The New York Post’s front page article about Hunter Biden on Wednesday was written, mostly by a staff reporter who refused to write his name, two Post employees said.
Bruce Golding, a tabloid reporter owned by Rupert Murdoch since 2007, has not been allowed to use his byline because he was concerned about the credibility of the article, both post employees said on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
Coming to the end of a heavy presidential campaign, the article suggests that Joseph R. Biden Jr. used his position to enrich his son Hunter when he was vice president. The story on this post is based on photos and documents that the paper says were taken from a laptop hard drive aimed at Hunter Biden.
Many post staff members questioned whether the paper had done enough to test the integrity of the hard drive’s contents, said five people with knowledge of Tabloid’s internal operations. Staff members were also concerned about the reliability of its source and its timing, people said.
This article contains the names of two sources: Stephen K. Bennon, a former adviser to President Trump, is now facing federal fraud charges for allegedly leaking paper from a hard drive last month; And Rudolf W., the president’s personal lawyer. Giuliani, who was said to have given “a copy” of the hard drive paper on October 11.
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Mr Giuliani said he chose the post because “either no one else will take it, or if they do, they will spend as much time trying to contradict it before they put it out.”
The top editors met on October 11 to discuss how to use the material provided by Mr. Giuliani. The group consisted of tabloid P te Colin Allen, known as Colin; Stephen Lynch, editor-in-chief of The Post; According to Michelle Gothelf, Digital Editor-in-Chief, a person with knowledge of meeting. Mr. Allen, who was editor of the post from 2001 to 2016 and returned last year as a consultant, urged his colleagues to move quickly, the person said.
As the deadline approached, editors forced staff members to add their byline to the story – and at least one side Mr. Golding refused, two Post reporters said. A post spokesperson had no comment on how the article was written or edited.
An article titled “Biden’s Secret E-mails” appeared on Wednesday with two issues: Emma-Joe Morris, a deputy political editor who joined the paper after four years at Murdoch-owned Fox News, and Gabriel Fonroj, a post-reporter since 2014. .
Ms. Morris had no side effects in the post earlier Wednesday, according to a search of his website. She appeared on the tabloid in April after working as a co-producer on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show, according to her LinkedIn profile. On her Instagram account, which was set to private on Wednesday, she included former members of the Trump administration, Mr. Ben Nunn and Sarah Huckabee Sanders, as well as a friend and former campaign adviser, Roger J. Includes photos of her posing with Stone Jr. Trump. (In July, the president sentenced Mr. Stone to seven counts.)
Mrs. Fonroze had little to do with the report or writing of the article, said three people with knowledge of how it was prepared. She found out that her byline story is only after it was published.
The article relied on documents suggested from a hard drive that Mr. Biden, the eldest as vice president, directed American foreign policy in Ukraine to benefit his son, a former board member of Ukraine’s energy company, Burisma Holdings.
The article also suggested that the elder Mr. Biden met with Burisma advisor Vadim Pozarski. On Wednesday, a Biden campaign spokesman said Mr Biden’s official schedule did not include any meetings between the former vice president and the adviser. Last month, two Senate committees headed by Republicans investigated the case and said they found no evidence of wrongdoing by the former vice president.
“The senior editors of that post decided to publish the biden files after several days of hard work establishing its merits,” Mr. Ella said in an email.
The New York Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal reported that they could not independently verify the data in the post article, which included hedging language, at one point referring to an “allegedly sent” email to Hunter Biden.
A spokeswoman for the Post said in a statement that the story was being investigated and that the post “stands by its report.”
Kenneth P. Vogel contributed to the reporting.
