Hours after President Biden announced he would withdraw from his 2024 re-election bid on Sunday, Hunter Biden dropped his lawsuit against Fox News for airing salacious images of his private misconduct taken from his personal laptop, reports GPB News.
On Monday, a federal judge dismissed a defamation case filed by a former Biden administration official. He ruled that Nina Jankowicz’s legal claims cited statements that were often accurate, broadly speaking, or fell into the categories of opinion or statements that could not be disproven.
"This was a politically motivated lawsuit aimed at silencing free speech and we are pleased with the court's decision to protect the First Amendment,” a statement from a Fox News spokesperson read. Jankowicz's attorneys say they will appeal the decision.
In Hunter Biden’s case, the explicit images were incorporated as part of a six-part series first posted in 2022 on its streaming service, Fox Nation. The series staged a mock trial of the younger Biden over his foreign business dealings.
Hunter Biden was found guilty last month on felony gun charges and faces criminal tax charges in September.
The Fox Nation series remained available until earlier this year, when Hunter Biden made public his threat to sue the network. The images showed him consuming crack cocaine and cavorting with prostitutes.
The network took down the series out of what a spokesperson called “an abundance of caution.” Fox nonetheless strongly defended its coverage, explicitly noting when the lawsuit was filed earlier this month that Hunter Biden was a public figure and a convicted felon.
“Consistent with the First Amendment, Fox News has accurately covered the newsworthy events of Mr. Biden’s own making,” the network said then in a statement. Fox pointed to its earlier comment after Biden dropped the suit. Biden’s attorney did not respond to NPR’s request for comment from her client.
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