June 20, 2023 - 4:45pm
News broke today that Hunter Biden will plead guilty to tax-related offences and illegal possession of a hand gun. While the charges sound grave, in reality they barely rise to the level of a wrist slap. Biden will plead guilty to both charges but, according to the terms of his deal with the Department of Justice —which is run by a person who reports to Biden’s father — will not be prosecuted.
Much more importantly, though, is that the media element will have the biggest impact of all. The splashy headlines surrounding this deal will give the Biden administration a fighting chance of putting a painful political liability to bed ahead of the election while sidestepping the real issue at hand — allegations against both father and son of years-long dishonest dealings with foreign governments.
To be fair, the charges at least sound bad. “Hunter Biden to plead guilty to tax crimes and admit gun offence,” the BBC’s headline reads. And it’s certainly not a situation any regular person would want to face. But if this affair has demonstrated anything at all, it’s that Hunter Biden is no regular person.
Case in point: the ATF, the agency that oversees gun law enforcement in the US, publishes a foreboding list of cases concerning people who have been convicted of gun-related crimes similar to the one Biden will be charged with — namely, falsifying forms involving gun transactions. In all listed cases by the ATF, the defendants face up to 10 years in federal prison. As part of the terms hashed out by a scrum of white-shoe lawyers representing the President’s son, the Justice Department has agreed to charge but not prosecute him, rendering the proceeding little more than an elaborate legal kabuki ceremony — and, of course, a great headline.
That might be precisely the point. The charges to which Biden has agreed to plead guilty are misdemeanour tax charges related to his failure to file taxes on time, and to claims of expenses that may have been inflated or inaccurate. But the big headlines give a nod to accountability and equal treatment before the law while blotting out the real issue at hand — the tens of millions of dollars Hunter received from firms connected to the most corrupt foreign governments on earth while his father was the sitting vice president.
The approach calls to mind the use of small, controlled explosions by firefighters who blow up a little patch of forest in order to suck the energy out of the fire. Taking such an approach in any other cases involving such brazen — and thoroughly self-documented — wrongdoing connected to political nepotism would be foolhardy; the media pile-on would be savage and relentless. But it’s clear that with the media effort to have the contents of the infamous laptop that triggered these overlapping investigations declared “Russian disinformation”, Team Biden knows where to turn in their time of need.
The question that remains is whether House Republicans have enough tools at their disposal to keep the issue top of mind for Americans. If they don’t, we might just have witnessed one of the most successful efforts to exonerate a potentially corrupted political actor without ever having to discuss whether the man in question was innocent, or guilty.
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SubscribeThe headline should have read “Are The Biden’s About To Get Away With It?” For obvious reasons.
If this is true, the U.S. can officially be called a banana republic. Of course, the regime media will be there defending the integrity of the security state. Nothing to see here folks. Carry on and pretend this is a country where justice is pursued equally.
The sheer arrogance of such a move would be staggering. That the majority of American voters would deem this acceptable is discouraging, to say the least.
Just as stupid as the sainted Swiss it would seem.
“sheer arrogance” doesn’t seem strong enough! The DOJ move comes soon after IRS and FBI whistle blower House testimony of DOJ higher-up interference in the investigation which was drug out by the DOJ as long as it could. Hunter’s lawyer on MSNBC said the DOJ didn’t even ask about the content of the infamous laptop – now that is sheer arrogance – both by the lawyer and the whole of the DOJ from the top down. Hunter will pay millions for unclaimed income but lets not talk about where the money came from because that foreign money through layers of LLCs brings to the forefront a lot more crimes
There is also selective charging. Trumps campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was jailed for breach of the Foreign Agent Registration Act.
Given the source of the money prosecution of Hunter Biden under this legislation should have been a slam dunk
There is also selective charging. Trumps campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was jailed for breach of the Foreign Agent Registration Act.
Given the source of the money prosecution of Hunter Biden under this legislation should have been a slam dunk
But they are citizens of a ‘banana republic’ and so must, by definition, be ‘bananas’
Just as stupid as the sainted Swiss it would seem.
“sheer arrogance” doesn’t seem strong enough! The DOJ move comes soon after IRS and FBI whistle blower House testimony of DOJ higher-up interference in the investigation which was drug out by the DOJ as long as it could. Hunter’s lawyer on MSNBC said the DOJ didn’t even ask about the content of the infamous laptop – now that is sheer arrogance – both by the lawyer and the whole of the DOJ from the top down. Hunter will pay millions for unclaimed income but lets not talk about where the money came from because that foreign money through layers of LLCs brings to the forefront a lot more crimes
But they are citizens of a ‘banana republic’ and so must, by definition, be ‘bananas’
The headline should have read “Are The Biden’s About To Get Away With It?” For obvious reasons.
If this is true, the U.S. can officially be called a banana republic. Of course, the regime media will be there defending the integrity of the security state. Nothing to see here folks. Carry on and pretend this is a country where justice is pursued equally.
The sheer arrogance of such a move would be staggering. That the majority of American voters would deem this acceptable is discouraging, to say the least.
Americans have never been equal before the law. This is starkly obvious when you look at who ends up on Death Row, and cases like OJ Simpson. We can add Hunter Biden now, too.
Money talks, but it’s just so much more blatant in the US.
Wealthy people have better everything, including better lawyers. There’s nothing new about that. However, there is a difference between that and intentional prosecution or non-prosecution based entirely on political ideology.
Wealthy people have better everything, including better lawyers. There’s nothing new about that. However, there is a difference between that and intentional prosecution or non-prosecution based entirely on political ideology.
Americans have never been equal before the law. This is starkly obvious when you look at who ends up on Death Row, and cases like OJ Simpson. We can add Hunter Biden now, too.
Money talks, but it’s just so much more blatant in the US.
Don’t ask us Ashley, it really is down to you guys.
Deep State/Blob (and if Ike believed it existed back then, you best believe it is alive and well now) is self-appointed judge, jury and executioner, it just needs media to shape public opinion in such a way that they believe a person to be a wrong ‘un and in need of removal from public office, or not. Then the trial can begin.
Ditto UK of course.
Those of us of a certain age, through free speech, diverse (of thought) education and outstanding role models saw the gradual breaking down of a national mindset that blamed foreigners as “others” and responsible for the country’s ills.
Trump, Johnson and Putin now the “others”. White, privileged men – awful. So in the case of Trump and Johnson, the alternatives in place avoid scrutiny, in case we might notice that there actually isn’t a scrap of difference. In fact Biden’s mental state seems quite visibly worse than Trump’s whose mental faculties were endlessly discussed in the drip, drip, drip of negative commentary.
Not to defend the ‘others’ in question, but in the case of Putin, if you believe any leader of Russia survives without being utterly ruthless and a quite nasty piece of work then you’ve not being paying attention. So don’t sign over your energy sourcing to people like that, unless you are terminally stupid.
So – “my enemy, my enemy, how I need my enemy” – as Richard Thompson sang. “Othering” is back, and it’s big business. University education encourages it, rather than invites critique. A complete reversal of 4+ decades ago. Whilst we may have stopped paying for media, that rather big tab still needs to be picked up by someone. It is they who now call the piper’s tune. Which will not include Hunter Biden’s colourful past, until they are good and ready to dispose of Dad.
Don’t ask us Ashley, it really is down to you guys.
Deep State/Blob (and if Ike believed it existed back then, you best believe it is alive and well now) is self-appointed judge, jury and executioner, it just needs media to shape public opinion in such a way that they believe a person to be a wrong ‘un and in need of removal from public office, or not. Then the trial can begin.
Ditto UK of course.
Those of us of a certain age, through free speech, diverse (of thought) education and outstanding role models saw the gradual breaking down of a national mindset that blamed foreigners as “others” and responsible for the country’s ills.
Trump, Johnson and Putin now the “others”. White, privileged men – awful. So in the case of Trump and Johnson, the alternatives in place avoid scrutiny, in case we might notice that there actually isn’t a scrap of difference. In fact Biden’s mental state seems quite visibly worse than Trump’s whose mental faculties were endlessly discussed in the drip, drip, drip of negative commentary.
Not to defend the ‘others’ in question, but in the case of Putin, if you believe any leader of Russia survives without being utterly ruthless and a quite nasty piece of work then you’ve not being paying attention. So don’t sign over your energy sourcing to people like that, unless you are terminally stupid.
So – “my enemy, my enemy, how I need my enemy” – as Richard Thompson sang. “Othering” is back, and it’s big business. University education encourages it, rather than invites critique. A complete reversal of 4+ decades ago. Whilst we may have stopped paying for media, that rather big tab still needs to be picked up by someone. It is they who now call the piper’s tune. Which will not include Hunter Biden’s colourful past, until they are good and ready to dispose of Dad.
Joe Biden constantly urges people to pay their taxes and lambasts political opponents for alleged obstruction of gun background checks.
And yet his son is not going to jail for 10 years for falsifying background gun checks.
Wow! Just wow!
As Joe Biden would say – ‘God save the Queen, man’.
Joe Biden constantly urges people to pay their taxes and lambasts political opponents for alleged obstruction of gun background checks.
And yet his son is not going to jail for 10 years for falsifying background gun checks.
Wow! Just wow!
As Joe Biden would say – ‘God save the Queen, man’.
There appears to be no shortage of evidence pointing to some very odd smells emanating from the Biden family. The film ‘My Son Hunter’ which is said to be based on actual transcripts is available on Youtube, I believe.
My point is that, recognising the Americans’ eagerness to call lawyers the instant there’s a hint of defamation, why is it that such a film can be publicly available yet the Bidens do… nothing. Then the questions arise as to why? What are they afraid of?
No smoke without fire seems highly appropriate here.
There appears to be no shortage of evidence pointing to some very odd smells emanating from the Biden family. The film ‘My Son Hunter’ which is said to be based on actual transcripts is available on Youtube, I believe.
My point is that, recognising the Americans’ eagerness to call lawyers the instant there’s a hint of defamation, why is it that such a film can be publicly available yet the Bidens do… nothing. Then the questions arise as to why? What are they afraid of?
No smoke without fire seems highly appropriate here.
Even the most somnolent news consumer knows that Hunter got away with his crimes thanks to Daddy, the most corrupt president in US history. Joe is counting on the notoriously short attention span of the nation and his many allies in the deeply compromised media to see to it the dust settles quickly and the whole mess gets dumped down the memory hole, the best friend of the hard left.
Even the most somnolent news consumer knows that Hunter got away with his crimes thanks to Daddy, the most corrupt president in US history. Joe is counting on the notoriously short attention span of the nation and his many allies in the deeply compromised media to see to it the dust settles quickly and the whole mess gets dumped down the memory hole, the best friend of the hard left.
the whole world knows the Bidens are corrupt and Hunter couldn’t have retained seats on questionable boards without dad’s guidance (the big guy). This country has become just like all other ‘banana’ republics: a third world. A sad downfall of a once great idea “America”.
I’m one of the last Americans, and I subscribed to UnHerd because our media is now Pravda (without the cool marching guys). Thanks for making me feel better today
I’m one of the last Americans, and I subscribed to UnHerd because our media is now Pravda (without the cool marching guys). Thanks for making me feel better today
the whole world knows the Bidens are corrupt and Hunter couldn’t have retained seats on questionable boards without dad’s guidance (the big guy). This country has become just like all other ‘banana’ republics: a third world. A sad downfall of a once great idea “America”.
Tucker Carlson is by far the most powerful voice in the American media. He regularly gets 100 milliion views compared to 3 million when he was the top primetime star on FOX, now a gratifyingly pathetic shell of itself after firing him. Check out what he has to say about this charade in his lastest video posting on Twitter. I’d give the link but the hall monitorship is vigilant here.
Tucker Carlson is by far the most powerful voice in the American media. He regularly gets 100 milliion views compared to 3 million when he was the top primetime star on FOX, now a gratifyingly pathetic shell of itself after firing him. Check out what he has to say about this charade in his lastest video posting on Twitter. I’d give the link but the hall monitorship is vigilant here.
I dunno, just because something is transparently obvious doesn’t mean it can be proven in court. Of course Hunter was selling influence, there’s no one on the planet who does not know that, but is it a provable crime? Burisima hired him to do nothing whatsoever besides act as a shield — to insure that Joe would remain ‘friendly’ and we have Joe’s own words that this policy succeeded. But is it provable? And isn’t it business as usual, anyway?
Yours is an amoral point of view. There is plenty of proof but no venue for adjudication, thanks to the fix being in. The Mafia in Italy when it was all-powerful couldn’t have pulled it off more smoothly.
Yours is an amoral point of view. There is plenty of proof but no venue for adjudication, thanks to the fix being in. The Mafia in Italy when it was all-powerful couldn’t have pulled it off more smoothly.
I dunno, just because something is transparently obvious doesn’t mean it can be proven in court. Of course Hunter was selling influence, there’s no one on the planet who does not know that, but is it a provable crime? Burisima hired him to do nothing whatsoever besides act as a shield — to insure that Joe would remain ‘friendly’ and we have Joe’s own words that this policy succeeded. But is it provable? And isn’t it business as usual, anyway?
The Department of Justice is a federal executive department, so the case of Hunter Biden is the unitary executive theory in action. If Joe Biden had been in his second term, then his son would never have been arrested. But whoever is pulling his strings knows that that would have been impolitic at this stage.
The highly problematic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the best Democrat in the field, but he is not going to be the nominee. Anyone who voted for Biden next year would be nothing but a selfish spoiler for Cornel West, and would effectively be voting for a Republican nominee who would at best be Donald Trump.
The Department of Justice is a federal executive department, so the case of Hunter Biden is the unitary executive theory in action. If Joe Biden had been in his second term, then his son would never have been arrested. But whoever is pulling his strings knows that that would have been impolitic at this stage.
The highly problematic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the best Democrat in the field, but he is not going to be the nominee. Anyone who voted for Biden next year would be nothing but a selfish spoiler for Cornel West, and would effectively be voting for a Republican nominee who would at best be Donald Trump.
As I have said for years, this Hunter stuff is a fantasy of the far right.
Complete nothingburger as I have always said.
As I have said for years, this Hunter stuff is a fantasy of the far right.
Complete nothingburger as I have always said.
What’s he supposed to have done then? Set out the facts, not the vague allegations and the partisan 2 + 2 = 5 claptrap, please.
H Biden was never in a position to deliver on anything. If idiots thought he was, and paid him on that basis, more fool them, but taking money from idiots is no offence, much as the gnashing right might wish it was.
Non-story. Enjoy the dyspepsia, losers.
PS: I find it amusing that any American could fall foul of their gun laws, seeing as they don’t have any gun laws to speak of.
What’s he supposed to have done then? Set out the facts, not the vague allegations and the partisan 2 + 2 = 5 claptrap, please.
H Biden was never in a position to deliver on anything. If idiots thought he was, and paid him on that basis, more fool them, but taking money from idiots is no offence, much as the gnashing right might wish it was.
Non-story. Enjoy the dyspepsia, losers.
PS: I find it amusing that any American could fall foul of their gun laws, seeing as they don’t have any gun laws to speak of.
Come on! Why does it matter if the Republicans can ‘keep the issue top of mind’? If there is proof to get Hunter or Father for corruption this is a scandal. If there is not, you just accept that the issue will go away. Much like Russiagate, really. It looked real bad, and it was worth an investigation, but in the end you just have to accept it when the evidence is not there.
So why’s the laptop remained hidden for years by the FBI, with the whole story dismissed as fake news, as well as Twitter censoring reports? Methinks there is much more to this. You can’t trust a crack addict.
In part because the Republicans are pushing to use it for electoral gain, and the Democrats are trying to prevent them. As for the media: Trump beat Clinton in part because his campaign team managed to get the story of Hilary and her email server at the top of the debate right a few weeks before the election where it hurt her the most. Even though (here again) nothing ever came of that. Trumps team tried to get athat laptop center stage exactly a few weeks before teh election where it woudl hurt Biden the most. Only the media chose not to play along with hsi campaign efforts because they were not going to help him in the same way twice.
Besides, what whole story? Hunter got the money. For all we know he made false promises to the Ukrainians in order to get it. If there is no proof of corruption it ends there.
It’s not the role of the media to filter information like this. Of course they knew Trump was releasing the info to get maximum hit points during an election campaign. The media is supposed to report it anyway. It’s news – period. Political parties try manipulate the election process every single time. The media certainly didn’t have an issue reporting on the Russian disinformation letter signed by 50 former CIA and FBI officials, even though everyone knew it was garbage. They report it anyway. You don’t pick and choose.
The Bidens have committed numerous crimes and have taken millions from foreign sources. The bank records are there.
Obama corrupted the DOJ.
This is all coming out in congress right now.
The Bidens, including Jill are criminals.
It’s not the role of the media to filter information like this. Of course they knew Trump was releasing the info to get maximum hit points during an election campaign. The media is supposed to report it anyway. It’s news – period. Political parties try manipulate the election process every single time. The media certainly didn’t have an issue reporting on the Russian disinformation letter signed by 50 former CIA and FBI officials, even though everyone knew it was garbage. They report it anyway. You don’t pick and choose.
The Bidens have committed numerous crimes and have taken millions from foreign sources. The bank records are there.
Obama corrupted the DOJ.
This is all coming out in congress right now.
The Bidens, including Jill are criminals.
In part because the Republicans are pushing to use it for electoral gain, and the Democrats are trying to prevent them. As for the media: Trump beat Clinton in part because his campaign team managed to get the story of Hilary and her email server at the top of the debate right a few weeks before the election where it hurt her the most. Even though (here again) nothing ever came of that. Trumps team tried to get athat laptop center stage exactly a few weeks before teh election where it woudl hurt Biden the most. Only the media chose not to play along with hsi campaign efforts because they were not going to help him in the same way twice.
Besides, what whole story? Hunter got the money. For all we know he made false promises to the Ukrainians in order to get it. If there is no proof of corruption it ends there.
Somehow I knew Rasmus would add a comment – testing out a talking point. The problem is we don’t know how deep the issues go – we know there are some pretty serious charges being swept under the rug here – stuff other people have gone to jail over. We know the laptop and claim that the laptop was disinformation is a scandal. Congress is investigating the FBI burying evidence, of potentially bribery of an American VP via his son, something that let to a president being impeached for demanding assistance on an investigation, with the FBI not providing the evidence they had to the impeachment inquiry. There is the stench of bad and biased law being practiced. The DOJ need to stand up and be entirely transparent. What was the evidence? What was the internal deliberation process? How does this compare to other cases? Who was taking decisions? How did they ensure political impartiality? Handwaving a talking point, when the DOJ seems to be weaponised for one party and Democrats continually look to have placed themselves above the law – openly lying and smearing – is a really bad look.
Why do you think Hunter was paid $20 million by a variety of intensional businesses? Why do you think he was on the board or directors of Burisma?
You have to be fully captured by the Dems, or work for MSNBC, if you seriously think Hunter wasn’t taking bribes.
To compare this to Russiagate is gobsmacking. For three years this was the biggest story in the regime media. Every single day there were breathless new details. What do we get in the regime media about Hunter? Crickets.
Well, Hunter was obviously selling influence. If it had just been him it could have been his own initiative and the various corporations taking his word or just trying it on. As there seems to be also an uncle, Beau’s widow, and some other Bidens involved it begins to sound likely that Biden Senior was at least informed. On the other hand the whole thing was rather surprisingly open for someone taking bribes – and drug addict Hunter was hardly an obvious choice as a go-between for passing bribes to a senior politician. Obviously the whole thing stinks – but then all top US politicians are taking huge sums in, well, ‘campaign contributions’ that would be illegal in a number of countries. It is hard for a non-American to see why the Bidens are any more dirty than the Trumps, the Clintons, the Bushes, or 95% of the other top politicians. Trump relatives are doing very well too out of their relationship to Trump, Trump took favours from the FSB, Bush Junior might not have had a successful career in oil without Bush Senior. Etc. If nobody complains when Jared Kushner gets huge sums to fund manage from Saudi Arabia, how much genuine indignation can you come up with for just Biden?
I think he was paid $20 million by a variety of international businesses because they believed Hunter Biden could help them get favorable policies from the US government through influencing his father. This is not much different from corrupt companies like Theranos placing senior ex-government leaders like Jim Mattis and George Schultz on their Boards to help influence the government. Theranos executives are now in prison. Their board members are not – they just look like duped idiots. Regarding Hunter, he was different, not an ex-senior government official, but rather the son of the Vice President. He also had a compromised set of values and ethics – the laptop did confirm this reality. These international businesses took a shot and put him on boards and made other lucrative other business arrangements in the hopes that Hunter could somehow deliver favorable policies. If I had to guess, Hunter probably gave them the indication that he could deliver the goods. Despite investigations, there is no evidence that Hunter was able to deliver anything of substance or compromise his father. Every big revelation, from the laptop, to whistleblowers have come up short in connecting Hunter’s business efforts to his father. To me the valid comparison of the Hunter Biden investigation to Russiagate is the frustration that partisans on both sides exhibit when the investigations fail to confirm their bias.
You mean Russiagate where the Democrat campaign created multiple fake documents, laundered them through partisan DOJ and FBI agents, with the help of surrogate media, to target and undermine a sitting president, spinning lies to create a special council investigation, and then ending up impeaching him for asking questions about his political opponent.
Versus the Hunter Biden story, where prime evidence was ignored for a year and more by the FBI, then claimed to be disinformation, that was lied about by the Democratic candidate when he knew it was true, suppressed by the DOJ and surrogate media with the support of representatives of the US intelligence services, eventually leading to a slap on the wrist as a nothing-to-see-here story despite other similar cases ending up with jail time.
Very similar, in that both look like the Democrat party bending and abusing the justice and intelligence services for their own ends.
Biden senior did have a Ukrainian prosecutor fired, who was investigating Burisma for corruption. I’m sure that was a coincidence though. Wink. Wink. It’s magical thinking IMO to think Burisma had Biden junior on the board of directors for five years with no quid pro quo.
” there is no evidence that Hunter was able to deliver anything of substance or compromise his father”
And yet Joe did intervene in Ukraine to get a prosecutor sacked. Why would he bother if there was no bribe? He’s not otherwise renowned for his diligence in office.
For Jim V. and Hugh B. I noted your replies to my comment. You both brought up the Ukrainian prosecutor the the US wanted sacked. At the time, multiple departments within the US government were pushing for this action due to corruption. And the US was not alone requesting this action. In February 2016, Christine Lagarde threatened to withhold $40 billion unless Ukraine undertook efforts to fight corruption. You can agree or disagree with these actions but it is not evidence of bribes. None of this defends the grifting that Hunter did off his father’s name and position.
Lagarde didn’t threaten to withhold funding because of that specific prosecutor. The threat was because of endemic corruption throughout Ukraine. Of course, the official narrative for having the prosecutor fired was because of corruption. What else would you expect. What we do know is Biden junior joined Burisma – for five years with zero experience – the prosecutor investigating Burisma was fired, and no further investigations were undertaken. There’s lots of smoke when it comes to this, but these are the facts we know.
Has anyone ever advanced any sort of explanation as to why Hunter was employed by Burisma if it wasn’t to do with seeking Joe’s help? I’m afraid you’ve rather come up against Occam’s Razor here.
Lagarde didn’t threaten to withhold funding because of that specific prosecutor. The threat was because of endemic corruption throughout Ukraine. Of course, the official narrative for having the prosecutor fired was because of corruption. What else would you expect. What we do know is Biden junior joined Burisma – for five years with zero experience – the prosecutor investigating Burisma was fired, and no further investigations were undertaken. There’s lots of smoke when it comes to this, but these are the facts we know.
Has anyone ever advanced any sort of explanation as to why Hunter was employed by Burisma if it wasn’t to do with seeking Joe’s help? I’m afraid you’ve rather come up against Occam’s Razor here.
For Jim V. and Hugh B. I noted your replies to my comment. You both brought up the Ukrainian prosecutor the the US wanted sacked. At the time, multiple departments within the US government were pushing for this action due to corruption. And the US was not alone requesting this action. In February 2016, Christine Lagarde threatened to withhold $40 billion unless Ukraine undertook efforts to fight corruption. You can agree or disagree with these actions but it is not evidence of bribes. None of this defends the grifting that Hunter did off his father’s name and position.
You mean Russiagate where the Democrat campaign created multiple fake documents, laundered them through partisan DOJ and FBI agents, with the help of surrogate media, to target and undermine a sitting president, spinning lies to create a special council investigation, and then ending up impeaching him for asking questions about his political opponent.
Versus the Hunter Biden story, where prime evidence was ignored for a year and more by the FBI, then claimed to be disinformation, that was lied about by the Democratic candidate when he knew it was true, suppressed by the DOJ and surrogate media with the support of representatives of the US intelligence services, eventually leading to a slap on the wrist as a nothing-to-see-here story despite other similar cases ending up with jail time.
Very similar, in that both look like the Democrat party bending and abusing the justice and intelligence services for their own ends.
Biden senior did have a Ukrainian prosecutor fired, who was investigating Burisma for corruption. I’m sure that was a coincidence though. Wink. Wink. It’s magical thinking IMO to think Burisma had Biden junior on the board of directors for five years with no quid pro quo.
” there is no evidence that Hunter was able to deliver anything of substance or compromise his father”
And yet Joe did intervene in Ukraine to get a prosecutor sacked. Why would he bother if there was no bribe? He’s not otherwise renowned for his diligence in office.
Well, Hunter was obviously selling influence. If it had just been him it could have been his own initiative and the various corporations taking his word or just trying it on. As there seems to be also an uncle, Beau’s widow, and some other Bidens involved it begins to sound likely that Biden Senior was at least informed. On the other hand the whole thing was rather surprisingly open for someone taking bribes – and drug addict Hunter was hardly an obvious choice as a go-between for passing bribes to a senior politician. Obviously the whole thing stinks – but then all top US politicians are taking huge sums in, well, ‘campaign contributions’ that would be illegal in a number of countries. It is hard for a non-American to see why the Bidens are any more dirty than the Trumps, the Clintons, the Bushes, or 95% of the other top politicians. Trump relatives are doing very well too out of their relationship to Trump, Trump took favours from the FSB, Bush Junior might not have had a successful career in oil without Bush Senior. Etc. If nobody complains when Jared Kushner gets huge sums to fund manage from Saudi Arabia, how much genuine indignation can you come up with for just Biden?
I think he was paid $20 million by a variety of international businesses because they believed Hunter Biden could help them get favorable policies from the US government through influencing his father. This is not much different from corrupt companies like Theranos placing senior ex-government leaders like Jim Mattis and George Schultz on their Boards to help influence the government. Theranos executives are now in prison. Their board members are not – they just look like duped idiots. Regarding Hunter, he was different, not an ex-senior government official, but rather the son of the Vice President. He also had a compromised set of values and ethics – the laptop did confirm this reality. These international businesses took a shot and put him on boards and made other lucrative other business arrangements in the hopes that Hunter could somehow deliver favorable policies. If I had to guess, Hunter probably gave them the indication that he could deliver the goods. Despite investigations, there is no evidence that Hunter was able to deliver anything of substance or compromise his father. Every big revelation, from the laptop, to whistleblowers have come up short in connecting Hunter’s business efforts to his father. To me the valid comparison of the Hunter Biden investigation to Russiagate is the frustration that partisans on both sides exhibit when the investigations fail to confirm their bias.
The bloke’s already admitted it. What more evidence do you need !
Well, the Democrats won in 2020 at least in part because they kept Russiagate in the news for four long years. The evidence that the Bidens are profoundly corrupt – and that their corruption is damaging to US interests – is a great deal stronger than anything in the Steele dossier, so it’s not implausible to surmise that the GOP could keep it high on the news agenda for just as long.
So why’s the laptop remained hidden for years by the FBI, with the whole story dismissed as fake news, as well as Twitter censoring reports? Methinks there is much more to this. You can’t trust a crack addict.
Somehow I knew Rasmus would add a comment – testing out a talking point. The problem is we don’t know how deep the issues go – we know there are some pretty serious charges being swept under the rug here – stuff other people have gone to jail over. We know the laptop and claim that the laptop was disinformation is a scandal. Congress is investigating the FBI burying evidence, of potentially bribery of an American VP via his son, something that let to a president being impeached for demanding assistance on an investigation, with the FBI not providing the evidence they had to the impeachment inquiry. There is the stench of bad and biased law being practiced. The DOJ need to stand up and be entirely transparent. What was the evidence? What was the internal deliberation process? How does this compare to other cases? Who was taking decisions? How did they ensure political impartiality? Handwaving a talking point, when the DOJ seems to be weaponised for one party and Democrats continually look to have placed themselves above the law – openly lying and smearing – is a really bad look.
Why do you think Hunter was paid $20 million by a variety of intensional businesses? Why do you think he was on the board or directors of Burisma?
You have to be fully captured by the Dems, or work for MSNBC, if you seriously think Hunter wasn’t taking bribes.
To compare this to Russiagate is gobsmacking. For three years this was the biggest story in the regime media. Every single day there were breathless new details. What do we get in the regime media about Hunter? Crickets.
The bloke’s already admitted it. What more evidence do you need !
Well, the Democrats won in 2020 at least in part because they kept Russiagate in the news for four long years. The evidence that the Bidens are profoundly corrupt – and that their corruption is damaging to US interests – is a great deal stronger than anything in the Steele dossier, so it’s not implausible to surmise that the GOP could keep it high on the news agenda for just as long.
Come on! Why does it matter if the Republicans can ‘keep the issue top of mind’? If there is proof to get Hunter or Father for corruption this is a scandal. If there is not, you just accept that the issue will go away. Much like Russiagate, really. It looked real bad, and it was worth an investigation, but in the end you just have to accept it when the evidence is not there.