Journalist who blew the lid off Hunter Biden laptop scandal calls out media collusion
Hunter Biden’s scandalous laptop – falsely dismissed as Russian disinformation – became part of the American lexicon four years ago today, on October 14, 2020, kicking off a years-long scandal with big tech, corporate media and the intelligence community.
“I think that virtually every single mainstream outlet disgraced themselves,” former New York Post deputy politics editor Emma-Jo Morris told Fox News Digital.
While at the New York Post, Morris first reported on Hunter Biden’s personal computer, which eventually was dubbed the “laptop from hell” by the paper’s staffers. The infamous laptop was filled with shocking videos and photos of drug use, lewd sex acts, and sensitive business communications. It was exposed by the Post only a few weeks before then-candidate Joe Biden was set to square off against then-President Trump.
In an unprecedented act of uniformed censorship, the bombshell Post report was essentially buried by Big Tech and the mainstream press, silencing an “October surprise” that many feel could have swung the election.
HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP RE-EMERGES AS MEDIA EMBARRASSMENT AS IT BECOMES KEY EVIDENCE AT GUN TRIAL
Twitter, claiming the story violated its terms of service on hacked materials, locked the New York Post out of its account for weeks and even blocked users from sharing the story link. MSNBC, CNN, CBS, NPR, Washington Post, The New York Times and a variety of other outlets and social media platforms either pushed the since-debunked “Russian disinformation” narrative or ignored the story altogether.
Morris, who had the lead byline on the initial bombshell report, feels the “multiple scandals” that erupted following her story forever changed the trajectory of tech and media in America.
“It definitely did change… the trajectory of the tech history because first of all, obviously, the most glaring example is that… the trust on Twitter was completely collapsed… it led Elon Musk to buy the platform,” Morris said.
“Now that he has acquired Twitter, it’s completely changed the ability for censors to operate because he is just not playing ball with them,” she continued. “And Twitter is obviously, which was why this was so scandalous during the time of laptop censorship, Twitter is the main feeder for the rest of media.”
FLASHBACK: MSNBC, CNN, CBS TOLD VIEWERS HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP STORY WAS RUSSIAN DISINFORMATION
The Russian disinformation narrative stemmed in part from an open letter penned by 51 former intel officials, several of whom endorsed Joe Biden for president that year, who declared that the laptop had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.” The open letter quickly went viral and was parroted by Biden supporters, including his then-future White House press secretary Jen Psaki, who is now an MSNBC host.
“These people took the word of spies and completely misled the American public, either wittingly or unwittingly. I’m not sure which one is worse,” Morris said.
Biden was quick to cite the letter during a 2020 presidential debate when he called claims the laptop was authentic “a bunch of garbage” and only believed by then-President Trump and his allies.
Morris says she got into journalism to help Americans have “some sort of check on power and on tyranny,” but the laptop censorship made her realize something critical. She noted the scandal was eye-opening because she realized corporate America has so much clout that tech and media companies were approached by the intelligence community to do their bidding.
“Who was the central focal point of the corruption here? It was corporations. It was Big Tech and corporate media,” Morris said.
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Morris, now a senior consultant for Beck & Stone, feels there was never real accountability for the people who pushed the bogus narrative that the “laptop from hell” was Russian disinformation even though people following the saga “learned so much” through investigations by journalists and Congress.
“The real sin in all of this was the collaboration between social media, legacy media and the intelligence community,” Morris said.
“Nobody apologized, and I don’t mean apologized… to their readers and their listeners,” Morris continued. “Not a single one.”
Morris’ initial Post story centered on a 2015 email from a Ukrainian energy executive to Hunter Biden, thanking him for introducing him to his father, that it had obtained from the hard drive of the laptop. Joe Biden was vice president at the time of the message, and his son then enjoyed a lucrative position on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy firm, raising concerns of an attempted influence-peddling scheme.
The laptop, which was allegedly dropped off at a repair shop in 2019 by its owner and never recovered, was absolutely authentic and has since been not only confirmed by the FBI, but also by the media that previously insisted it was Russian disinformation.
Morris feels The New York Times was the most egregious of the corporate media bad actors, because the Gray Lady dismissed it as “Russian disinformation” until subtly confirming it years later as a throwaway line buried deep in a story about Hunter Biden’s taxes.
HUNTER BIDEN SAGA: WASHINGTON POST AUTHENTICATES LAPTOP AFTER DISMISSING ‘FAKE’ SCANDAL IN 2020
Others believe NPR was the most ridiculous, as its managing editor insisted, “We don’t want to waste our time on stories that are not really stories, and we don’t want to waste the listeners’ and readers’ time on stories that are just pure distractions,” when declaring the taxpayer-funded outlet wouldn’t cover the laptop.
Media Research Center executive editor Tim Graham believes the laptop ordeal offered unwavering proof that the media is largely partisan.
“Everything that’s happened since the last election – the timid admission from some newspapers and networks in 2022 that the laptop was real, and the extremely slow and feckless federal prosecution of Hunter – only underline that the media values being reliable to the Democrats ahead of being reliable to the public,” Graham told Fox News Digital.
“The legacy media don’t believe in holding Democrats accountable. Incuriosity is their most shameful trait,” he continued. “They heard of someone who was reserving a share of Hunter’s Chinese millions for the ‘Big Guy,’ and didn’t want to know if the president was the ‘Big Guy.’”
FROM ‘SMEAR CAMPAIGN’ TO ‘RUSSIAN DISINFORMATION,’ LIBERAL MEDIA TEAMED UP TO DISMISS HUNTER BIDEN STORY
In one of the most memorable media moments regarding the bombshell story, Trump appeared on CBS’ “60 Minutes” shortly after the story emerged and called the laptop “one of the biggest scandals” he had ever seen. But interviewer Lesley Stahl was insistent that there was no way to conclude the laptop, or its contents, were real.
Stahl’s employer, CBS News, confirmed in 2022 via its own forensic investigation that the laptop and its contents were legitimate. The admission prompted many Trump allies to vilify “60 Minutes” and Stahl to this day.
The ordeal has continued to haunt “60 Minutes.” The long-running CBS program recently suggested Trump wouldn’t appear on the show for another interview without an apology regarding the Stahl interview.
Graham believes “60 Minutes” should admit that Stahl was wrong when she insisted the laptop couldn’t be verified.
“CBS never followed up or apologized. Because they’re shamelessly partisan,” Graham said.
CBS NEWS VERIFIES HUNTER BIDEN’S SCANDALOUS LAPTOP TWO YEARS AFTER DISMISSING IT
DePauw University journalism professor Jeffrey McCall believes the laptop ordeal is one of the reasons why news consumers around the nation have so little confidence in the media these days.
“In retrospect, it is clear now that the establishment media tried to impact the 2020 election by consciously omitting coverage of the Hunter Biden laptop story,” McCall told Fox News Digital.
He noted that the “minimal coverage” it received focused on the former intelligence officials who falsely claimed the laptop was bogus.
“So, we had the almost unbelievable situation in which the mainstream media dismissed something that was true, yet promoted something that was false. And these decisions were not just mistakes that can occasionally happen in journalism. They were intentional decisions to alter the public sphere for political purposes,” McCall said.
“Sadly, the establishment media continue to want to be political activists in the 2024 election cycle. The performances of network debate moderators demonstrate the activist mindset of these news organizations,” he continued. “The ongoing coverup of Biden’s cognitive decline earlier this year can now be viewed as journalistic malpractice. CBS’ controversial editing of Harris’ ‘60 Minutes’ interview is yet another indication of the media’s manipulation of election narratives.”
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Morris, who knew the laptop was authentic from the jump when she broke the story in the first place, thinks many Americans still believe the debunked narratives.
“There are Americans who are so propagandized by a media that is so corrupt… I think that there are still some people who, unfortunately, never really got the memo,” she said.
Vance clashes with ABC News host over illegal immigrant gangs: ‘Do you hear yourself?’
GOP vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance clashed with ABC News host Martha Raddatz on Sunday during an interview about the Venezuelan migrant gang members‘ presence in apartment buildings in Aurora, Colorado.
“I’m going to stop you because I know exactly what happened. I’m going to stop you. The incidents were limited to a handful of apartment complexes and the mayor said our dedicated police officers have acted on those concerns. A handful of problems,” Raddatz insisted as she pressed Vance on Trump’s statements during a rally in Aurora about the migrant gangs.
Several people with possible connections to the transnational gang Tren de Aragua (TdA), a violent Venezuelan migrant gang, were arrested in September after a surveillance video went viral showing heavily armed men kicking down an apartment door.
“Martha, do you hear yourself? Only a handful of apartment complexes in America were taken over by Venezuelan gangs, and Donald Trump is the problem and not Kamala Harris’ open border? Americans are so fed up with what’s going on, and they have every right to be, and I really find this exchange, Martha, sort of interesting because you seem to be more focused with nitpicking everything that Donald Trump has said rather than acknowledging that apartment complexes in the United States of America are being taken over by violent gangs,” Vance said.
VENEZUELAN GANG’S ALLEGED TAKEOVER OF AURORA, COLORADO APARTMENTS BEGAN IN 2023: REPORT
Vance argued that they needed to make American communities “safe” again.
“When you let people in by the millions, most of whom are unvetted, most of whom you don’t know who they really are, you’re going to have problems like this. Kamala Harris’ 94 executive orders that undid Donald Trump’s successful border policies, we knew this stuff would happen,” he added.
Raddatz pushed back again, “Let’s just end that with they did not invade or take over the city as Donald Trump said.”
“A few apartment complexes, no big deal,” Vance quipped.
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Aurora, Colorado Mayor Mike Coffman, a Republican, issued a statement in response to Trump’s comments at a rally in the area on Friday, during which he vowed to “arrest and deport every last illegal alien gang member until there is not a single one left in this country.”
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“The reality is that the concerns about Venezuelan gang activity in our city – and our state – have been grossly exaggerated and have unfairly hurt the city’s identity and sense of safety,” the mayor said in a statement. “The city and state have not been ‘taken over’ or ‘invaded’ or ‘occupied’ by migrant gangs. The incidents that have occurred in Aurora, a city of 400,000 people, have been limited to a handful of specific apartment complexes, and our dedicated police officers have acted on those concerns and will continue to do so.”
TIME Magazine owner takes VP to task over transparency after glowing cover story
Time magazine owner Marc Benioff called out Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday for denying multiple interview requests from the magazine, contrasting her with President Biden and even former President Trump for her lack of transparency.
Benioff shared Time’s feature story on Harris last week by Charlotte Alter, who noted Harris turned down interview requests in her lengthy story about how she would be as president.
“Despite multiple requests, Time has not been granted an interview with Kamala Harris—unlike every other Presidential candidate,” Benioff wrote on X. “We believe in transparency and publish each interview in full. Why isn’t the Vice President engaging with the public on the same level?” He added hashtags #TrustMatters and #TransparencyMatters.
Benioff, a tech entrepreneur who founded Salesforce, linked to the full transcripts of interviews TIME did with Trump and Biden back in the spring. At the time, Biden was the presumptive nominee for the Democrats, before he dropped out of the race in July amid intense pressure from party leaders.
KAMALA HARRIS DECLINES TIME MAGAZINE INTERVIEW AS SHE CONTINUES TO AVOID THE PRESS
While the piece was largely sympathetic to Harris, Alter did quote an independent voter, Rodrigo Lopez, who was skeptical of Harris’ left-wing lurch in the 2020 Democratic primary and her open attempt to take the middle in her 2024 run.
“Yet she has skirted the thorough accounting of her policy evolution that Lopez is seeking, in part by speaking infrequently to reporters,” Alter wrote. “When she does do interviews, she mostly favors local media, culture podcasts, or friendly talk shows. Harris declined repeated requests for an interview for this story.”
“In contrast,” Alter added, Trump and Biden sat down with Time earlier this year for extended conversations about their views and policies.
Time would be unlikely to be hostile to Harris. The liberal magazine has won plaudits from other media analysts for its melodramatic, anti-Trump covers for years.
Also, Alter penned a glowing cover story about Harris in August but didn’t get an interview for that one, either. She did quote a wide array of aides, advisers and supporters like Pete Buttigieg, CNN’s Bakari Sellers and gun control activist David Hogg.
“Even if Washington was taken by surprise, the energetic fighter of the past two weeks matches the Harris whom allies say they have known for years,” Alter wrote at the time.
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Harris has stepped up her media appearances in recent weeks but, like Trump, has largely stuck to more sympathetic interview environments. On Tuesday, she spoke with supporters Howard Stern, Stephen Colbert and the co-hosts of “The View” in one day. She also recently taped an appearance with liberal commentator Roland Martin which was posted Monday morning.
In her piece for TIME last week, Alter portrayed Harris as “more practical than ideological” after interviewing current and former advisers and aides, as well as policy experts.
“You can imagine the Harris presidency as an iOS upgrade of the current Administration: the operating system would stay the same, but with new features and better packaging. There are tonal differences between the two: Harris talks more—and more comfortably—about abortion rights than Biden ever did, speaks with more empathy about the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, and has put housing and small business at the center of her plans for strengthening the middle class,” Alter wrote. “But for the most part, allies and critics agree there is little evident policy daylight between the Democratic nominee and the President she replaced atop the party’s ticket this summer.”
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Benioff and the Harris campaign didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment from Fox News Digital.
Liberal news host slammed for pushing aspect of Trump’s health as a concern for voters
NBC News’ Kristen Welker questioned House Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday about whether former President Trump should release his cholesterol level during an interview on “Meet The Press.”
“You can see that he didn’t release his medical record. You don’t want to know things like his cholesterol level, whether he’s dealing with any issue that we may not know about if he’s going to be commander in chief? And he also said he would release cognitive tests,” Welker asked.
The White House released Vice President Kamala Harris’ medical records on Saturday as the vice president challenged Trump to do the same.
“Kristen, listen to your question!” Johnson responded as the NBC News host asked again, “should he release that?”
VP HARRIS RELEASING DETAILED MEDICAL REPORT, CHALLENGING TRUMP TO DO THE SAME
“Kristen, the American people don’t care about the cholesterol level of Donald Trump. They care about the cost of living and the fact they cannot pay for groceries because Kamala Harris and Joe Biden’s policies have put them in that situation. The medical records are irrelevant,” Johnson responded.
Johnson insisted they talk about more significant issues.
“Let’s talk about things that the American people care about. That’s why Donald Trump is surging in the polls because he’s doing that on stages, in interviews, nonstop around the clock. And Kamala Harris has done nothing,” he added.
Johnson said earlier in the discussion that Trump’s health was on “display.”
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President Biden dropped out of the 2024 race after his June debate against Trump, which was followed by pressure from fellow Democrats over Biden’s mental fitness and ability to win.
Advisers to Harris encouraged her office to release her medical history and health information to put a spotlight on Trump’s health and mental acuity, since the 78-year-old Republican nominee would be the oldest president at the end of his potential second term, according to a senior aide.
During an August interview with CBS News, Trump said that he would “gladly” release his medical records, noting at the time that he had a “perfect score” on a recent medical exam. He has not yet done so.
Harris VP faces increased scrutiny over who he’s allegedly got saved in his phone contacts
Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz has faced growing scrutiny from GOP critics over the Minnesota governor’s potential ties to the People’s Republic of China and its ruling Communist Party.
Although Walz’s team recently clarified the number of trips he has taken to China, one expert warned that Walz’s “continuing contacts” with the global powerhouse are “very disturbing.”
“Tim Walz’s business educational travel adventures does not appear to have been self-sustaining, does not appear to be profit driven,” Gatestone Institute senior fellow Gordon Chang said on “Mornings with Maria” Monday.
“Clearly, it was the Communist Party’s United Front Work Department, which is the part of the party that subverts foreign governments, that not only approved of that business, but probably also funded it.”
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The Minnesota Democrat corrected the record that he was in China for the Tiananmen Square protests during the CBS News Vice Presidential Debate earlier this month. Also, a Harris-Walz campaign spokesperson recently clarified to Minnesota Public Radio that the number of visits Walz made to China was “closer to 15 times.”
“Tim Walz, who’s had this continuing relationship with the United Front Work Department, even as governor of Minnesota… which means that his contact with the party has spanned this century,” Chang observed.
According to Walz’s own testimony, he first went to China in 1989 amid the Tiananmen Square uprising. Walz was part of the first delegation of American teachers to ever go to the communist nation during the trip. He was a participant in Harvard’s WorldTeach program, which gave Walz the opportunity to live and teach young students in China for a year.
Walz loved his time so much that he continued to take annual trips back to China with his students, eventually setting up a company dedicated to taking students on trips to China and other international destinations.
Walz and his wife honeymooned in China on one of their trips in 1993. Walz’s annual trips with students took place between 1993 and the early 2000s, before he began running for public office.
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According to Politico and Semafor, Walz served on the Congressional-Executive Commission on China and urged former President Trump to end the trade war with China.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., launched an investigation into Walz’s alleged ties to the Chinese Communist Party shortly after he was nominated.
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Sheriff rips into Dem state’s relaxed bail laws after armed Trump rally suspect walks free
A California sheriff said he believes his officers may have thwarted a third assassination attempt on former President Trump shortly before his Coachella rally over the weekend, while calling out the state’s lenient laws after the quick release of the suspect.
19-year-old Vem Miller was arrested after authorities found multiple guns and passports in his vehicle at a checkpoint to get into Trump’s Coachella rally Saturday evening.
Although Miller denied trying to cause any harm during an interview with Fox News Digital, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco told “FOX & Friends” law enforcement may have foiled another attempt on the former president’s life.
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“Do you think you possibly stopped a third assassination attempt?” Brian Kilmeade asked Bianco Monday.
“In our minds, we did. That’s what we were set up there for. We were set up to stop and prevent anyone from coming on the grounds like happened the last time… and it worked,” he responded. “There’s a lot of speculation that… he’s just an innocent person, and he very well could be.”
“But out of the… between the 25 and the 50, depending on the numbers that you’re hearing, thousand people that came to the rally, only one brought guns,” he continued. “So… we were thankful that our deputy found him, and he was removed before the president even got there.”
Bianco said during a press conference Sunday that Miller approached the outside perimeter in a black SUV at the intersection of Avenue 52 and Celebration Drive just before 5 p.m. and gave all indications that he belonged there and was allowed into the VIP area of the rally.
Deputies were conducting thorough evaluations of vehicles coming in and immediately noticed some irregularities with Miller.
“It’s a very chaotic scene with people trying to get in there and vehicles coming in and the president on his way,” Bianco said. “So the original deputy that stopped him and talked to him and noticed all these things and eventually ended up getting his consent to search the vehicle located all of these items. So had he not had that encounter with that deputy, he certainly would have been on the grounds of where he would have more than likely ended up, was probably only a few hundred yards, a couple hundred yards from the stage where President Trump eventually was.”
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“But that’s all… speculation,” he continued. “We don’t know because we did our job, and we stopped him from getting on the grounds in the first place.”
During the evaluation, Bianco said the deputy found multiple passports with multiple names, multiple driver’s licenses with different names, that the vehicle was unregistered and the license plate “was what we in law enforcement would recognize as one that is homemade and indicative of a group of individuals that claimed to be ‘sovereign citizens.'”
Sovereign citizens believe they are not under the jurisdiction of the federal government and consider themselves exempt from U.S. law. They use a variety of conspiracy theories and falsehoods to justify their beliefs and their activities, some of which are illegal and violent, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Officials said Miller was taken into custody without incident and later booked at the John J. Benoit Detention Center for possession of a loaded firearm and possession of a high-capacity magazine.
Despite lingering confusion surrounding the incident, Miller was released shortly thereafter.
“Probably for the rest of the country, it’s hard to believe that when we arrest people, they don’t stay in jail, but that’s a fact of life here in California,” Bianco said. “Those crimes that we arrested him for were misdemeanors, and we do not hold misdemeanors in custody, so he was given a citation to appear at a later date.”
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“We’ve been dealing with bad law enforcement policy for decades in California, and unfortunately, the whole world sees it now,” he continued.
Bianco said the former president and rally attendees were never in danger during the incident.
“Fortunately for [Miller], unfortunately for us in California, that’s all we can hold him for is the weapons charges, and it’s a misdemeanor,” Bianco said. “It is a sad fact that we can’t hold misdemeanors in jail… They’re released with citations. So I think he did go to jail. He was booked, but I believe he was only there for four to six hours and then cited and released.”
“The ultimate goal was to stop him from getting inside and then getting him away from the event, so the event was safe. The attendees were safe. Our former president was safe,” he continued.
Miller denied his intent was to cause harm to the former president.
“These accusations are complete bull—t,” he said. “I’m an artist, I’m the last person that would cause any violence and harm to anybody.”
Sources close to the Trump campaign told Fox News’ Bill Melugin and Bryan Preston that they do not believe this was an assassination attempt on Trump.
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Coach gives update on NFL star who suffered gruesome injury and left game on backboard
Detroit Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson came into Sunday’s game against the Dallas Cowboys leading the NFL in sacks with 6.5, but his season was put in jeopardy.
In the third quarter, Hutchinson added to his league lead with the seventh sack of the season. However, as he was on the ground after tackling Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, Hutchinson appeared to smack his leg onto another player.
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Hutchinson immediately writhed in pain and took his gloves off as medical trainers attended to him. The game briefly paused as players and coaches from both teams gathered around the third-year player.
WARNING: GRAPHIC VIDEO
He was then placed on a backboard and onto a car and driven off the field at AT&T Stadium.
Hutchinson had three total tackles before the injury.
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Lions head coach Dan Campbell spoke about Hutchinson after the game. He said Hutchinson suffered a broken tibia.
“He’s in good hands right now,” Campbell said. “He’s being taken care of. He’ll stay back here. Obviously, he’s going to be down for a little while. That’s tough. That’s hard to lose somebody like him but we’ll know a lot more after this. Obviously, wish him the best.”
He has been part of the reason why the Lions’ defense has seen a resurgence since the 2022 season. Detroit selected him with the No. 2 pick of the draft that year, and he immediately came on strong. He was the runner-up for Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2022 when he had 9.5 sacks and three interceptions.
Last season, he had 11.5 sacks and an interception on his way to the first Pro Bowl selection of his career.
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Hutchinson had played in every single game so far. Now it appears he will miss a lot of time.
Archaeologists uncover one of the world’s oldest Christian churches
Archaeologists recently uncovered what they believe to be one of the oldest Christian churches in the world.
The University of Münster announced the discovery of the fourth-century church in a press release on Oct. 11. The school, which is located in Germany, teamed up with archaeologists from the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia to find the ancient ruins.
The remains of the ancient Christian building were found at the Artaxata site in the Ararat Plain. Excavators have been digging there since 2018, but didn’t find the remains until recently.
“The find consists of an octagonal building with cruciform extensions,” the University of Münster explained. “The team excavated parts of the church and studied it using geophysical methods.”
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“Typologically, the find corresponds to early Christian memorial buildings,” the press release continued. “In the cross-shaped extensions, the researchers discovered the remains of wooden platforms, which were radiocarbon dated to the mid-4th century AD”
The oldest Christian church buildings date back to the third and fourth centuries. The octagonal church at Artaxata had a floor made of mortar and terracotta tiles, and measured around 100 feet in diameter.
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There were also some fragments of marble imported from the Mediterranean, which indicate the church was “lavishly decorated,” experts say.
“The 4th century building is the oldest archaeologically documented church in the country – sensational evidence for early Christianity in Armenia,” University of Münster Professor Achim Lichtenberger said in a statement.
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The find is fitting in Armenia, which the University of Münster says was the first Christian state ever established.
“According to legend, Gregory the Illuminator converted the Armenian king Tiridates III to Christianity in Artaxata in 301 AD, making Armenia the first Christian state in the world,” the school explained.
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“The medieval monastery of Khor Virap, just a stone’s throw from the now-discovered church, is a reminder of this tradition. Artaxata served as the capital of the Kingdom of Armenia, ruled by the Artaxiad and Arsacid dynasties,” the press release added. “The city developed into an important metropolis in the Hellenistic period and was the capital of the Kingdom of Armenia for almost six centuries.”