Fox News made efforts Wednesday to connect the cocaine found at the White House on Sunday to Hunter Biden’s family visit two days later for July 4th celebrations.
In video opening a “Fox & Friends” segment, which you can watch above, President Biden’s son is shown during the visit holding his 3-year-old daughter, with his adult-aged daughters and first lady Jill Biden nearby.
“Hunter Biden joining the first family on the White House balcony for the Fourth of July fireworks show as Secret Service agents investigate suspected cocaine that was found in the West Wing,” Fox News host Kayleigh McEnany said.
McEnany then tossed to Fox News correspondent Mark Meredith, who reported from the White House lawn on the Hunter Biden visit as well as the details surrounding the cocaine that was found Sunday in the West Wing.
“Cameras spotted the first family there, including the first lady and first son, Hunter Biden, there in attendance,” Meredith said over video of Hunter Biden holding his young daughter while embracing Jill Biden as President Biden looks on. Below, a segment headline read, “Hunter Visits WH After Possible Cocaine Found,” echoed in the segment’s YouTube headline, “Hunter Biden spotted at WH after possible cocaine found in West Wing.”
“But it appears these drugs were discovered on Sunday while the president was away,” Meredith clarified, breaking down the news that broke Tuesday.
But “Fox & Friends” wasn’t done trying to imply a correlation to Hunter Biden, who has for years drawn headlines for his struggles with substance abuse and addiction, as well as other legal problems, most recently his agreeing to a plea deal on federal tax evasion charges.
“But if you look at the internet and you look at social media, there are all sorts of memes and there are all sorts of rumors,” longtime show host Steve Doocy said several minutes into the segment, hoisting memes and rumor-based information as the new apparent “Fox & Friends” gold standard. “Who has access to the White House? Who kind of looks like he’s living at the White House? Oh yeah, Hunter Biden.”
Doocy then sought to clarify there’s no evidence of the correlation before bluntly stating, “That’s just going on, on the internet.”
TheWrap has reached out to Fox News for comment on the “Fox & Friends” presentation of the White House cocaine news and Hunter Biden’s visit.
For its part, the White House took measures Wednesday to detail who could be at fault for the cocaine.
“The area where this was discovered is a heavily traveled area where many … West Wing visitors come through,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
“When it comes to visitors to the West Wing, they come for many reasons. Obviously, we do have West Wing tours,” Jean-Pierre said, adding there were tours that recently took place on Friday, Saturday and Sunday — pretty much daily with the exception of federal holidays such as Tuesday’s.
