Rumor vs Reality

Rudy Giuliani claimed he was given a copy of a hard drive that supposedly belonged to Hunter Biden. Photos of emails that Giuliani says came from the hard drive were published in the New York Post. Those emails reportedly show Hunter using his influence with his father, but technical data suggests the emails may not be real. There are several other problems with the story as well. Disinformation expert, Thomas Rid has said this story follows a classic disinformation pattern, and both Twitter and Facebook have limited its distribution due to rules about posting hacked material and fact-checking concerns.

Earlier this year, a Republican Senate investigation found no wrongdoing on the part of either Joe or Hunter Biden. US intelligence officials have repeatedly said that Russia will try to influence the campaign to boost President Trump’s chances. Giuliani has reportedly met with Russian and Ukrainian agents to find information on Biden. Trump’s attempt to inflame this story last year led to his impeachment.