Yahoo News reporter mocked for saying he ‘didn’t see this coming’ about Hunter Biden’s laptop being authentic

Yahoo News chief investigative correspondent Michael Isikoff was mocked on Twitter for admitting he was surprised about Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop being authentic.

On Wednesday, a New York Times report confirmed the authenticity of Hunter Biden’s laptop that was left in a Delaware computer repair shop in 2019 and later turned over to the FBI by the shop owner. When the news was originally flagged by the New York Post in 2020, it was widely dismissed by media outlets, including the New York Times, with some labeling the story as “Russian disinformation.” Twitter temporary suspended the Post’s account claiming the article violated its policy by sharing hacked material. 

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(Getty Images)

After months of downplaying the authenticity of Hunter Biden’s laptop, news outlets and reporters are being accused of burying the story to help protect then candidate Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign. 

One reporter was Yahoo News’ investigative correspondent Michael Isikoff who claimed that the confirmation of the laptop story was something he “didn’t see coming.”

“In the category of – didn’t see this coming : The @nytimes confirms the authenticity of Hunter Biden emails derived from his laptop that had been previously dismissed as Russian disinformation,” he tweeted.

Critics mocked Isikoff for what many saw as poor journalism from an investigative journalist.

Washington Examiner reporter Jerry Dunleavy tweeted, “Why are you saying ‘didn’t see this coming’ about something that has been demonstrably true for a year and a half?”

Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, during the 59th presidential inauguration in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021. 
(Greg Nash/The Hill//Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“In the category of – then you should be nowhere near a journalism job,” The Spectator contributing editor Stephen L. Miller wrote 

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., tweeted, “Only if you weren’t looking for it. Aren’t you supposed to be an investigative journalist? And yet you thought the Steele dossier was true but the Hunter laptop was Russian disinformation? When will the advocates in the media apologize for what they’ve done to America?”

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Isikoff was one of the first reporters to publicize the unverified Steele dossier that alleged some form of collusion between the Trump and Russia. He later co-authored a book, “Russian Roulette” on the subject of Russian collusion with Mother Jones D.C. bureau chief David Corn.

Russian analyst Igor Danchenko was charged with five counts of making false statements to the FBI regarding the sources of the information he gave the British firm that created the so-called “Steele Dossier,” which alleged potential ties between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia.
(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

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However, Isikoff was later forced to admit that many of the claims from the dossier were “likely false.”

“When you actually get into the details of the Steele dossier, the specific allegations, we have not seen the evidence to support them, and, in fact, there’s good grounds to think that some of the more sensational allegations will never be proven and are likely false,” Isikoff said in 2018.

Fox News’ Gregg Re contributed to this report.