The people involved with Donald Trump's reelection campaign have echoed the same message over-and-over throughout the past two weeks: Why isn't the mainstream media covering the story of Hunter Biden's laptop?
Trump himself has complained emails and documents linked to corrupt business deals that were supposedly found on the laptop belonging to Joe Biden's son have been ignored. Trump advisor and lawyer Rudy Giuliani has thrown himself in the center of this non-story as of late. An interesting turn of events after it was said he has known about the contents stored on Biden's hard drive since May of last year.
The art of influence
According to NBC News, those involved with the Trump campaign allegedly say
"(Hunter) Biden used his father’s influence to enrich himself through business deals in Ukraine and China, and that his father not only facilitated that, but may have benefited financially."
What makes the story pure speculation at this point is the fact no news outlet has been able to verify any of the content Giuliani and others are alleged to have in their possession. No update of any new information or major revelations have come out since the NY Post ran the unverified details of Biden's wrongdoings on Oct. 14. Perhaps the reason that story hasn't gotten traction is because there's a lack of willingness to share information coming from Giuliani and others.
A report by NBC News said they've reached out to Giuliani for more details and have "asked by email, text, phone call and certified mail, (but) was ultimately denied."
"And, although no evidence has emerged that the documents are the product of Russian disinformation, as some experts initially suggested, many questions remain about how the materials got into the hands of Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who has met with Russian agents in his effort to dig dirt on the Bidens."
The report went on to say, "U.S. intelligence agencies have informed the White House that Giuliani has been in contact with alleged Russian intelligence agents. The FBI has been looking into whether the Russians played any role, and no official has ruled that out. At the same time, dozens of former intelligence officials have said the story has the hallmarks of a Russian intelligence operation."
Where are the documents?
One person closely involved with NBC's decision making team blames the former New York City mayor directly for the reluctance to share any evidence.
"Rudy Giuliani has not provided any of the source material to any other news organization other than the Wall Street Journal — who debunked it — and the New York Post, who chose to run with it," NBC News Political Director Chuck Todd said on WBT's Pat McCrory Show with Bo Thompson on Friday.
"All I can tell you is we've not been able to verify this story. I can't tell you if this story is right or wrong, but we haven't been able to verify it." Todd went on to say, "The burden of proof is on (Giuliani) and I don't think he's made his case."
The rest of the story?
As for the other side, WBT has interviewed Rudy Giuliani twice since the Biden story was released. The first time on Oct. 26 during an episode of Brett Winterble's 'Devious Motives' podcast, Giuliani, who made his appearance on behalf of the Trump Campaign, indirectly confirmed he's not sharing any information with the media.
"I'm sitting here with all the facts," said Giuliani. "They have nothing. I've got his hard drive. I think I know Hunter Biden's life better than his father does."
Four days later, Giuliani repeated several talking points from his interview with Winterble on The Pat McCrory Show with Bo Thompson. When asked to provide any new details on the Biden story, he avoided the subject by blaming the press, who he said were "consumed by hatred" towards Trump.
"Hatred is a very, very eviscerating emotion," Giuliani said on Friday's show. "It can take away your reason. It can take away your common sense. It can take away your honesty. You think you have to do anything you can to stop this inflated figure they've made of Trump."
The result of a two-way split
If Giuliani can provide evidence to back up his claims, it's possible the storyline goes one of two directions. If he and the Trump campaign are planning on this story being played out as a November surprise before the election, will any of the details truly make an impact? A huge amount of voters have cast their ballots early with details of the story already being known.
If Joe Biden wins the election, expect Giuliani to be more forthcoming with information to the media. His play will be to call on congressional leaders to launch an impeachment inquiry against Biden.
On the other hand, if Trump remains in office, Giuliani may try to use the contents of the hard drive to call for charges against Biden. Either that, or the entire matter is goes dark and becomes the topic of this election cycle— a lot like Hillary Clinton's email server was four years ago. Either way, both scenarios would be a rare move and catch a lot of controversy in the process.
Regardless of what Giuliani and the Trump Campaign's strategy is this story is virtually nothing. That will remain the case until some type of evidence is presented and verified. Until then, like we say in the news industry, carry on with "regularly scheduled programming."