TOP LINE: With new accusations this week about the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story during the last presidential election, I can’t help but reflect on my own experience at CBS News — what I think was a missed opportunity to refute false claims that it was Russian disinformation . DEEP DIVE This week, our investigative team uncovered new evidence on X from IRS whistleblowers on alleged double standards at the IRS and Department of Justice in the Hunter Biden investigation. Case Agent Joseph Ziegler told us they were not allowed to take any actions that could have exposed the existence of the investigation before the 2020 election. “There were a lot of overt investigative steps that we weren’t allowed to take because there was an election coming up,” Ziegler explained. “And they involved the president’s son. So not even the candidate. And we were not allowed to carry out certain research steps.” (IRS, DOJ and others declined to comment) Findings from our investigation into They claim that Hunter Biden’s laptop reporting was suppressed in the run-up to the 2020 election to gain political favor: “Facebook executives discussed calibrating censorship decisions to please what they thought an incoming Biden-Harris administration would be… ” With these new developments, I can’t help but reflect on my own experience with the Hunter Biden laptop in the fall of 2020, after the New York Post broke the story (and bravely stood by it). It’s the question I get asked the most. “What happened to the Hunter Biden story at CBS before the 2020 election?” I think it’s best that the account comes directly from me. On October 23, 2020, about ten days after the story surfaced, I was contacted by senior CBS News executive Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews for “confirmed reporting” on the Hunter Biden story. She said the confirmed reporting involved Evening News Anchor and Editor-in-Chief Norah O’Donnell. Days earlier, I had been tasked with checking the laptop and its contents after multiple platforms suppressed the story. Due diligence included working the phone, reaching people in Hunter Biden’s emails for confirmation and cross-referencing legal cases. The audited documents I collected also showed that the laptop belonged to Hunter Biden.

Million dollar retainer from Chinese energy company

Signature page

I told Ciprian-Matthews that the materials vetted included a $1 million provision from a Chinese energy company, emails with Hunter Biden’s former business partner Tony Bobulinski, and text messages from Hunter Biden. When Ciprian-Matthews asked if there was a “Hunter connection,” I replied, “Yes, all of them.” I then provided some of the audited data directly to Ciprian-Matthews. We spoke briefly on the phone. What happened next, I don’t know at this point. QUESTIONS FOR CBS NEWS/FIND AN ANSWER This weekend, on Saturday, I contacted CBS News PR with questions for Ciprian-Matthews and Norah O’Donnell. I followed up with a voicemail and text message to confirm that CBS had received our questions, as well as the Sunday afternoon deadline. When there was no response, I forwarded our questions Sunday morning, added the head of CBS PR and O’Donnell’s agent, and wrote: “We are taking the extra step this morning by contacting you for comment and, as a courtesy, extending the deadline until 2:00 PM Eastern. We copied Ingrid and Norah. If the email addresses are incorrect, we ask that the questions be shared with them so that there is a full opportunity to respond. Thank you in advance for considering and acknowledging receipt of our questions.” At the time of writing there has been no response nor the courtesy to acknowledge receipt of our queries. For transparency, you can read the questions here.

Questions submitted to CBS News

Based on my reporting, and as the network’s senior investigative correspondent, CBS News’ investigative unit was not assigned to develop more laptop reporting in October 2020. That would have been standard practice. In the 60 Minutes interview with then-President Trump, correspondent Lesley Stahl said of the Hunter Biden laptop: “It cannot be verified.” Watching the broadcast made me feel nauseous. I knew the laptop details could be checked and confirmed. I was confused by what seemed like a rift between the CBS News division and 60 Minutes. OUR FORENSIC REVIEW OF HUNTER BIDEN LAPTO DATA It took another two years for the network to air a forensic examination of the Hunter Biden laptop data. I advocated for the report that found both records belonged to Hunter Biden and had not been tampered with. Our report aired in November 2022, after the midterm elections. Maybe I’ll have more to say about the delay in the future.

Analyzed laptop data

By contrast, in October 2020 there appeared to be little resistance to claims by 51 former intelligence officials that the laptop had “classic hallmarks” of a Russian information operation. According to the published transcript of the edited 60 Minutes interview with then-candidate Joe Biden, Norah O’Donnell asked, “Do you believe that the recent leak of material allegedly from Hunter’s computer is part of a Russian disinformation campaign?” Candidate Biden responded: “…And so when you put the combination of Russia, Giuliani – the president – ​​together – it is exactly what it is. It’s a smear campaign because he has nothing he wants to talk about. What does it run on? What is he walking with?” CBS News executives are making the final call to the editors. I believe preliminary reporting from CBS News senior director Ciprian-Matthews in October 2020 showed the laptop was worth digging into, and more facts should be gathered. I saw it as an opportunity for CBS News to tell an important story and refute claims of disinformation. Ultimately, I was assigned to the Hunter Biden case. I was encouraged that top business leaders told me privately that they wanted a record that spoke truth to power on both sides of the aisle. They even provided additional resources, but based on my experience, it seemed that their business goals were frustrated by CBS News executives and other employees who were reluctant to cover a story about the president’s son. IInterest is waning In 2023, CBS’ investigative unit exclusively interviewed the same IRS whistleblowers, Shapley and Ziegler. But after Hunter Biden’s July 2023 plea deal fell apart and he faced gun and tax charges, I found the network’s interest waned. As a senior investigative correspondent at CBS News for more than four years, our award-winning reporting was a catalyst for legislative change, impacting a million servicemembers and their families. We helped secure 50 Purple Hearts for soldiers who were wrongfully denied the award under the Trump administration following an Iranian ballistic missile attack on their base in January 2020. We have obtained the audio tape of former President Trump appearing to brag and discuss classified documents about Iran at his golf club in New Jersey. CNN was the first to report the shootings. We helped right a decades-long wrong so that retired Col. Paris Davis, one of the first Black officers in the elite Green Berets, could be recognized with the Medal of Honor for his heroism in Vietnam. Two weeks before my role ended in February, Army whistleblower Nick Nicholls came forward with new evidence that service members had been exposed to toxins at their overseas base after 9/11. Since then, Nicholls’ courage, with the help of veteran advocates, has opened the door to long-awaited VA benefits and recognition. While I remain proud of these projects, I also believe that the Hunter Biden laptop was a missed opportunity for CBS News before the 2020 election.