I spent the past week researching in depth the facts about Hunter Biden, the youngest son of President Joe Biden, to find out what the truth is.

I wrote about it last month, but it seemed readers on both sides of the deep political dive were angry. The right criticized me for criticizing President Donald Trump, while leftist supporters criticized me for pandering to the political divide and abandoning his campaign promise to “bring the country together.”

It’s not that I really care whether or not Hunter used his father’s political coattails as the vice president in 2014 to land the huge contracts — first with Ukraine’s national natural gas company, Burisma, at more than $1 million a year — and later lucrative contracts with the Chinese government.

The real issue is mainstream news media bias and favoritism.

There was enough evidence to justify a close examination and public debate. Hunter signed the Ukraine contract in April 2014 within weeks of his father, then vice president, conducting a state visit to Ukraine where he met with key Ukraine officials, including several who were partners in the deal.

Hunter was partners with Christopher Heinz, the stepson of then Senate Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman John Kerry, and Devon Archer, a close Kerry family confidant, forming a network of investment and consulting firms with variations of the name Rosemont Seneca, according to an Oct.15, 2019 Republican resolution that was buried by the media.

In April 2019, when his father announced his presidential bid, Hunter Biden took his laptop to get repaired but forgot it at the shop. Months later, the shop owner claimed it. But after reading thousands of emails on the laptop, he alerted the FBI. When the FBI refused to take the issue seriously, he went to Republican activists.

Rather than look at the truth, everyone acted based on how the stories might affect their partisan political agendas.

Then the news media, including publications like the Washington Post and New York Times, slammed the laptop stories and parroted claims by candidate Biden that it was all “Russian disinformation” and “fake news.”

Twitter blocked the stories, fearing they might negatively affect Biden’s chances in the November 2020 election.

In contrast, the media did then, and continues to do now, to pursue allegations of “influence peddling” by Trump’s children. No blocking of stories there.

I doubt the Hunter Biden stories would have hurt his father’s presidential chances. Though he had some great ideas, Trump turned his presidency into four years of pettiness and personal attacks. The mainstream news media hated Trump, fueling the political divide and pushing both sides to extremism.

As I wrote last month, New York Post columnist Miranda Devine published an exclusive series and later book (“Laptop from Hell”) on the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop that ended up in Republican hands.

You need to read that book.

Two weeks ago, the New York Times acknowledged the Hunter Biden controversy, but mainly as an exercise to assert that Biden knew nothing about what his son was doing. I find that hard to believe. There are no such things as coincidences in politics.

The American media censored controversy is now influencing the war in Ukraine.

When Biden said he feared Russia’s tyrant war criminal Vladimir Putin was preparing to use chemical weapons as his invasion of Ukraine was being stalled — it’s in its fifth week now — Putin responded by claiming Hunter Biden was engaged in funding biological weapons manufacturing in Ukraine.

If you are interested in hearing all sides to this controversy, you can go to my website, Hanania.com, and click the menu item “HUNTER BIDEN” to read a selection of columns and documents.

Unlike the mainstream news media, or the censors at Twitter and Facebook, I believe the American people are smart enough to read all the reports and decide for themselves what is true, what is reasonable and what is “fake news.”

Media censorship is an expression of the media’s disdain for anyone who doesn’t agree with them.

THE POLITICAL GRAPEVINE: Two years ago this week, Arab American newspaper publisher Mansour Tadros, of Tinley Park, was one of the first Chicagoland victims of the pandemic. Tadros was a dedicated journalist who pursued truth and honesty in Middle East coverage, something hard to find in the mainstream news media … It’s disturbing to watch elected officials rally around Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx for failing to do her job and easing the needed toughness on criminals … Chicago Alderman Gilbert Villegas is taking the lead in the Democratic battle for congressman in the new 3rd District, as is Anna Valencia in the race for Illinois Secretary of State.

Check out Ray Hanania’s columns and political podcasts at hanania.com.