The true account of the Hunter Biden laptop affair from the journalist who reported it first

Inside the Hunter Biden Laptop Story: A Journalist’s Journey

Back in September 2020, Emma Morris, who was only 27 and new to the New York Post, received a surprising call from Steve Bannon, a former adviser to President Trump. He mentioned he had a story that could change everything for her. What was this story? “He told me he had Hunter Biden’s computer,” she recalled.

Initially, Emma felt skeptical. After all, Bannon and Rudy Giuliani, who also had access to the hard drive, were known Trump supporters. Even though she was a conservative who respected Trump and wished the story was accurate, Emma aimed to uphold journalistic integrity and not let her political beliefs sway her judgment.

“My role as an editor is to report the truth as objectively as I can, not to promote Mr. Trump,” she shared during an interview.

Once the Post approved pursuing the story, Emma found herself inundated with a staggering amount of documents. The task of sorting through everything to find a clear angle felt overwhelming. She reached out to her editor-in-chief, Michelle Gotthelf, admitting, “I don’t even know where to start with all this. It’s just too much.”

Gotthelf’s advice was straightforward: “Figure out how Joe Biden is involved in all of this.”

Emma then narrowed her focus to roughly ten documents that hinted at Joe Biden’s involvement. But there was a catch—the authenticity of these documents had to be verified, as the laptop had undergone an “archival process.”

“Our method was straightforward. We had a contact list from his phone, so we simply called them. We said, ‘Hi, this is the New York Post. I’m going to read you something. Does this ring any bells for you?'” Emma explained.

As she made those calls, it became evident that things weren’t straightforward. Many people involved had complicated connections—some had faced legal troubles, while others opted out of the chaos. Whatever was happening, it seemed hard for individuals to take a step back.

The reaction to the New York Post article was unexpected for Emma. “I was hoping that conservative media would rally behind this… but it didn’t seem to happen. Ultimately, the CIA was outraged,” she remarked.

They published the article around 5 a.m., and by 7 a.m., Twitter had blacklisted it entirely. Within two hours, the story was flagged as containing child pornography, complicating matters further.

It later came to light that the FBI had held the physical laptop since December 2019 and had been preparing Twitter executives to dismiss any news regarding Hunter Biden as Russian disinformation.