President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, is suing Fox News over a TV miniseries which showed him on trial for offences he has not been charged with.
The six-part miniseries The Trial of Hunter Biden: A Mock Trial for the American People depicted Biden on trial for bribery and illegal financial dealings with foreign governments. He has been accused of but not charged with these offences.
The 2022 miniseries opened with a disclaimer that viewers were not seeing an actual trial.
But it mixed facts and fiction and used pictures and emails found in a laptop Biden left behind in a Delaware computer shop.
What the miniseries showed
TV personality Judge Joe Brown was shown presiding over a courtroom where a “prosecutor” used evidence taken from Biden’s laptop. The computer shop owner, John Paul Mac Isaac, and New York Post reporter Miranda Devine, who wrote a book about the laptop, took the witness stand.
Biden objected to the mix of facts and fiction.
The lawsuit said: “While using certain true information, the series intentionally manipulates the facts, distorts the truth, narrates happenings out of context, and invents dialogue intended to entertain. Thus, the viewer of the series cannot decipher what is fact and what is fiction, which is highly damaging to Mr Biden.”
Biden alleges Fox knew the private photos and videos were hacked or stolen but illegally aired them for entertainment.
The lawsuit was filed in a New York state court. Under New York state law, it is an offence to disclose an intimate image of another person with the intent of “harassing, annoying or alarming” the victim.
The president’s son is seeking an unspecified sum as damages and any profits Fox made from the miniseries.
‘Miniseries exploited Biden’s name for commercial benefit’
“The miniseries is fictionalized; it is not a news event. It was made for the purpose of trade and advertising, and merely exploits Mr. Biden’s name, image, and likeness for Fox’s commercial benefit,” Biden’s lawyers wrote in the lawsuit.
Fox aired the miniseries on its Fox Nation streaming platform in October 2022 but took it down after Biden threatened to sue.
However, the lawsuit claims Fox has not removed promotional clips, which are still available on third-party streaming platforms.
In a statement, Fox News called the lawsuit “entirely politically motivated”.
Biden has other legal problems.
A jury found him guilty on felony gun charges in June. He is also scheduled to go on trial on tax charges in September.
Sources: Reuters, CNN, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times
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