Fact Check: Congressman Did NOT Play Video From Hunter Biden's Laptop

Fact Check

  • by: Alex Kuli
Fact Check: Congressman Did NOT Play Video From Hunter Biden's Laptop No Biden Video

Did Rep. Jim Jordan play a video downloaded from Hunter Biden's laptop that incriminated House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff? No, that's not true: The video with this claim shows Jordan criticizing Schiff over matters that have nothing to do with Hunter Biden or the contents of a computer hard drive that media reports have linked to him.

The claim appeared in a Facebook post on October 10, 2022. It read:

NEW! Jim Jordan Plays Surprising Video Obtained From Hunter's Laptop Exposing Adam Schiff

This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of this fact check's writing:

Facebook screenshot

Screen Shot 2022-10-12 at 2.06.34 PM.png(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Wed Oct 12 13:23:22 2022 UTC)

The first segment of the video shows Jordan, an Ohio Republican, testifying at a hearing held by the House Rules Committee on December 8, 2021. Committee members were debating the Protecting Our Democracy Act, which Schiff was sponsoring in an effort to "protect our democracy by preventing abuses of presidential power, restoring checks and balances and accountability and transparency in government, and defending elections against foreign interference," according to the bill's text.

The full video of the hearing, available on the Rules Committee's website, reveals at 46:09 that Jordan was reacting to a comment by U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess, who accused Schiff of leading a "reckless and partisan witch hunt" in his investigations into possible foreign interference in the 2016 elections on behalf of former President Donald Trump.

Jordan responded that Schiff had promised

more proof that there was collusion between President Trump and Russia, and it was just all false ... this wasn't just any member of Congress making that statement, this wasn't just any chairman making that statement, this was the chairman of the Intel Committee -- the committee that gets additional information than the rest of us get -- going on television and saying something that was not true. That's the concern.

Jordan played no video and did not mention Hunter Biden.

The second segment of the Facebook video, which begins at 6:13, is taken from a speech Jordan delivered on the House floor on December 14, 2021. He was defending former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows before lawmakers found Meadows in contempt of Congress for his refusal to testify before the committee investigating the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Again, Jordan did not mention Hunter Biden or a laptop.

The final segment of the Facebook video, which begins at 11:41, shows a video commentary that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia posted on Twitter on March 9, 2022. Greene slams the House Rules Committee for what she calls its "corrupt" handling of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022, a $1.5 trillion spending bill.

No video, no laptop, no Hunter Biden.

This is not the first time Lead Stories has reported on political clickbait headlines in social media posts. Similar fact checks can be found here, here and here.

Want to inform others about the accuracy of this story?

See who is sharing it (it might even be your friends...) and leave the link in the comments.:


  Alex Kuli

Alex Kuli is a journalist and editor based in Lincolnville, Maine. Since graduating from Northwestern University with a master’s degree in journalism, Alex has worked as a writer, producer and sometime correspondent for CNN International, a pharmaceutical-industry reporter for Bloomberg News, and a political analyst covering eastern Europe. His career has included stints as a media trainer for the government of Montenegro and as a freelance correspondent for the Associated Press. Alex is presently working on a historical book about Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Read more about or contact Alex Kuli

Different viewpoints

Note: if reading this fact check makes you want to contact us to complain about bias, please check out our Red feed first.

About Us

International Fact-Checking Organization Meta Third-Party Fact Checker

Lead Stories is a fact checking website that is always looking for the latest false, misleading, deceptive or inaccurate stories, videos or images going viral on the internet.
Spotted something? Let us know!.

Lead Stories is a:


@leadstories

Subscribe to our newsletter

* indicates required

Please select all the ways you would like to hear from Lead Stories LLC:

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. For information about our privacy practices, please visit our website.

We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By clicking below to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy practices here.

Most Read

Most Recent

Share your opinion