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The Quid Pro Quo of political coverage

This just in.

President Donald Trump was in line to take a kickback from a foreign government!

His son, Donald Trump Jr., who runs the family’s real estate empire and does not serve in government, was found to be trading on the family name during multimillion-dollar negotiations with said foreign country. The plan was for his father to get 10% of the final deal. Trump Jr. has no experience in the field in which he was negotiating. It is clear foreign operatives were looking for a quid pro quo: Make the son of a powerful man rich and happy, and expect favors in return.

Meanwhile, other Trump family members, also not serving in government but certainly cashing in on their famous relative’s name, have been enriching themselves in questionable ways and have reaped millions of dollars.

None of this is true, of course, but don’t you know if it were, there would certainly be multiple investigations launched and politicians such as Rep. Adam Schiff, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer posturing before cameras, shouting about the need to get to the truth! Impeachment would be back on the table.

But the shoe is now on the other political foot. The facts listed above are allegations about former Vice President Joe Biden and his troubled son Hunter — charges that stem from information that was found on an abandoned laptop left at a Delaware repair shop with Hunter’s cellphone number as the callback contact.

Biden’s surviving son has long had problems with addiction, fidelity and finding a job that matched his unknown skills. In the inebriated blur that has been his life, Hunter has been photographed in very unsober and undressed states, and he fathered a child with a stripper from Arkansas. He was dating his brother’s widow at the time. Hunter denied paternity but a DNA test proved he lied.

As the sins of the father should not be visited on a son, the same should hold true the other way. Children often disappoint their parents, and Hunter’s reckless behavior should not be heaped on Joe Biden’s shoulders. However, the former vice president should be held to his word. He has repeatedly said, “I’ve never discussed business” with Hunter. Really? Then why was the senior Biden apparently in line — according to emails on that laptop — for a 10% windfall on Hunter’s deal with a Chinese firm? What about Hunter introducing his VP dad to a Ukrainian businessman with whom he had lucrative dealings? Why did the supremely unqualified Hunter get $3.5 million from the richest woman in Russia while his father served as vice president? What were the expected quid pro quos?

I write about this now because so many “legitimate” news organizations are not. The public should be outraged about the inequity of media coverage. All presidential candidates should be investigated with equal vigor. Where are the investigative reporters for The New York Times, The Washington Post, NBC, ABC, CBS or CNN? Nowhere, that’s where.

If Joe Biden wins the presidency, will Hunter have a role in government? If he remains in the private sector, who will police his activities to make sure shady deals with foreign entities don’t continue?

There have been reports that as many as five members of the Biden family have cashed in on their ties to the former senator-turned-vice president, including two brothers, a sister and a son-in-law. Joe Biden says he’s never discussed business with any of his relatives. Really?

Last year, Politico published an eye-opening investigative report about younger brother James Biden’s takeover of a New York-based global hedge fund and his boast that, “We’ve got people all around the world who want to invest in Joe Biden.” The Veep’s brother was confident that, since wealthy foreigners could not legally donate to Joe Biden’s campaign, they would be “in a line of 747s filled with cash ready to invest in this company.” What was the expected quid pro quo there?

Mainly, it is the New York Post and Fox News digging into the laptop story, reporting that the FBI has possession of the computer and is, apparently, investigating. Senate committees plan to hold hearings. With the election looming, why isn’t the mainstream media jumping on this story? I smell a quid pro quo.

To find out more about Diane Dimond, visit her website at www.dianedimond.com.

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