As he prepares for sentencing in his federal gun trial and whispers in his father’s ear about what the president should do to save his campaign, Hunter Biden is suing Fox News for launching “politically motivated attacks” against the first son in the form of a mock trial miniseries that asked the question: “What would a Hunter Biden corruption trial look like?”
The miniseries portrayed how a criminal trial of the first son would proceed, including defense lawyers and prosecutors, a jury, and even a presiding judge — Judge Joe Brown of television fame. Fox News’ streaming service, Fox Nation, took the miniseries off of its platform earlier this year, but Biden says the damage that was done deserves restitution.
“Far from reporting on a newsworthy event, Fox sought to commercialize Mr. Biden’s personality through a form of treatment distinct from the dissemination of news or information. Indeed, the entire miniseries is fictionalized and based on a nonexistent criminal case,” Biden’s attorneys write.
In a statement released Monday, Fox News said Biden was a public figure and that his lawsuit lacked merit.
“This entirely politically motivated lawsuit is devoid of merit. The core complaint stems from a 2022 streaming program that Mr. Biden did not complain about until sending a letter in late April 2024,” Fox News said in its statment. “The program was removed within days of the letter, in an abundance of caution, but Hunter Biden is a public figure who has been the subject of multiple investigations and is now a convicted felon. Consistent with the First Amendment, Fox News has accurately covered the newsworthy events of Mr. Biden’s own making, and we look forward to vindicating our rights in court.”
The six-part miniseries used photos from Biden’s laptop that showed him smoking crack cocaine and cavorting in high-end hotel rooms with prostitutes.
“My client took all that money and stuck it up his nose or put it into a crack pipe,” attorney Randy Zelin, who portrays Biden’s defense attorney in the mockumentary, says to the jury at one point in the miniseries.
Biden’s attorneys say that because Fox news used “actual emails” and “actual photographs” for “entertainment”, the news outlet is guilty of disseminating “highly damaging” information about Biden.
Despite the fact that the streaming series has been taken down by Fox Nation, viewers were still able to download the content, including Biden’s emails and photographs. The first son’s attorneys say it has caused “severe emotional distress, humiliation, and mental anguish, as well as irreparable injury to his personal and professional reputation.”
Biden’s attorneys ask that any information about the series, including any copies of the series itself and the emails and photographs it contains, be permanently deleted from all servers, however the court can make that occur. He is also seeking an unspecified cash payment.
Biden has been holed up with his family in Maryland at Camp David for days following his father’s disastrous debate performance and his own criminal conviction, according to the New York Times. Biden has been one of the most outspoken advisers about the necessity of his father staying in the race, the outlet reported.
