheryl Casone, “We needed gas plants — instead of opening new ones, we closed them. … We put billions upon billions of dollars of money from the ratepayers and the taxpayers into foreign corporations for wind energy, which are failed projects.”After Trump railed against wind farms on Truth Social, calling them “the scam of the century,” Casone asked Van Drew, “You also say that offshore wind is a scam and has driven New Jersey energy bills through the roof. What kind of price increases have your constituents seen?” Van Drew has been leading the charge against wind projects in New Jersey for years. Fox Business, *Mornings with Maria*, [8/22/25; Media Matters, 3/23/23]

• • Fox News host Lawrence Jones: “New Jersey residents are waking up to the cost of going green.” Jones interviewed Bjorn Lomborg, who said, “If you want to go green, it has real costs. … People are in rebellion against the high green costs.” Fox News, *Fox and Friends*, [8/18/25]

• • OnFox & Friends Weekend, Charles Hurt said, “New Jersey electric bills have tripled the summer,” and claimed people are blaming Democrats because they’re “always prioritizing global warming over people’s ability to pay their electric bill.” Guest Joe Piscopo, a right-wing radio host, used the segment to promote Jack Ciattarelli, the Republican gubernatorial candidate who “has all the answers to stop these high prices and save energy.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends Weekend*, [8/17/25]

• • The New York Post’s editorial board blamed soaring energy rates in New York “largely” on “green-energy mandates that Gov. Kathy Hochul embraced along with the rest of the party” and said the “‘climate agenda’ is delivering pain we’ve long warned of, in New York and New Jersey.”New York Post, [8/16/25]

• • Fox anchor Jon Scott amplified the Post’s editorial and spoke with Fox News contributor Phil Flynn, who attacked New Jersey’s Democratic gubernatorial candidate, saying, “The Garden State may be where the Green New Deal actually dies because you’re getting such blowback from people getting their electricity bills.”Fox News, *Fox Report with John Scott*, [8/17/25]

• • OnThe Big Money Show, host Dagen McDowell blamed “green-obsessed Gov. Phil Murphy,” saying that “his big ego and his 100% clean electricity production by 2035 plan has all of his constituents paying 15% more for retail power than the national average.” Fox Business, *The Big Money Show*, [8/15/25]

• • Fox & FriendsandAmerica’s Newsroomboth ran a correspondent report on higher electricity prices in New Jersey, blaming the “state's Democratic-led push to shut down coal and nuclear plants without reliable replacements.”The reports quoted Democratic candidate Mikie Sherrill explaining that the regional grid operator is behind the hikes, but correspondent CB Cotton also suggested that sustainable energy policies are to blame. Cotton said on America’s Newsroom, “Critics are blaming the state's Democratic-led push to shut down coal and nuclear plants without reliable replacements, leaving that power grid strained as demand soars” and added, “The outrage is spilling into politics with the governor's race tightening.” She made a similar statement on Fox and Friends. Fox News, *Fox & Friends,* [8/13/25; America’s Newsroom,8/13/25]

• • In the New York Post, conservative writer Bethany Mandel pushed the narrative that the rate hikes in New Jersey are the result of “Democrats’ bungled energy policies.”She also cited an unnamed “energy expert” to claim that hikes are the result of “the state’s aggressive shutdown of coal-powered plants under Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy.” In the op-ed, Mandel also argued that rising costs in the state “could blow November’s race wide open.” New York Post, [8/10/25]

• • Paul H. Tice, who has called climate change a “scam,” wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed titled “How Phil Murphy Caused New Jersey Electricity Prices to Soar.” Like others, he blamed fossil fuel power plants closures and the state’s commitment to decarbonizing its economy by 2035. Wall Street Journal, [8/8/25; Twitter/X, 9/1/23; 11/26/24]

• ## Several factors, including data center energy usage and long interconnection queues, are contributing to rate hikes

• • In New Jersey, energy supply has not been able to keep up with demand, and experts say that data centers are driving the massive increase in demand. PJM says that in New Jersey alone, data centers “account for 70 percent of projected increase in demand.” But it’s not just a Garden State problem. The International Energy Agency estimates that “driven by AI use, the US economy is set to consume more electricity in 2030 for processing data than for manufacturing all energy-intensive goods combined, including aluminium, steel, cement and chemicals.” International Energy Agency, [4/10/25; New Jersey Policy Press, 5/29/25]

• • PJM has been slow to get new energy projects up and running to meet this demand, with many renewable projects sitting around unplugged.New Jersey's grid hasn't been able to keep up with this increased demand, reportedly largely because of “PJM’s own delays in connecting new energy projects to the grid,” according to New Jersey Policy Perspective. As of March, “143 gigawatts worth of projects — including 79 projects in New Jersey — were awaiting approval in the interconnection queue, enough to power about 115 million homes.” This would nearly double PJM’s current grid supply. Out of these projects, 95% percent are renewable energy or storage projects. New Jersey Policy Perspective, [5/29/25]

• • Unreliable natural gas power plants are also driving up prices for PJM customers, and the operator's governance structure privileges “for-profit, utility, and fossil fuel companies.”According to the Natural Resources Defense Fund, “Since PJM did not account for fossil fuel resource weaknesses in its previous capacity market auctions, customers paid for these plants as if they were reliable. That’s like buying a house at full price only to realize the foundation is crumbling. It now turns out that the repairs are quite expensive.” The small number of projects that PJM has recently connected to the grid have been ”primarily fossil fuel projects," and PJM’s “governance structure … gives significant influence to for-profit, utility and fossil fuel companies,” while operating “largely behind closed doors with limited transparency,” according to New Jersey Policy Perspective. NRDC, [8/22/24; New Jersey Policy Perspective, 5/29/25]

• • Similar trends are playing out on a national scale, with Trump extending the lives of two older power plants that were slated to retire, which could cost U.S. ratepayers billions. The energy consulting firm Grid Strategies found in an August 2025 report that “if the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) mandates that the large fossil fuel power plants scheduled to retire between now and the end of 2028 continue to operate, the cost to ratepayers could exceed $3.1 billion per year.” PJM has publicly supported Department of Energy efforts to keep some coal, oil, and gas plants open, even as “state regulators, regional grid operators, environmental groups, and consumer groups are pushing back” according to Canary Media. Canary Media,[7/10/25, 7/28/25; EarthJustice, 8/14/25]

• • Driven by climate change, extreme weather can also impact electric rates through a vicious cycle.Severe weather can damage infrastructure, requiring expensive repairs and driving utilities to invest in “grid hardening” and resilience measures. Extreme weather events, like the winter storm that bludgeoned Texas in 2021, can also result in emergency pricing because they can cause supply shortages. Federation of American Scientists, [8/18/25; Climate Central, 4/24/24; The Texas Tribune, 2/22/21]

• ## Experts say Trump’s policies will ultimately create a less reliable grid, especially given the high demands of data centers

• • Experts have warned that creating barriers for renewable energy projects at a time when more energy is needed will raise prices for consumers and make the U.S. less competitive. Two former Biden officials who worked on science and technology policy at the White House wrote in Tech Policy Press that Trump’s AI action, which seeks to accelerate the AI growth and development, is being hobbled by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. They said the plan “will not deliver what is needed because it focuses on the past instead of the future. The US will likely end up with higher costs, higher pollution, and less competitiveness.” The officials also wrote that “the US should be enabling new electricity supplies to come online, and quickly. Solar, energy storage, and wind power are clean energy assets that can be quickly deployed to meet AI’s demands, and are the dominant sources of new energy capacity to get connected to the grid today.” According to climate policy think tank Energy Innovation, repealing renewable energy tax credits and other measures laid out in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will “harm America by cutting new electricity capacity additions, increasing consumer power prices, and reducing U.S. GDP and job growth.” Tech Policy Press, [8/7/25; Energy Innovation, 7/1/25]

• • Trump’s tariffs also threaten grid stability.Trump’s high tariffs on Chinese goods will impact grid-scale storage, as China manufactures “nearly all battery cells used in US utility-scale storage products.” These battery systems are essential for making sure the grid has enough energy to go around when there are spikes in demand due to AI operations. According to Wood Mackenzie, Trump’s tariffs could mean that “the cost of a utility scale solar facility in the US will be 54% more expensive than in Europe and 85% more expensive than a new solar plant built in China.” Utility Dive, [6/9/25, 7/25/25; Wood Mackenzie, 6/2/25]

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MMA MSNBC

NO LNX

Aug. 10, 2025, 3:00 AM PDT

By Matt Gertz, senior fellow for Media Matters for America

Fox News hosts elevated Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to help return President Donald Trump to the White House. They then greased the skids for Kennedy’s confirmation as secretary of health and human services. But as he works to demolish American health care research, they are nowhere to be found.

Kennedy, a prominent vaccine skeptic who once described Covid-19 shots as “the deadliest vaccine ever made,” announced on Tuesday that he is terminating nearly $500 million in federal contracts supporting the development of next-generation vaccines and other treatments based on mRNA technology. “After reviewing the science and consulting top experts at NIH and FDA, HHS has determined that mRNA technology poses more risks than benefits for these respiratory viruses,” he said in a video posted online.

Before the pandemic, Kennedy was not a natural fit for the Fox audience.

But Kennedy’s announcement drew harsh criticism from infectious disease experts and other scientists. They warned that the cuts could stall treatments for everything from respiratory illnesses to cancer, leave the nation more exposed to pandemics, undermine public trust in vaccines and threaten U.S. global leadership in medical advances.

While Kennedy’s announcement was widely discussed on MSNBC and CNN, as well as by national broadcast, print and digital outlets, Fox News has almost entirely ignored it. A single 30-second news brief on its “Special Report” program represents the entirety of the Trumpist propaganda network’s coverage through Thursday, according to a Media Matters review.

Fox News may not want to claim credit for Kennedy as he stifles crucial medical research, but it certainly deserves it. You can’t explain the evolution from Trump’s first administration, which fast-tracked the development of mRNA vaccines for Covid-19 through Operation Warp Speed, to the second term’s anti-vax, “Make America Healthy Again” schtick without talking about the network’s role in turning the GOP base against vaccines and toward conspiracy theorists like Kennedy.

'Misinformed' or 'speaking in the wrong terms': Doctor rebukes RFK Jr. over cutting mRNA research

05:03

When pharmaceutical companies began rolling out the vaccines produced under the Trump administration in late 2020 and early 2021, Fox News’ stars could have used the unique influence they have over their viewers to encourage them to get their Covid-19 shots. But Trump had lost his re-election bid, and the network that had worked so hard to keep him in office instead pandered to anti-vaxxers by turning against the vaccination campaign helmed by his successor, President Joe Biden.

Led by its then-prime-time star Tucker Carlson, the network incessantly promoted misleading and false claims about safe, effective vaccines with the potential to save their viewers’ lives — day after day, month after month, year after year. The network uplifted conspiracy theories, gave airtime to conspiracy theorists and culture war vaccine opponents, demagogued against efforts to get more people to receive these lifesaving shots, and propped up ineffective cures as potential substitutes. Fox News continued to broadcast these segments even as more Republican parts of the country, with lower vaccination rates, suffered higher Covid-19 death tolls, as The New York Times’ David Leonhardt detailed.

All of the fawning attention on Kennedy from the right had the impact one would expect.

Before the pandemic, Kennedy, the scion of a Democratic dynasty who once called for a boycott of Fox News host Sean Hannity and described him as a fascist, was not a natural fit for the Fox audience. But with the Covid-19 vaccine campaign underway, his decades of work undermining vaccines and his attacks on the new mRNA vaccines in particular suddenly made him attractive to the right.

When he began his presidential campaign in March 2023 — with Carlson’s show as his launchpad — MAGA media stalwarts saw an opportunity. They treated Kennedy’s bid, first in the Democratic primary and then as an independent candidate, as a potent spoiler candidacy to boost Trump’s return to power. Kennedy became a constant presence on the programs of pro-Trump commentators. Fox provided him with more airtime than many would-be Republican standard-bearers received.

All of the fawning attention on Kennedy from the right — alongside mainstream news coverage of his bizarre history, such as his claim that a parasite in his brain had triggered memory loss — had the impact one would expect: Kennedy became more popular with Republicans than Democrats. As polls increasingly showed that he was pulling support from Trump, though, MAGA media figures like Hannity abruptly turned on Kennedy. After Carlson reportedly helped to facilitate Kennedy’s decision to drop out and endorse the once-and-future president, Fox hosts resumed showering the anti-vax champion with praise.

‘Explosive’ conservative non-doctor turbocharging RFK Jr’s healthcare coup

05:52

As Election Day approached, talk turned to what reward Kennedy could expect in return. Paul Dans, the former head of Project 2025, floated Kennedy’s name for HHS secretary — and that’s precisely the position Trump nominated him for.

Not everyone on the right was willing to accept Kennedy’s ascent. The editorial boards of Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal and New York Post denounced the decision and called for Senate Republicans to vote down his nomination.

Murdoch’s print voices lost out to his cable news shouters.

But Fox News hosts were elated. As Kennedy’s nomination moved through the Senate, they touted him as a “reformer” and “true health care crusader” who had “the skills, knowledge, and experience” needed for the job.” When Kennedy said he wasn’t going to take away anyone’s vaccines, Fox said he wasn’t going to take away anyone’s vaccines.

Murdoch’s print voices lost out to his cable news shouters — the Senate confirmed Kennedy on a near-party-line vote, with Sen. Mitch McConnell, a polio survivor, the sole Republican vote against him.

More from MSNBC Daily

Must reads from Today's list

RFK Jr. is truly terrible at his job

Jake Scott

And lo and behold, once confirmed, Kennedy continued the anti-vax project to which he had dedicated years of his life. He yanked $2 billion in funding to vaccinate children whose families may not be able to afford immunizations. He downplayed the importance of vaccination for quelling a measles outbreak even as measles cases hit record highs. He replaced the members of a vaccine advisory board with his own picks — some of whom were notorious vaccine critics — who plan to review the childhood vaccination schedule and scrutinize its components. And now he’s terminated federal funding that could have fueled a new wave of cures.

Under Kennedy’s leadership, the Department of Health and Human Services itself has become a grave threat to public health. That is the regrettable but inevitable consequence of Fox News’ cynical exploitation of its viewers. The network’s hosts should take a bow — they earned it.

Matt Gertz is a senior fellow at Media Matters for America, a progressive research center that monitors the U.S. media. His work focuses on the relationship between Fox News and the Republican Party, media ethics and news coverage of politics and elections.

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MMA MSNBC

NO LNX

Aug. 10, 2025, 3:00 AM PDT

By Matt Gertz, senior fellow for Media Matters for America

Fox News hosts elevated Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to help return President Donald Trump to the White House. They then greased the skids for Kennedy’s confirmation as secretary of health and human services. But as he works to demolish American health care research, they are nowhere to be found.

Kennedy, a prominent vaccine skeptic who once described Covid-19 shots as “the deadliest vaccine ever made,” announced on Tuesday that he is terminating nearly $500 million in federal contracts supporting the development of next-generation vaccines and other treatments based on mRNA technology. “After reviewing the science and consulting top experts at NIH and FDA, HHS has determined that mRNA technology poses more risks than benefits for these respiratory viruses,” he said in a video posted online.

Before the pandemic, Kennedy was not a natural fit for the Fox audience.

But Kennedy’s announcement drew harsh criticism from infectious disease experts and other scientists. They warned that the cuts could stall treatments for everything from respiratory illnesses to cancer, leave the nation more exposed to pandemics, undermine public trust in vaccines and threaten U.S. global leadership in medical advances.

While Kennedy’s announcement was widely discussed on MSNBC and CNN, as well as by national broadcast, print and digital outlets, Fox News has almost entirely ignored it. A single 30-second news brief on its “Special Report” program represents the entirety of the Trumpist propaganda network’s coverage through Thursday, according to a Media Matters review.

Fox News may not want to claim credit for Kennedy as he stifles crucial medical research, but it certainly deserves it. You can’t explain the evolution from Trump’s first administration, which fast-tracked the development of mRNA vaccines for Covid-19 through Operation Warp Speed, to the second term’s anti-vax, “Make America Healthy Again” schtick without talking about the network’s role in turning the GOP base against vaccines and toward conspiracy theorists like Kennedy.

'Misinformed' or 'speaking in the wrong terms': Doctor rebukes RFK Jr. over cutting mRNA research

05:03

When pharmaceutical companies began rolling out the vaccines produced under the Trump administration in late 2020 and early 2021, Fox News’ stars could have used the unique influence they have over their viewers to encourage them to get their Covid-19 shots. But Trump had lost his re-election bid, and the network that had worked so hard to keep him in office instead pandered to anti-vaxxers by turning against the vaccination campaign helmed by his successor, President Joe Biden.

Led by its then-prime-time star Tucker Carlson, the network incessantly promoted misleading and false claims about safe, effective vaccines with the potential to save their viewers’ lives — day after day, month after month, year after year. The network uplifted conspiracy theories, gave airtime to conspiracy theorists and culture war vaccine opponents, demagogued against efforts to get more people to receive these lifesaving shots, and propped up ineffective cures as potential substitutes. Fox News continued to broadcast these segments even as more Republican parts of the country, with lower vaccination rates, suffered higher Covid-19 death tolls, as The New York Times’ David Leonhardt detailed.

All of the fawning attention on Kennedy from the right had the impact one would expect.

Before the pandemic, Kennedy, the scion of a Democratic dynasty who once called for a boycott of Fox News host Sean Hannity and described him as a fascist, was not a natural fit for the Fox audience. But with the Covid-19 vaccine campaign underway, his decades of work undermining vaccines and his attacks on the new mRNA vaccines in particular suddenly made him attractive to the right.

When he began his presidential campaign in March 2023 — with Carlson’s show as his launchpad — MAGA media stalwarts saw an opportunity. They treated Kennedy’s bid, first in the Democratic primary and then as an independent candidate, as a potent spoiler candidacy to boost Trump’s return to power. Kennedy became a constant presence on the programs of pro-Trump commentators. Fox provided him with more airtime than many would-be Republican standard-bearers received.

All of the fawning attention on Kennedy from the right — alongside mainstream news coverage of his bizarre history, such as his claim that a parasite in his brain had triggered memory loss — had the impact one would expect: Kennedy became more popular with Republicans than Democrats. As polls increasingly showed that he was pulling support from Trump, though, MAGA media figures like Hannity abruptly turned on Kennedy. After Carlson reportedly helped to facilitate Kennedy’s decision to drop out and endorse the once-and-future president, Fox hosts resumed showering the anti-vax champion with praise.

‘Explosive’ conservative non-doctor turbocharging RFK Jr’s healthcare coup

05:52

As Election Day approached, talk turned to what reward Kennedy could expect in return. Paul Dans, the former head of Project 2025, floated Kennedy’s name for HHS secretary — and that’s precisely the position Trump nominated him for.

Not everyone on the right was willing to accept Kennedy’s ascent. The editorial boards of Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal and New York Post denounced the decision and called for Senate Republicans to vote down his nomination.

Murdoch’s print voices lost out to his cable news shouters.

But Fox News hosts were elated. As Kennedy’s nomination moved through the Senate, they touted him as a “reformer” and “true health care crusader” who had “the skills, knowledge, and experience” needed for the job.” When Kennedy said he wasn’t going to take away anyone’s vaccines, Fox said he wasn’t going to take away anyone’s vaccines.

Murdoch’s print voices lost out to his cable news shouters — the Senate confirmed Kennedy on a near-party-line vote, with Sen. Mitch McConnell, a polio survivor, the sole Republican vote against him.

More from MSNBC Daily

Must reads from Today's list

RFK Jr. is truly terrible at his job

Jake Scott

And lo and behold, once confirmed, Kennedy continued the anti-vax project to which he had dedicated years of his life. He yanked $2 billion in funding to vaccinate children whose families may not be able to afford immunizations. He downplayed the importance of vaccination for quelling a measles outbreak even as measles cases hit record highs. He replaced the members of a vaccine advisory board with his own picks — some of whom were notorious vaccine critics — who plan to review the childhood vaccination schedule and scrutinize its components. And now he’s terminated federal funding that could have fueled a new wave of cures.

Under Kennedy’s leadership, the Department of Health and Human Services itself has become a grave threat to public health. That is the regrettable but inevitable consequence of Fox News’ cynical exploitation of its viewers. The network’s hosts should take a bow — they earned it.

Matt Gertz is a senior fellow at Media Matters for America, a progressive research center that monitors the U.S. media. His work focuses on the relationship between Fox News and the Republican Party, media ethics and news coverage of politics and elections.

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MMA

Trump’s move to curtail NYC congestion pricing follows lobbying from the Murdoch media empire

Data show that congestion pricing was immediately successful, with reduced travel times and improved subway safety amid higher usage

Written by Zachary Pleat

:{Published 02/21/25

Following widespread criticism of New York City’s traffic congestion pricing policy from the right-wing Murdoch media empire, President Donald Trump moved to halt the program just weeks after it began. Even though data show that the policy had successfully improved travel times and increased public transit usage, Murdoch media outlets celebrated the Trump administration's intervention in New York municipal policies.

Data show that congestion pricing had positive effects, yet Trump acted to halt it anyway

Beginning on January 5, New York City implemented a long-planned toll program to ease congestion by requiring drivers to pay $9 to enter parts of Manhattan. Reuters reported that “transit officials say the program has cut commuting times and that inbound trip times on all Hudson River and East River crossings are now 10-30% faster or more, while bus service has also improved. Subway ridership also has grown since the toll was introduced.”

Manhattan-area newspaper amNewYork Metro also reported on data showing both higher and safer subway ridership since the congestion pricing policy went into effect:

NYC subway crime has dropped significantly so far this year even as ridership increased in the congestion pricing era, according to the newest NYPD data released on Tuesday.

In the first month of 2025, there were 147 reported crimes on the subway down from 231 last year—resulting in 36% fewer crimes committed on the rails this year.

At the same time, subway ridership has increased significantly since the start of congestion pricing on Jan. 5. This means that the drop in crime on the tracks has actually decreased even as more people are using NYC’s busy transit system—one of the largest in the world.

…

Between Jan. 6 and 28, an amNewYork Metro review of MTA data found, ridership was up more than 9.1 million commuters year-over-year (74,680,439 in 2025 vs. 65,569,613 in 2024), a 13.1% increase.

Traffic fatalities across the city are also down, the NYPD’s CompStat 2.0 dashboard shows. Year to date, there were 10 deadly collisions on the roads compared to 18 in 2024—an over 44% drop year over year.

The MTA, the state agency that runs the NYC trains and buses, had long touted that congestion pricing would bring more New Yorkers onto mass transit, thus relieving heavy traffic build up in Midtown and Lower Manhattan. So far, those predictions are being proven true.

On February 19, Trump posted on social media: “CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!” That same day, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy sent a letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul asking to “discuss the orderly cessation of toll operations.” For her part, Hochul said that the traffic “cameras are staying on,” and New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority filed a lawsuit to block the Trump administration’s attempt to end the program.

Murdoch media spent months in the lead-up to implementation criticizing NYC congestion pricing

• The congestion pricing plan was originally set to begin in June 2024 — when Hochul delayed it, the New York Post celebrated with a front-page story and a section titled “Toll Boot!” New York Post, [6/6/24]

• After Hochul reintroduced the congestion pricing plan in mid-November, the New York Post attacked it with a series of critical blurbs titled “Hochul’s car wreck.” New York Post, [11/15/24]

• The Wall Street Journal editorial board: “Hochul's New York Driving Tax Is Back.”A Wall Street Journal editorial wrote: “Ms. Hochul is reducing the initial congestion fee to $9, no doubt to make it seem less onerous. But don't be fooled. Once the plan is in place, the politicians will be able to raise it whenever they need more cash, and with Albany spending like mad it won't be long before the fee goes up. Welcome to Manhattan.” The Wall Street Journal, [11/14/24]

• The New York Post established an ongoing section of the paper called “Congestion Con” filled with negative stories about the city’s congestion pricing.New York Post,[12/26/24, 1/3/25, 1/5/25, 1/6/25, 1/7/25, 1/8/25, 1/9/25, 1/12/25]

• Fox’sIngraham Anglefearmongered about subway crime in a segment attacking the pricing congestion plan.During the segment, the show displayed a New York Post article about a stabbing on the subway and displayed a chyron reading: “Liberal leaders: Ride our crime-ridden subways.” Fox News, *The Ingraham Angle*, [1/6/25]

• Fox’sThe Fivealso fearmongered about subway crime while criticizing the congestion pricing plan, with co-host Kayleigh McEnany endorsing vigilante violence.McEnany asked: “Where is a Daniel Penny when you need one,” referencing the man arrested for killing a subway rider in 2023. Fox News, *The Five*, [1/6/25; NBC News, 12/9/24]

• Fox Business anchor Gerri Willis: NYC congestion pricing is “forcing New Yorkers onto this very violent subway.”Anchor Maria Bartiromo agreed: “You make such a good point. We've got violence on the subway and you say OK, I'm not going to take the subway, I'm going to drive my car but then it's so much more expensive with the congestion pricing.” Fox Business, *Mornings with Maria Bartiromo*, [1/7/25]

Despite the successes of the NYC policy, Murdoch media celebrated the Trump administration’s move to end congestion pricing

• The New York Post referred to congestion pricing as “hated toll” in its headline of an article about the Trump administration withdrawing approval for it. New York Post, [2/19/25]

• The New York Post framed the end of the policy as “NYC workers, commuters rejoice over Trump’s axing of congestion pricing toll.” New York Post, [2/19/25]

• A Fox Business panel continued to fearmonger about subway safety. Mornings with Maria Bartiromo guest Mehek Cooke said: “When you see the subways, Kathy Hochul has given you no choice. She's telling you to get on a subway where a woman was burned to death. I mean, this is not safe.” Anchor Maria Bartiromo responded, “That’s a good point. … The subway has massive problems. A woman was burned to death. You're afraid to stand by the tracks. Someone could push you into the tracks.” Fox Business, *Mornings with Maria Bartiromo*, [2/20/25]

• Fox & Friendshosts: “No one likes it.” After co-host Ainsley Earhardt declared that “no one likes” congestion pricing “except for Kathy [Hochul],” co-host Lawrence Jones said: “No one in the city likes this.” In fact, a poll taken weeks after the policy went into effect found about 60% of New York City residents supported it. Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [2/20/25; CBS News, 2/5/25]

• Fox host and Trump daughter-in-law Lara Trump said of congestion pricing: “Do you remember why the American Revolution started? It's because of high taxes. This is just an extra tax on the people here in New York who already are facing these egregiously high prices. They can't afford it.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [2/20/25]

• Fox Business host Elizabeth MacDonald attacked Hochul for promising to defend the congestion pricing policy: “Didn’t the American Revolution start because of high taxation without representation?” In fact, the New York State Assembly approved the congestion pricing policy in 2019. Fox Business, *The Evening Edit*, [2/20/25; amNewYork Metro, 4/1/19]

//

Murdoch empire conspires to blame Biden for Trump’s trickle-down tax cuts expiring

:{04/29/24

2. ### Watch MSNBC's Chris Hayes explain Rupert Murdoch’s role in pushing Hunter Biden claims from informant indicted for lying

:{02/15/24

3. ### As Rupert Murdoch steps down as the head of Fox, his destructive legacy remains

11/17/23

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an 11 24

rupert Murdoch's conservative New York Post took a swipe at President-elect Donald Trump's pick for the Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday night, joking that Mar-a-Lago must be seeing an outbreak of brain-eating worms.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said that in 2010, a worm got into his brain, “ate a portion of it and then died.” At the time, he said he was suffering from cognitive difficulties. Doctors found it was a parasitic infection: A pork tapeworm larva.

The New York Post on Thursday night ripped Trump's selection for HHS secretary, noting that the "overriding rule of medicine" is "First, do no harm" — and that appointing Kennedy to the role "breaks this rule."

The Post pointed to their sit-down interview last year in which he espoused a "head-scratching spaghetti of what we can only call warped conspiracy theories, and not just on vaccines."

ALSO READ:Why Trump voters should be held accountable for their choice

"'Neocons' are responsible for America’s policy ills. 'Pesticides, cellphones, ultrasound' could be driving an upswing in Tourette syndrome and peanut allergies," the Post recalled he said, adding: "He told us with full conviction that all America’s chronic health problems began in one year in the 1980s when a dozen bad things happened."

While social media users might be "gullible" and "hungry" for conspiracy theories, the Post came away thinking "he's nuts on a lot of fronts." People could be harmed or die, the publication warned. Furthermore, it warned Kennedy could send the industry into a disastrous "tailspin."

"We fear the worm that he claims ate some of his brain some years ago is contagious and there’s been an outbreak at Mar-a-Lago," the Post concluded.

Kennedy has called vaccines into question, broadly questioning their safety and efficacy, including claiming, "There's no vaccine that is safe and effective" — and promoting the debunked theory that vaccines cause autism.

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another jrnl fail (foreign migrant shoplifter//

After Fox News promoted a hoax about homeless veterans being “evicted” from New York hotels to house migrants last year, some of the network’s anchors said they would provide viewers more information “as we get it.” That promise was apparently disingenuous: Fox has yet to report that the originator of the bogus story now faces federal fraud charges.

On Wednesday, federal prosecutors charged Sharon Toney-Finch, an Army veteran whose Yerik Israel Toney Foundation claims to “help homeless and low-income military service veterans in need of living assistance,” with multiple counts of fraud. They alleged that she raised funds for the group by falsely claiming to have received a Purple Heart after surviving a terrorist attack and spent the group’s money on personal expenses. They also alleged she received “hundreds of thousands of dollars in disability benefits” by falsifying her military discharge paperwork to match her story.

Toney-Fitch drew notoriety as the source for a May 12, 2023, New York Post report in which she alleged that nearly two dozen homeless veterans her organization had been helping were kicked out hotels in upstate New York to make room for migrants.

The story became a cause celebre for right-wing commentators seeking to demonize migrants and attack Democratic politicians. But Toney-Smith’s tale collapsed within days, as local news outlets reported that she had fabricated her story and the homeless veterans had never existed.

Fox, which relentlessly portrays migrants as dangerous criminals conducting an “invasion” of the United States, picked up Toney-Fitch’s hoax the day after the Post published its initial story. Fox News and Fox Business gave the story, which Fox claimed to have “confirmed,” more than an hour of credulous coverage over six days.

“This is pretty infuriating, homeless vets who served our great country, they’re being put out on the street and replaced by illegal immigrants,” prime-time star Sean Hannity alleged in one such segment.

But as the story unraveled, Fox personalities began backtracking and admitting they had been duped. On May 24, 2023, several Fox anchors read an on-air statement which said in part, “We've since learned that veterans advocates misled local officials, and it now turns out those eviction claims were false. We want to update you on this story, make sure the record was set straight, and we’ll get more to you as we get it.”

Apparently the “veterans advocate” behind the story facing criminal charges after allegedly faking a Purple Heart and defrauding the government of hundreds of thousands of dollars in benefits wasn’t worth mentioning.

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note the bad ppl coming to take what good ppl deserve

https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/right-wing-media-figures-ran-bogus-ny-post-story-pitting-migrants-against-veterans

lana Bellamy , Phillip Pantuso , Brendan J. Lyons @ The Times Union: Story of homeless veterans displaced by migrants was false.

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https://www.mediamatters.org/new-york-post/how-new-york-post-ginned-corruption-accusation-against-special-counsel-investigator

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mma 8 23

Citation From the August 29, 2023, edition of Fox News' Jesse Watters Primetime

In a desperate attempt to deny the impacts of climate change, Fox’s newest prime-time darling Jesse Watters hosted Judith Curry, a disgraced climate contrarian and the co-founder of a private consulting company funded in part by oil industry groups. According to reporting from DeSmog, Curry’s clients include petroleum companies, electric utilities, and natural gas energy traders that she charges $400 an hour for consultation on weather-related risks and forecast applications.

Based on Media Matters’ internal database, it’s been four years since Curry last appeared on Fox News. She was also recently featured in another Murdoch-owned media property: The New York Post. In an August 9 article, Curry made the false claim that the consensus on climate change is manufactured and suggested that scientists are financially incentivized to push the idea that climate change is caused by human activity.

During the prime-time segment, Watters failed to mention Curry’s ties to the fossil fuel industry, as well as her history of testifying on behalf of Republican congress members to deny the importance of climate action.  Curry also frequently makes appearances with other climate

curry echoed Watters’ egregious brand of climate denial, arguing that scientists have “seriously mischaracterized” the threat of climate change and warning against “hasty decisions” to invest in wind and solar energy. She added that the “dominant factor” in climate change is “far and away” the “natural climate variability” of the earth.

Curry’s opinions are refuted by climate experts. In fact, climate impacts have been quantified in extreme weather (such as the record-shattering global heatwave in July that impacted millions across North America, Europe, and Asia), and scientists have repeatedly warned about the dire consequences of inaction.

Watters ended his interview with praise for Curry, an unsurprising gesture given his penchant for climate conspiracy theories.

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mma 5 23

:{:{}:

}:

right-wing media figures uncritically amplified a now-debunked New York Post story to demonize immigrants and attack Democratic lawmakers.

On May 13, the New York Post published a story alleging that a group of 20 homeless military veterans had been “evicted” from two upstate New York hotels to make room for immigrants who had settled in New York City. The Post claimed the supposed migrants were part of New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ plans to secure temporary housing for immigrants entering the city.

After the New York Post published its story, local outlet the Mid Hudson News spoke with hotel management and service providers the Post claimed were involved in the removals. On May 18, the paper reported that not only had no homeless veterans been removed, but they were never there to begin with — one hotel manager “had never heard of” the veteran's group supposedly involved, while another said it “had not put any veterans in the hotel for ‘a long time.’” The report also discredited a receipt presented by State Assemblyman Brian Maher as supposed evidence that the group representing the homeless veterans had paid for the rooms. The Post later reported that the group’s longtime advocate had lied to the newspaper about the entire situation, and today the Mid Hudson News uncovered that 15 homeless men were paid to pretend they were veterans who had been staying at the hotel.

[twt]

by the time the story fell apart, right-wing media had already latched onto the now-debunked narrative and immediately weaponized the shoddily reported story as part of their ongoingfear campaign over a so-called “invasion” of migrants coming across the southern border.

• Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt said it was “astonishing that some of these hotels are getting migrants” and having to cancel other reservations, adding, “There are two couples that booked rooms for their wedding … and 20 vets also were in that hotel, they all had to move out because these migrants moved in.”
• Later on Fox & Friends, guest co-host Will Cain claimed that a “flood of illegal immigrants” are taking up hotel rooms and other resources in New York. Cain went on to remind viewers “about homeless veterans booted from a hotel so that rooms could be given to illegal immigrants,” with Earhardt adding that “Eric Adams says they’re gonna stay there for four months, so 20 veterans had to move to another hotel.”
• Fox anchor Harris Faulkner claimed the story showed “the disgraceful treatment of our military veterans played out in Orange County, New York,” as the nonexistent group of “at least 20 homeless veterans, some reportedly suffering from PTSD, had to give up their hotel rooms for illegals.” Fox contributor Johnny “Joey” Jones added a jab at the Biden administration, stating, “A president that would leave Americans stranded in Afghanistan probably doesn't see the onus to take care of 20 veterans in a hotel. And I hate to say it, but that's just the absolute truth of it.”
• Outnumbered co-hosts Emily Compagno and Kayleigh McEnany expressed outrage over the New York Post story, with Compagno claiming “America's heroes are now paying the price” for the “Southern border crisis.” McEnany lamented, “I can't help but notice the contrast when you have a 24-year-old — a veteran, had been in Afghanistan — kicked out of his hotel room as an Afghan national on the terror watch list is crossing the border in San Diego.”
• Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum complained, “You’ve got the hotels in New York that are having to take folks in. You had one in Newburgh, New York, where they had to cancel a wedding and kick out some homeless veterans to make room for incoming migrants.”
• Conservative moving company owner John Rourke appeared on One America News and ranted, “It just drives me nuts when we have veterans sleeping on the streets of this country and committing suicide in record numbers … and here we are filling up hotel rooms with illegal aliens, giving them cell phones, giving them medical attention, giving them food and water, and then putting them on planes.”
• On Twitter, Donald Trump Jr. used the story to attack Democrats, stating, “Honestly, this is just infuriating! Homeless vets are being booted from New York hotels to make room for migrants. Fuck Democrats & their bullshit policies! America last isn’t hyperbole it’s their goal.”
• Students for Trump founder Ryan Fournier tweeted, “Unacceptable. Nearly two dozen struggling homeless vets have been booted from NY hotels… So illegal immigrants can have space. WHAT?!”
• Conservative radio host Bo Snerdley tweeted, “This is about as ruthless, coldblooded, and incredibly heinous as anything Biden and Democrats have ever done. Kicking American veterans out of their lodging to make way for illegal immigrants? What country IS this?”
• Newsmax contributor Tony Shaffer later tweeted, “This tells you everything you need to understand about the progressive left cult - they are out to expand political power and a permanent underclass that will vote for them even if it means sacrificing veterans.”
• Fox News contributor and former Trump Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted, “What could be more backwards than putting illegal immigrants ahead of American veterans? An insult to American sovereignty.”
• 2024 Republican presidential candidate and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley tweeted a link to the New York Post’s story, adding, “Liberal insanity at work.”

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ref by cfact

ny post

no lnx pix

Amid record gas prices, Biden snubs oil CEOs for wind execs

By Steven Nelson   

June 23, 2022

More On: gas prices

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    Oil prices jump as Russia slashes output to protest Western sanctions

    Expect Biden to deliver the opposite of his promises in State of the Union Address

    Fresh proof of the massive pain Bidenomics has inflicted on the middle class

:{:{The White House on Thursday faced a barrage of questions about whether President Biden is doing enough to address record gas prices after he skipped a summit with oil executives and instead met with wind-industry leaders.}:

“When I think environment, I think jobs,” Biden told a group that included five wind-industry CEOs in the White House Roosevelt Room — shortly after a summit nearby that Biden refused to attend with seven oil CEOs and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.}:

“We’re about to build a better America,” Biden said at the wind-power meeting, which included Granholm, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Govs. Phil Murphy (D-NJ) and John Carney (D-Del.).

Biden mistakenly held up backwards a detailed note prepared by his staff for the wind meeting. It instructed him to “say hello to participants” and then “take YOUR seat” before giving “2 minutes” of remarks. The staff note instructed the president to “ask Liz Shuler, President, AFL-CIO, a question” and then “thank participants” and leave.

At the daily White House briefing, reporters called out the awkward juxtaposition of energy events as high fuel costs contribute to the worst inflation since 1981 and send Biden’s approval rating to new lows.

Joe Biden

President Joe Biden declined to meet with the oil industry leaders, even after attempting to blame them for high gas prices.

Getty Images/Drew Angerer

“Why did the president stop by the wind executives meeting? Why didn’t he spend some time with the oil executives as well?” Associated Press reporter Aamer Madhani asked White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

Jean-Pierre defended Biden’s meeting with wind executives as “part of his schedule.”

“The president — it was a stop by. This is something that he does very often,” Jean-Pierre said. “It was — there were governors in that meeting who were virtual and in-person. So we see this as a part of his schedule where there was actually a meeting here at the White House.”

Tap the right side of the screen below to watch this web story:

Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy picked up the line of questioning, asking Jean-Pierre of the wind executive meeting, “How did that help lower gas prices?

“The president has done a — so let me step back for a second,” Jean-Pierre began her answer, before Doocy interrupted to press his point.

“No, no, no,” Doocy interjected. “By meeting with offshore wind folks and not with oil and gas CEOs, how does that lower gas prices? You said he’s done everything in his power. They were a mile away.”

Jean-Pierre said, “I just want to take us back a second on how we got here.” She noted that gas prices are up about $2 per gallon since Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine and noted that Biden previously ordered the release of a million barrels per day from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and allowed a higher proportion of ethanol in gas over the summer, though neither step lowered prices.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm’s meeting covered ways to address rising energy costs and create more certainty for global energy markets.

AP/Susan Walsh

“The president is trying to figure out and take steps on how we can take, bring the gas prices down,” Jean-Pierre said. “And we have a high level of oil production. So what we are asking the oil refinery companies to do is to take that production — turn it into, refine that oil so that there is capacity. We are not at capacity right now. And it does matter that the secretary of energy, which is her purview, that is her portfolio, to meet with these oil execs, that she does on pretty regular basis —”

Doocy followed up asking if Biden’s wind-power meeting implied that he believes people must choose between buying an electric car or paying high gas prices.

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“Is that the choice: $5 a gallon gas or a $61,000 electric car?” he asked.

“That’s apples and oranges, that is not the same,” Jean-Pierre said, before pivoting to note that Biden on Wednesday asked Congress to temporarily waive the federal gas tax of 18.3 cents per gallon — though the idea received a cool reception from members of both political parties.

“What we’re trying to do right now is to deal with an acute problem right now, which is why the president, again, again asked for a 90-day suspension of the gas tax — a gas tax holiday — that is going to make a difference,” Jean-Pierre said.

“Peter, we’re talking about 18 cents on the federal level. We’re talking about an average of 30 cents on the state level. And if the oil refinery [sic] does their job, if they do what we’re asking them to do, which is put their profits back in so that gas prices can go down, that’s almost $1 per gallon. That matters. This matters to teachers, that matters to home health care aides, that matters to construction workers, that matters to plumbers, that matters to lifeguards. Those are the people that — and many others — who are going to feel this in a way that will give them relief at the pump.

Chevron gas truck

In 2022 U.S. oil and gas production was 1.2 million barrels per day.

Getty Images/Brandon Bell

“All right, we’re done,” Jean-Pierre cut off Doocy before calling on a different reporter.

Later in the briefing, Jean-Pierre was pressed by other reporters on what exactly Biden would be willing to do to help oil refiners produce more gasoline.

CNN reporter Phil Mattingly asked about the fact that refiners are “operating at about 93, 94% capacity.” She maintained, “there’s a difference between the share of existing capacity being utilized and the amount of total capacity available.”

New York Times reporter Zolan Kanno-Youngs pointed out that some oil refiners faced regulatory hurdles, such as a refinery in the Virgin Islands that has a troubled environmental record.

see also

President Joe Biden speaks about gas prices in the South Court Auditorium at the White House campus on June 22, 2022   

US refiners to urge Biden administration against fuel export ban

“Will the administration consider loosening any permitting regulations for refineries that have had environmental concerns to expand capacity?” he asked.

“I don’t have anything to share” on that point, Jean-Pierre said. “All I can say is the president is willing to use his executive authority to do what he can to give relief to the American public.”

The average price of a gallon of regular gas is about $5, according to AAA.

Renewable sources such as wind, meanwhile, make up a relatively small share of US energy production.

In 2021, wind power comprised just 3.3% of US energy production, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

CEOs at the wind-power meeting with Biden included Liz Burdock of the Business Network for Offshore Wind, David Hardy of Ørsted Offshore North America, Robert Blue of Dominion Energy, Jeffrey Grybowski of US Wind and Lars Pedersen of Vineyard Offshore.

Dominion Energy, based in Virginia, has a broad portfolio of electricity sources, including nuclear, coal and natural gas.

Wind turbines

Renewable sources make up a relatively small share of US energy production.

AP/Steve Helber

Oil-industry executives said Thursday afternoon that they were encouraged by their lower-profile meeting with Granholm.

“Secretary Granholm’s meeting with American refiners today was a constructive discussion about ways to address rising energy costs and create more certainty for global energy markets, a joint oil-industry statement said afterward.

The American Petroleum Institute and American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers went on, “While these challenges and their causes are complex—from Russia’s war in Ukraine to market imbalances leftover from COVID—productive outcomes today should send a positive signal to the market that the U.S. is committed to long-term investment in a strong U.S. refining industry and aligning policies to reflect that commitment.”

Biden told reporters on Monday that he would not meet with the oil industry leaders, even though he’s attempted to blame them for high prices. The president has alleged that the industry isn’t drilling or refining enough and accused them of profiteering, sparking a war of words.

Chevron CEO Michael Wirth, who leads the country’s second-largest oil company, on Tuesday wrote in an open letter that data contradict Biden’s claims regarding the industry not drilling or refining enough.

Michael Wirth

President Biden dismissed Chevron CEO Michael Wirth comment on the company’s report.

Reuters/Brendan McDermid

“In 2021, Chevron produced the highest volume of oil and gas in our 143-year history. In the first quarter of 2022, our U.S. production was 1.2 million barrels per day, up 109,000 barrels per day from the same quarter a year earlier,” Wirth wrote. NOTE NOTHING ON RECORD PROFITS

“In the Permian Basin [centered in West Texas] alone, we expect production to approach 750,000 barrels per day by the end of the year, an increase of more than 15 percent from 2021,” Wirth added.

“And Chevron’s U.S. refinery input grew to 915,000 barrels per day on average in the first quarter of this year from 881,000 in the same quarter last year.”

Biden responded Tuesday by mocking Wirth as “mildly sensitive.”

“We need more refining capacity. This idea that they don’t have oil to drill and to bring up is simply not true,” Biden said Tuesday, responding to Wirth. “We ought to be able to work something out whereby they’re able to increase refining capacity and still not give up on transitioning to renewable energy.”

Jerome H. Powell

Jerome H. Powell serves as the Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

CNP / MEGA/Ron Sachs

Chevron reported a profit of $6.5 billion in the first quarter of 2022 —quadruple its profits of $1.7 billion from the first quarter of 2021— as global oil prices increased. IF COSTS INCREASE  IT SHD LOWER PROFITS?

High gas prices are contributing to the highest inflation rate since 1981, though Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Wednesday that “inflation was high before — certainly before the war in Ukraine broke out.”

Biden on Wednesday appealed to gas station owners to unilaterally lower prices at the pump. About 60% of US pumping stations are owned by a person or family that operates just one location.

Republicans say Biden contributed to the gas-price crisis by seeking to impose a moratorium last year on new oil drilling on public lands and by spiking new oil pipeline projects, including the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada.

What do you think? Post a comment.

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Filed under

    gas prices joe biden oil oil prices 6/23/22

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7 23 HEATED EM

remember that**New York Post**story on pizza oven regulations that went viral about two weeks ago? The one that said pizza would be ruined across New York, all in the name of solving climate change?

There was a public hearing for it last week—and guess what? Only nine New Yorkers spoke. Three represented environmental and public health organizations; two worked at pizzerias; one was a woman with lung cancer; and two were conservative reporters who did not appear to understand the purpose of public hearings. Nobody who supported the rule talked about fighting climate change (probably because it is not, in fact, a climate change rule). And nobody who opposed the rule talked about the quality or quantity of pizza being threatened.

Aside from the weird reporter interjections (more on that later), the hearing was a typical regulatory debate. The non-profit folks said the rule would improve air quality and public health while the industry folks said it was a costly mandate. The whole thing lasted forty-five minutes, which in public hearing time is essentially the speed of light......$

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NY post murdoch

yahoo

former Twitter executive conceded Tuesday that the social media company made the wrong call when it censored stories about Hunter Biden’s laptop in the lead up to the 2020 presidential election.

Yoel Roth, the former head of Twitter’s Trust & Safety department, opened up about the decision in a discussion with tech journalist Kara Swisher, claiming the Oct. 2020 front page story by The New York Post was difficult for Twitter to initially verify,so the company chose to shut it down, suspending the news outlet and preventing users from sharing links to the article. (Those who obtained and disseminated the laptop initially refused to provide it to other outlets, making verification difficult.)

“We didn’t know what to believe, we didn’t know what was true, there was smoke,” said Roth, who quit earlier this month amid mass layoffs following Elon Musk’s takeover.

Federal authorities had warned social media execs to be on high alert in the lead up to the election for hacks and disinformation campaigns similar to those weaponized by Russia in 2016. The laptop story “set off every single one of my finely tuned APT28 hack and leak campaign alarm bells. Everything about it looked like a hack and leak,” Roth said.

However, he said that, “ultimately for me, it didn’t reach a place where I was comfortable removing this content from Twitter.”

When asked by Swisher if it was a mistake to censor the story, Roth replied, “In my opinion, yes.” (He did, however, say he thought it was the right decision to ban Donald Trump.)

hunter Biden and President Joe Biden.

Teresa Kroeger/Getty Images for World Food Program USA]

The admission comes as the company prepares to release files related to the decision, according to a series of tweets from Musk.

“The Twitter Files on free speech suppression soon to be published on Twitter itself. The public deserves to know what really happened,” he tweeted on Monday. “This is a battle for the future of civilization. If free speech is lost even in America, tyranny is all that lies ahead.”

Musk has been critical of the company’s decision to censor the story tying the president’s son to controversial business connections in Ukraine and China, parts of which were later confirmed by various major news organizations, even calling out Twitter just days after proposing a $44 billion buyout of the site.

“Suspending the Twitter account of a major news organization for publishing a truthful story was obviously incredibly inappropriate,” Musk tweeted in April.

But Roth, whose decision to quit was based partly on the calamitous Twitter Blue scheme as well as Musk’s “dictatorial edict,” said that the new CEO’s laissez-faire content moderation strategies were dooming the site and making it less safe.

Elon Musk’s Twitter Fiasco Is the Twilight of the Tech Bro

“There is no set it and forget it when it comes to trust and safety,” he said, questioning Twitter’s ability to now preempt malicious trolls and bad actors. “I don’t think there are enough people left at the company who can do that work.”

“You can certainly streamline things, but that doesn’t mean that malicious activity is going to get less complicated, it doesn’t mean trolls are going to stop. You can’t bury your head in the sand,” Roth added.

In the hour-long interview, Roth urged users to stay attuned to any shifting functionality of key features like muting, blocking and protected tweets.

“If protected tweets stop working, run,” Roth said.

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elon Musk says Twitter's censorship of Hunter Biden laptop story was the 'definition of election interference' and that firm 'was acting as an arm of the DNC'

Musk spoke for nearly two hours in a 'Twitter Spaces' audio chat on Saturday

He addressed files illuminating Twitter's censorship ahead of 2020 election

Claimed Twitter acted as an 'arm of the Democratic National Committee'

Files released Friday showed Twitter staff discussing ban on Hunter laptop story

They also show requests from 'Biden team' to remove nude images of Hunter

By KEITH GRIFFITH FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

PUBLISHED: 21:45 EST, 3 December 2022 | UPDATED: 22:29 EST, 3 December 2022

Elon Musk has claimed that Twitter's censorship of the Hunter Biden laptop scandal was tantamount to interference in the 2020 election.

Musk made the claim in a wide-ranging two-hour audio chat on Twitter Spaces on Saturday night, one day after the publication of internal files relating to Twitter's October 2020 ban on initial reporting of the laptop contents.

'If Twitter is doing one team's bidding before an election shutting down dissenting voices on a pivotal election that is the definition of election interference,' said Musk. 

'Frankly Twitter was acting like an arm of the Democratic National Committee, it was absurd,' added the billionaire, who has been highly critical of prior management at the company he purchased five weeks ago.

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In the audio chat, Musk also claimed Apple had 'fully resumed' advertising on Twitter following a pullback, and said that he banned Kanye West for 'incitement to violence' for a tweet displaying a Nazi swastika.

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Elon Musk has claimed that Twitter's censorship of the Hunter Biden laptop scandal was tantamount to interference in the 2020 election

Musk made the claim in a wide-ranging two-hour audio chat on Twitter Spaces on Saturday night, one day after the publication of internal files from October 2020

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Much of the conversation was devoted to the so-called 'Twitter Files,' a selection of internal documents released by journalist Matt Taibbi on Friday night.

The documents included internal Twitter emails appearing to show staffers removing tweets showing a nude Hunter Biden at the behest of Joe Biden's 2020 presidential campaign and the DNC.

However, Taibbi himself said that the files contained 'no evidence - that I've seen' that the Biden campaign had a role in suppressing the New York Post's story on Hunter's business dealings, which was controversially banned from Twitter.

Musk said in the chat on Saturday that in addition to Taibbi, he had given the files to Bari Weiss.

Musk said he had given the journalists 'unfettered access' to old internal documents, and did not guide or control how they were revealed or reported.

'This is not a North Korea tour guide situation, you get to go anywhere you want, whenever you want, however you want,' he said. 'I'm not controlling the narrative.'

'It's just obvious there's been a lot of control of information, supression of information, including things that affected elections, and that just all need to be...you just want to have the stuff out there,' he said.

Musk said in the chat on Saturday that in addition to Matt Taibbi (left), he had given the files to journalist Bari Weiss (right)

Participating in the chat, former Trump administration official Sebastian Gorka asked whether there was any evidence of actual government interference in Twitter's moderation, since the documents released only showed requests from the Biden campaign.

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Musk did not directly answer the question, and admitted 'I have not read the Twitter Files so that's why my understanding is limited.' 

Musk also said he thought it was 'possible' that personnel at the social media firm gave preference to left-wing candidates during Brazil's election this year, without providing evidence.

Musk completed his acquisition of Twitter on Oct. 27, just days before Brazil's presidential second round runoff vote, when far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro was defeated by leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

'I've seen a lot of concerning tweets about the recent Brazil election,' Musk wrote on Twitter when asked by a user about elections possibly 'handled' by the company's previous management.

Weeks ahead of the election in October 2020, Twitter prevented sharing of a story about Hunter Biden's international business dealings, based on emails from his laptop

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'If those tweets are accurate, it's possible that Twitter personnel gave preference to left wing candidates,' added the billionaire.

Separately, Musk also addressed his move to ban Kanye West from Twitter once again this week, following the rapper's latest anti-Semitic meltdown.

'With Kanye it's obviously a difficult subject, but that was a case where, that was my decision. I think it's important people know that was my decision,' he said.

West was banned for posting an image of a swastika within a Star of David, a Jewish religious symbol, something Musk explained he viewed as an 'incitement to violence.'

'I personally wanted to punch Kanye, so it's definitely inciting me to violence, so that's not cool,' he said.

Musk said that context was important, and that a swastika in a historical context, such as a history of World War II, would not necessarily be offensive in the same way.

Meanwhile, in emerged on Saturday that the tweets that were removed at the request of the DNC and Biden campaign appeared to center of pornographic images of Hunter Biden.

In one of these emails, sent ten days after The New York Post first broke the laptop story on October 14 of that year, Twitter staffers were asked to 'review' five tweets deemed problematic by 'the Biden team.'

One of the tweets removed at the request of the Biden campaign is seen above. The original image, which showed Hunter Biden nude from the waist down, has been cropped above

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'More to review from the Biden team,' that staffer's redacted correspondence read - garnering a reply hours later from another Twitter employee - one that assured the worker the task had been 'handled.'

That same day, another email reveals that there was an additional complaint from the DNC and two more tweets were deleted.

It is not clear from the leaked emails what the deleted tweets were about, however Washington Free Beacon investigative reporter Andrew Kerr said he had discovered the contents of several of the tweets.

He said three of the tweets the Biden camp demanded be deleted contained 'Hunter Biden porn' and photos of Biden's genitalia, from the laptop.

He claims one of the tweets requested to be deleted by the DNC was from actor James Woods and depicted Hunter smoking crack and a committing a sex act.

And he says the second tweet was a link to Hunter Biden weighing and using drugs, and another link to a Hunter Biden sex tape.

Share or comment on this article: Elon Musk says Twitter's actions were the 'definition of election interference'

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We’ve been warned. When the Republicans take control of the House, it’s going to be all Hunter’s laptop, all the time.

Despite haughty GOP denials, the laptop story is probably a cover for another Russian hack and leak operation, and the Republicans are gleefully laundering it.

Republicans have browbeaten various social media execs – who are surely nervous about being called before GOP committees – into saying they were wrong to throttle access to what everyone correctly assumed was foreign election interference laundered through Donald Trump’s personal lawyer and election interference go-to-guy Rudy Giuliani.

READ MORE: On aid to Ukraine, the Republicans are jammed

Various major media outlets have authenticated a small percentage of the data dump as having belonged to Hunter Biden. But that’s exactly what you’d expect in a hack and leak operation. The question is whether the data were really abandoned by Hunter Biden or whether they were uploaded to that laptop as a pretext for trafficking in stolen secrets.

“That’s Rudy”

In October 2020, weeks before the general election,the New York Postran a story about what Rudy Giuliani claimed was a hard drive abandoned by Hunter Biden at a computer repair shop in Wilmington, Delaware.

Over 50 retired intelligence pros signed an open letter arguing that L’Affaire MacBook bore all the hallmarks of Russian disinfo. Twitter’s former head of safety said this week that the story set off “every single one of my finely tuned [Russian intelligence] hack and leak campaign alarm bells."

READ MORE: GOP strategist pardoned by Donald Trump convicted of illegally funneling him Russian cash

Conveniently, the former shop owner who gave the data to Giuliani is legally blind, so he can’t say whether the man who dropped off the machines was Hunter Biden. He’s also a frothing conspiracy theorist who was unable to tell a straight story about the provenance of the laptop.

We know Vladimir Putin personally directed a campaign of interference in the 2020 elections that focused on feeding anti-Biden propaganda to influential Americans, including members of Trump’s inner circle, according to a 2021 report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

The report doesn’t name names, but contains enough clues to identify Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, as the useful idiot in chief.

This time, the collusion between Trump and the Russians was right out in the open. With Trump’s support, Giuliani spent much of 2019 ostentatiously shuttling to Ukraine and huddling with Kremlin-linked oligarchs, including an active Russian agent who was later sanctioned by Secretary Steve Mnuchin’s Treasury Department for interference in the 2020 election.

Data from Hunter Biden’s computer were on the market in Kyiv around the time Giuliani went disinfo-shopping. As you recall, Giuliani was searching for dirt in Ukraine because Hunter Biden sat on the board of a Ukrainian energy company, Burisma Holdings, which, according to that ODNI report, was hacked by the Russian spy service known as the GRU in late 2019.

Multiple US intelligence agencies repeatedly and explicitly warned Donald Trump in 2019 that Giuliani’s bottomless thirst for dirt on the Bidens made him the target of a Russian intelligence operation. National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien warned Trump that any information Giuliani brought back from his Ukraine junket should be considered “contaminated” by the Russians. Trump reportedly shrugged and said, “That’s Rudy.”

Stolen and dumped

Let’s not forget Trump’s first impeachment was the result of a desperate bid to wring dirt out of the Ukrainians. Trump froze congressionally authorized defense aid to Ukraine in order to strong-arm the country’s new president into announcing a bogus investigation into Hunter Biden.

Republicans have falsely claimed that forensic analyses have proven that the data was found on a laptop that Hunter Biden abandoned at a repair shop in Delaware. These analyses have shown that some of the materials were produced by Hunter Biden. But that’s how hack and leak attacks work.

In a hack and leak, data is stolen and dumped.

A largely genuine trove of stolen data is also the perfect place to hide forged or stolen elements, which enjoy unearned credibility because they’re packaged with real stuff. That’s why the victims of hack and leaks are advised never to confirm the authenticity of anything.

The attackers are counting on the public to draw the erroneous conclusion that, because some things are genuine, the whole package is real, and – most importantly – that it came from where the cover story says it came from, be that an imaginary collective of good-hearted “hacktivists” or a computer repair shop in Delaware. Anywhere but the GRU.

The GRU is notorious for hacking and leaking.

A GRU unit known as FancyBear or APT128 famously deployed this tactic against the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2016. They also targeted George Soros, the World Anti-Doping Agency, scientists investigating the poisoning of a former Russian agent, and countless others. For particularly high-value targets, GRU combines hacking with good-old-fashioned stalking, following their targets around, hoping to catch them using insecure hotel wifi.

Isn’t it a crazy coincidence that a disk image of “Hunter Biden’s laptop” was revealed to the world by the same guy who we know was the main conduit for Russian disinformation about the Bidens? A guy who has also been investigated for other kinds of election interference on behalf of Trump.

If you believe that, I’ve got an extended warranty to sell you.

READ MORE: Fiona Hill warns Musk is 'transmitting a message' for Putin as DeSantis rushes to billionaire’s defense

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https://time.com/5902557/hunter-biden-rudy-giuliani-ukraine/

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POLITICS 2020 ELECTION

EXCLUSIVE: ALLEGED HUNTER BIDEN EMAILS CIRCULATED IN UKRAINE AS RUDY GIULIANI DUG FOR DIRT THERE LAST YEAR

Hunter Biden, son of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden; Personal attorney to President Donald Trump and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani Photo-Illustration by TIME; DNCC/Getty Images; Committee on Arrangements for the 2020 RNC/Getty Images

BY SIMON SHUSTER

OCTOBER 21, 2020

Explicit photos and emails purportedly belonging to Hunter Biden were circulating in Ukraine last year at the same time that Rudy Giuliani was searching for dirt there on former Vice President Joe Biden, two people approached about the material during that period tell TIME.

The emails’ alleged availability, which has not been previously reported, comes to light in the wake of Giuliani’s recent claims that he obtained private photos and emails of Hunter Biden from a broken laptop abandoned in Delaware. Giuliani, who is President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, has passed this material to right-wing news outlets, which began publishing it last week. Giuliani did not respond to requests for comment on the origins of the material he obtained.

Over the past year, the practice of selling or leaking private communications has become so common in Ukraine that the government has announced plans to pass a law against it. Igor Novikov, a former adviser to Ukraine’s President who now researches disinformation, referred to the practice as Ukraine’s “national sport” in a recent interview with the Washington Post.

The two people who said they were approached with Hunter Biden’s alleged emails last year did not know whether any of them were real and they declined to identify who was behind the offers, the first of which came in late May 2019 and the second in mid-September 2019. The two people said they could not confirm whether any of the material presented to them was the same as that which has been recently published in the U.S.

Last week the New York Post began publishing the material they obtained from Giuliani, and the sources and authenticity of the published emails has been hotly debated ever since. Hunter Biden and his father’s presidential campaign have declined to comment on the leaks in detail or to address whether any of the published emails are genuine. Hunter Biden has been unable to figure out where the material could have originated, says a person familiar with the situation.

Over the past week, Trump has used the leaks from Giuliani to fuel his claims of corruption against the Biden family.The President called on Attorney General William Barr to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the material in the recent reports. “We’ve got to get the attorney general to act,” Trump said in an interview with Fox on Tuesday, two days before he faces Biden in the final debate of the presidential race. “He’s got to appoint somebody. This is major corruption, and this has to be known about before the election.”

One mystery that has surrounded Giuliani’s effort to aid Trump’s re-election bid is the original source of the photos and emails he has leaked to the New York Post. No other news organization has been able to verify the contents of the leak. The Biden campaign, along with U.S. national security officials and social media platforms, have warned that the leaked files could include forgeries meant to confuse or mislead voters in the final weeks of the campaign. Experts on disinformation have also raised serious concerns about the leaks.

The two people who said they were approached about Hunter Biden’s photos and emails last year did not know whether they originated from the same source as those that Giuliani has since leaked to the media. When the New York Post first published photos of Hunter Biden last week, “It brought back memories of the same information that was being introduced to us a year ago,” says the first person informed about the existence of this material.

Rudy Giuliani listens as President Trump speaks during a news briefing at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 27, 2020. (Salwan Georges—The Washington Post/Getty Images)

In an interview with TIME, a second person described an offer that was made to him in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, in mid-September 2019. This person declined the offer, he says, and only recalled it in detail when familiar-looking material was published in the New York Post last week. This person alleges that the people offering this material had a buyer in mind for it: they said they wanted to sell it to Republican allies of President Trump. Their asking price was $5 million, he says, adding: “I walked away from it, because it smelled awful.”

In its first report about Hunter Biden on Oct. 14, the New York Post published what it described in a headline as a “smoking gun email” dated April 2015 between Hunter Biden and an adviser to Burisma Holdings, the Ukrainian gas company where Hunter Biden held a lucrative board seat while his father was Vice President. The email, whose authenticity could not be independently confirmed, appeared to suggest that the adviser, Vadym Pozharskyi, had met and “spent some time” with Joe Biden, thanks to an introduction from Hunter Biden. If the alleged meeting took place, it would seem to undercut the repeated claims from Biden and his son that they never discussed Burisma.

The Biden campaign has denied that any such meeting happened. Amos Hochstein, who served as an adviser to Joe Biden on Ukrainian affairs in 2015, said the then-Vice President did not attend a meeting with Pozharskyi. “He never met with Biden. Never,” Hochstein tells TIME.

During his travels in Europe last year, Giuliani met with a variety of Ukrainian politicians, businessmen and former law enforcement officers whom he has since described as “whistleblowers” and witnesses to the Biden family’s alleged corruption in Ukraine. None of the accusations these sources made via Giuliani has stood up to public scrutiny, and no evidence has emerged of wrongdoing by Joe Biden in Ukraine.

When TIME asked Novikov, the former adviser to Ukraine’s President, about the alleged offers of access to Hunter Biden’s emails, Novikov said it would be “nothing new” for someone in Ukraine to market such material. The trade in kompromat—a Russian word for “compromising material”—has gone into overdrive in Ukraine since last year,when the country became entangled in internal U.S. politics, especially during the impeachment inquiry against President Trump, Novikov says. Various political operatives have rushed to answer Giuliani’s call for dirt on the Bidens, creating what Novikov called a “catalyst for disinformation.” Any documents emerging from this trade should be treated with caution, he adds, because they are “extremely hard to verify, yet very easy to fake.”

Since the New York Post began publishing the purported emails and photos of Hunter Biden, federal investigators have tried to determine where the emails came from and whether they are linked to a foreign effort to influence the U.S. elections, according to an NBC News report published Oct. 15.

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At the end of last year, Russia’s military intelligence service, known as the GRU, hacked into the computer systems of Burisma, the Ukrainian gas company, apparently aiming to steal its internal documents and communications, according to a report released by cyber security experts in January. “It is significant because Burisma Holdings is publicly entangled in U.S. foreign and domestic politics,” wrote the experts from Area 1, a cyber security firm that was co-founded by a former hacker for the U.S. National Security Agency. The January report warned that the hack of Burisma could be an “early warning” of Russia’s plans to interfere in the 2020 elections using the same techniques it used in 2016.

During a trip to Ukraine in December, Giuliani met with a Ukrainian lawmaker who has since been identified by the U.S. Treasury Department as an “active Russian agent” with longstanding ties to Russian intelligence services. The lawmaker, Andrii Derkach, did not respond to messages seeking comment.

In a social media post on Monday, Derkach claimed that the “scandalous investigation” published in the New York Post would soon have a sequel based on a “second laptop” purportedly containing the private emails and photos of Hunter Biden. “The facts confirming international corruption are stored on a second laptop,” Derkach wrote. “These are not the last witnesses or the last laptop.”

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