Attorneys for First Son Hunter Biden are preparing to sue Fox News for alleged efforts to “defame” Biden and for allegedly attempting to exploit his name and image, the attorneys said in a letter.
Biden has frequently made headlines over the past year as he has faced multiple criminal investigations and served as a major witness in a House Judiciary investigation into his father President Joe Biden. However, Fox News has dedicated many hours to criticizing the younger Biden, and a review of network transcripts by Media Matters cites at least 13,440 mentions of Hunter Biden since January 2023, according to NBC News.
A letter on the upcoming litigation was sent to Fox News Channel and Fox News Digital on April 23, and focuses on the network’s airing of bribery allegations that originated from FBI informant Alexander Smirnov, who was indicted by special counsel David Weiss in February for allegedly making false statements to the FBI. The letter claims that the network knew at the time that it was not verified, yet still reported it as “highly credible.”
“For the last five years, Fox News has relentlessly attacked Hunter Biden and made him a caricature in order to boost ratings and for its financial gain,” Hunter Biden attorney Mark Geragos said in a statement to NewsNation. “The recent indictment of FBI informant Smirnov has exposed the conspiracy of disinformation that has been fueled by Fox, enabled by their paid agents and monetized by the Fox enterprise. We plan on holding them accountable.”
The letter also claimed that the network aired “intimate images” that belonged to Hunter Biden, which were allegedly “stolen, hacked, and/or manipulated” and violate their client’s civil rights and copyright law. The first son’s attorneys also requested Fox News removes all six-parts of a “mock trial” titled “The Trial of Hunter Biden.”
The new litigation follows a successful lawsuit against Fox by Dominion Voting Systems, which the network settled for nearly $800 million last year. The Dominion suit was related to the network’s coverage of election fraud allegations during the 2020 election.
Fox News has not publicly commented on the letter.
