It was another banner news suppression day for the legacy network evening newscasts. In addition to their continued non-coverage of the Biden autopen scandal and of the explosive Russia Hoax document drop, the legacies mostly suppressed the revealing interview of one Robert Hunter Biden.
ABC and CBS, in addition to ignoring the aforementioned events, made no observance whatsoever of the one-year anniversary of President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the 2024 presidential campaign and subsequent de facto appointment of Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee. NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell very gingerly navigated this potential minefield for NBC Nightly News. Here’s how her D.C. roundup closed out:
KELLY O'DONNELL: While exactly one year after Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race, his son, Hunter, offered a new theory about Mr. Biden's struggle at that fateful debate.
JOE BIDEN: …if…we finally beat Medicare…
JAKE TAPPER: Thank you, President Biden.
O'DONNELL: Blaming sleep aid Ambien, taken around his foreign travel, for his performance.
HUNTER BIDEN: He's 81 years old. He is tired as [bleep], they give him Ambien to be able to sleep. He gets up on the stage and he looks like he’s a deer in the headlights.
O'DONNELL: Hunter Biden also lashed out at actor and Democratic supporter George Clooney for calling on his father to drop out of the race. Asked about that Ambien assertion, the former president’s office declined to comment. Tom?
TOM LLAMAS: Kelly O’Donnell. Our thanks to you.
It should be noted that the Biden portion of her roundup comes after extensive Epstein filler, which is how the media are primarily using the story. The Epstein story is of no use to the legacies except as A-block filler. Two minutes spent doing “MAGA in Disarray” over the files is two minutes not devoted to the Russia Hoax documents or the Autopen scandal.
In O’Donnell’s case, the Epstein filler enabled her to gloss over the wildest portions of the interview. O’Donnell mentioned Hunter Biden’s critique of George Clooney, but left out his railings against David Axelrod, James Carville, and the Obama Pod Bros. O’Donnell also left out this wild “but who will clean our toilets” rant on immigration. Per The New York Post:
Hunter also raged against Democrats for appeasing what he called the “f—ing Trumpian sense” of white voters and expressed no sympathy for Americans who made illegal immigration a top issue in last year’s presidential election.
“People are really upset about illegal immigration? F— you. How do you think your hotel room gets cleaned? How do you think you have food on your f—ing table? Who do you think washes your dishes?” the Biden scion said.
“Who do you think is here by the f—ing shear(sic) f—ing just grit and will that they figured out a way to get here because they thought that they could give themselves and their families a better chance and [Trump’s] somehow convinced all of us that these people are the f—ing criminals,” he added, visibly struggling for non-profanities to express his feelings.
Give a liberal enough time, and they will always reveal their sense of the place that minorities should occupy in this society. In the case of illegal immigrants, the primary lens through which they see Hispanics, this role encompasses being part of a permanent slave labor underclass- forever supplicant to Democrat officials and forever alienated from the fullness of the American mainstream.
None of that made it into O’Donnell’s report, the most complete account of the Hunter Biden interview provided by the legacy evening news.
Click “expand” to watch the full transcript of the aforementioned interview as aired on NBC Nightly News on Monday, July 21st, 2025:
TOM LLAMAS: Back here at home it’s been six months into his second term. President Trump looking to move past the controversy over the Jeffrey Epstein files while the former president's son is also making headlines. Hunter Biden blaming Ambien for his dad's debate performance. Here is Kelly O'Donnell.
KELLY O’DONNELL: The president's push to move on is not dissipating drama around the DoJ files of the notorious sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein, including top House Democrat Hakeem Jeffries.
HAKEEM JEFFRIES: What are they hiding from the American people? Release the files.
O'DONNELL: While House speaker Mike Johnson today stressed Republican unity.
MIKE JOHNSON: There is no daylight between the House Republicans, the House and the president on maximum transparency.
O'DONNELL: But more questions on the White House driveway about whether the FBI will open its files. After the president said he wants grand jury testimony about Epstein released, following pressure from his own MAGA base.
Is the president satisfied that his own supporters are not heeding his call to let it go and to move on?
KAROLINE LEAVITT: I know the president would reject that, Kelly. In fact, he cited over the weekend some polls showing that his approval rating with the Republican party is actually at an all-time high.
O’DONNELL: Will he call on Kash Patel to do more?
LEAVITT: The president has told the Attorney General and the FBI director to release any credible evidence that they find.
O'DONNELL: While exactly one year after Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race, his son, Hunter, offered a new theory about Mr. Biden's struggle at that fateful debate.
JOE BIDEN: …if…we finally beat Medicare…
JAKE TAPPER: Thank you, President Biden.
O'DONNELL: Blaming sleep aid Ambien, taken around his foreign travel, for his performance.
HUNTER BIDEN: He's 81 years old. He is tired as [bleep], they give him Ambien to be able to sleep. He gets up on the stage and he looks like he’s a deer in the headlights.
O'DONNELL: Hunter Biden also lashed out at actor and Democratic supporter George Clooney for calling on his father to drop out of the race. Asked about that Ambien assertion, the former president’s office declined to comment. Tom?
LLAMAS: Kelly O’Donnell. Our thanks to you.