Why can't - or won't - the media get their facts straight?

Yesterday saw yet another example of why the mainstream media are destroying their own credibility over their opposition to President Trump.  In this case, it's Shepherd Smith of Fox News.

In a comprehensive, powerful show open on Thursday’s edition of Shepard Smith Reporting, the Fox News anchor spelled out the potential ramifications of President Donald Trump asking China to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden.

“The president asked Ukraine and China to investigate his political rival on television for all the world to hear,” Smith said. “Fox News knows of no federal investigation of his rival for any violations of any American law. If it is determined that the president made that request to help his campaign for reelection, President Trump may have violated federal law. It is illegal to ask a foreign national or foreign country for any political assistance. To our knowledge, no president before President Trump in American history has publicly asked an adversary in to investigate a rival.”

There's more at the link.

As I noted last week, Joe Biden is not currently in an electoral contest with President Trump.  He may be competing for the Democratic Party presidential nomination, but he has not yet secured it.  Therefore, President Trump has not asked anyone, or any nation, to investigate his "rival" or "opponent" in an election, because Biden is not currently his electoral opponent.  He's just another US politician at this point.  Biden's only electoral opponents right now are his rivals for the Democratic Party nomination.  Given that undeniable fact, would someone please explain to me how President Trump has breached US law in any way concerning this matter?

In particular, please show me how asking foreign governments for help in investigating openly admitted corruption can be equated to helping President Trump's campaign for re-election.  It's part of a President's job to see to it that crimes are investigated and, if sufficient evidence is gathered, prosecuted.  The evidence of Joe Biden's crime is as plain as a pikestaff.  He's openly admitted it on television.  Therefore, I have absolutely zero qualms about President Trump asking foreign governments for help in investigating the situation.  If he did not do so, he'd be derelict in his duty.

As I've said on previous occasions, I don't like President Trump's personality, or the way he conducts himself in office.  I'm not a member of his fan club.  Nevertheless, I give him credit for being a very effective President in many ways.  Could any other "normal" politician have so effectively confronted the corruption and entrenched sense of entitlement that's manifested itself in our political class, and in "the Swamp" that is Washington D.C.?

President Trump comes from a background of dealing with trades unions, bureaucratic city officials, and Mafia mobsters in New York City and New Jersey.  (I've heard him described as a "New Jersey goombah", which is not a word I'd heard before, but seems to convey something to those who know that part of the country and its people.)  He's learned his trade in the school of hard knocks.  He gives as good as he gets, or better.  He's used to ugly in-fighting, and he's so far proved to be better at it than his political opponents.  Right now, that may be exactly what this country needs in its chief executive.

Peter