Trump accuses White House of suppressing Hunter Biden laptop story – but while he was president

Trump falsely claimed Mark Zuckerberg was pressured by the White House to suppress stories about Hunter Biden’s laptop

President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden hug on stage at the DNC. Trump falsely claimed Mark Zuckerberg was pressured by the White House to suppress stories about Hunter’s laptop (AFP via Getty Images)

Donald Trump accused the White House of pressuring Meta to suppress posts about Hunter Biden’s laptop while he was serving as president.

Trump, in a post on Truth Social, falsely claimed, “Zuckerberg admits that the White House pushed to SUPPRESS HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP STORY (& much more!).”

“IN OTHER WORDS, THE 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION WAS RIGGED,” the former president continued.

Trump appears to be referring to a letter sent by Mark Zuckerberg, Meta CEO, to the House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan on Monday. Zuckerberg admitted in the letter that, in 2021, Joe Biden’s administration “pressured” Meta to censor certain COVID-19 content.

He also said that Meta “temporarily demoted” a New York Post story about Hunter Biden’s laptop in 2020 —when Trump was president — after the FBI warned the story could be part of a Russian disinformation campaign.

President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden hug on stage at the DNC. Trump falsely claimed Mark Zuckerberg was pressured by the White House to suppress stories about Hunter’s laptop (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

However, Zuckerberg did not at any point state that the White House pressured Meta to demote the story, as Trump falsely claimed in his recent post.

Trump also repeated his much-touted baseless claim that the 2020 election was rigged. There is no evidence that there was widespread voter fraud during the last presidential election, which President Joe Biden won.

Meta declined to comment on the post. The Independent has also contacted the Trump campaign for comment.

Hunter Biden’s so-called “laptop from hell” hit the world of politics when the New York Post published a story containing emails reportedly obtained from the laptop less than one month before the 2020 election.

The laptop was left in the hands of Trump-supporting repair man John Pal Mac Isaac, who is legally blind. Mac Isaac said the individual who dropped off the laptop identified himself as Hunter Biden.

Information on the laptop — which included purported emails, text messages and photos, some explicit — later reached the public eye. Reviews from news outlets like CBS News and The Washington Postlater revealed the data was authentic.

It later came out that Meta limited the story’s circulation after Zuckerberg said the FBI approached the company and asked them to be aware it may be disinformation intended to influence the election.

Last year, Hunter Biden sued Rudy Giuliani and his former attorney Robert Costello for alleged violations of computer fraud and data access.

The president’s son claimed that Giuliani, Costello and other unnamed people are “among those who have been primarily responsible for what has been described as the ‘total annihilation’ of Plaintiff’s digital privacy.”

Hunter Biden then dropped the lawsuit in June.

The president’s son is currently facing a federal tax trial. Prosecutors hit him with three felony and six misdemeanor charges, accusing him of avoiding paying at least $1.4m in taxes while maintaining an “extravagant lifestyle” between 2016 and 2019.

Hunter Biden was also found guilty of three federal gun charges in Delaware earlier this year.