Fox News is refusing to pull down sexually explicit images of Hunter Biden after his attorneys claimed that their publication was part of a conspiracy to defame their client, Deadline reports.
CNN, which first reported on the legal threat, said that Biden’s attorneys contend that the images are from hacked material and violate some states’ revenge porn laws. The attorneys also are seeking retractions of stories about claims that Hunter Biden and his father, President Joe Biden, engaged in a bribery scheme. The FBI later indicted an informant, Alexander Smirnov, for lying about the Biden claims. Prosecutors also have cited Smirnov’s contacts with Russian intelligence.
In a statement, Fox News Media said, “Hunter Biden’s lawyers have belatedly chosen to publicly attack Fox News’ constitutionally protected coverage regarding their client. Mr. Hunter Biden is a public figure who has been the subject of investigations by both the Department of Justice and Congress, has been indicted by two different U.S. Attorney’s Offices in California and Delaware, and has admitted to multiple incidents of wrongdoing. Consistent with the First Amendment, Fox News has accurately covered these highly publicized events as well as the subsequent indictment of an FBI informant who was the source of certain claims made about Mr. Biden.”
Some of the images appeared on The Trial of Hunter Biden, a fictionalized show that appeared on its subscription streaming service, Fox Nation.
According to CNN, Hunter Biden’s lawyers wrote in their letter to Fox News, “The unlawful publication of these images cannot be said to have been made for legitimate public purpose, where the miniseries featuring a mock trial is not accurately reporting on newsworthy events, but rather, is a fictionalized trial of a nonexistent case against Mr. Biden.”
Biden’s legal team also noted that despite the indictment of Smirnov, Fox News hosts have continued to claim that it was part of an effort to silence whistleblowers.