Fox News' Tucker Carlson interviewed Hunter Biden's former business partner Tony Bobulinski on Tuesday night and high-profile conservatives on social media saw it as a watershed moment.
Bobulinski claims to have information connecting former Vice President Joe Biden to questionable business dealings in China. He told Carlson he has documentation and electronic devices that will implicate both the Democratic nominee and his son, Hunter. His claims are unverified at this time.
Joe Biden has denied accepting payments from a foreign source, while he and some prominent Democrats have called the unproven allegations part of a "Russian disinformation" campaign. Bobulinski disputes this.
Bobulinski claimed Joe Biden was the "chairman" allegedly referenced in emails and that the former vice president had refused to place stronger financial controls on Oneida Holdings, the company set up to handle dealings between the Bidens and CEFC, a Chinese energy firm. Bobulinski said he had asked for tighter controls.
Prominent conservatives on Twitter saw Bobulinksi's interview as a major moment in the campaign, with less than a week before the November 3 election. Many praised Carlson and pointed to the fact his show is now the highest rated cable show in history.
"The man the Biden family approached to run their business in China, who met with Joe Biden twice as part of that role, who has been attacked as an agent of Russia by Biden surrogates, just gave one hell of a riveting interview on Tucker," tweeted Mollie Hemingway, senior editor at The Federalist.
"The top rated show in cable news history just blew a story open about Joe Biden and his family being compromised by China," she said.
"Tucker Carlson is the most-watched show in cable news. The Bobulinski story matters most with viewers who won't see it elsewhere, may not understand the nuance, but begin to realize how much the rest of the media might be covering for Biden. It seeds doubt," wrote conservative radio host Erick Erickson.
"If the media was filled with people who were as dedicated to truth as Tucker Carlson is, our country would be saved," said producer and director Robby Starbuck. "If every politician was as committed to our country as Tucker Carlson is, our country would be unbreakable, incorruptible and dominant in every way."
Though conservative figures and media outlets are focusing heavily on Bobulinski and Hunter Biden as a campaign issue, there is limited polling on how the allegations against the Bidens are affecting the race.
A Rasmussen poll of October 26 found that 54 percent of respondents believed it was "likely that [former Vice President] Biden was consulted about and perhaps profited from Hunter's overseas business deals." Rasmussen polls tend to favor Republicans and poll tracker FiveThirtyEight gives them a C+ rating.
Veteran Republican pollster Frank Luntz said last week that the Hunter Biden issue might bring some undecided voters over to Trump but Biden was so far ahead in the polls it would have little impact.
