HUNTER LAPTOP 3
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:CURRENT HUNTER LAPTOP 3 12 23}:
primary 6 22 on longevity deny deflect ctr attack rubber glue inverse?
bit belated? 1019
see russia-gate
but the emails --> laptop
see benghzi BS WEAPONIZATION
see burisma, Derkach -->Rudy
aha inverse mirror whataboutism ontrump nepotism/corruption, they all do it (or just kremlin muddy water, nothing can be believed)
Plus attempt to neutralize russian collusion (putin bounty on us soldiers?!)
shokin rebOot 8 23
bak SOME
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From the October 28, 2025, edition of Newsmax's Carl Higbie Frontline
:{:{CARL HIGBIE (HOST): Yeah, I think every one of those pardons and commutations should be considered void. Just as we said, for the last four years, we were called crazy that there might be even the possibility of a shadow government operating independent of the president — I mean, who appeared to be a vegetable at the time — and all these people said that these investigations were partisan and they were useless and they were a waste of taxpayer — it turns out a so-called conspiracy theorists were right again. These investigations are 100% necessary because why would you wish pardons to people if you didn't think they needed something to be pardoned for?}:
The January 6 committee, at a bare minimum, they deleted the evidence, which is a crime. Worst case scenario, they covered up for the FBI, embedding 274 undercover agents in assets and the crowd that day. Who knows if they were the ones who broke in first, which would make it entrapment, like the FBI did to Gretchen Whitmer's kidnapping case that got thrown out. Covered it up, obviously. They lied about it and then used those investigations to impeach Donald Trump to try to prevent him from running again so that he would never find out about the coup the deep state ran, undermining his entire first presidency.}:
Either way, people should probably go to jail. Doctor Fauci should be buried under the jail for conspiracy against rights. The architect of completely fabricated medical data to remove constitutional rights, like the right to peaceably assemble for, I don't know, church. Oh, and force you to inject an experimental vaccine. Then you got General Mark Milley. Remember, he had discussions with the Chinese counterpart saying that he would warn China if the president was planning any military action. That's like treason to me. Under 18 U.S. Code 2381, reinforcing Article three, Section three of the Constitution. He can be sentenced to death for that. I bet Milley's freaking out right now. And he should be.
:{:{Now, here's a constitutional crisis that this may have actually created, though. Obviously the DOJ should investigate this to the fullest extent of the law. But when these people get hauled in for questioning under oath, how does that go? Because this is unique. Once you've accepted a pardon, you don't have a Fifth Amendment right anymore because that's the right to remain silent to avoid self-incrimination. }:
But if you've accepted that pardon, apparently you can't be incriminated. So what happens if these people — I mean, they have to talk at that point. So what happens if these people disclose information that incriminates themselves in being complicit with a fraudulent pardon? How about did Hunter sell any of those pardons to anyone? Want to ask him that? This has literally never been litigated before. Ever. And the reason it's never been litigated is because no White House was ever arrogant enough to conduct such a fast and loose autopen use procedure.}:
mma
//
09/26/23 12:40 PM EDT
10/14/24 3:01 PM EDT
10/23/24
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AN 8 25
The New York Post reportsHunter Biden does not appear intimidated by lawsuit threats from first lady Melania Trump.
“F—— that. That’s not going to happen,” Biden said during a Thursday interview on the YouTube show 
."
“I don’t believe in guilt by association alone, but the connections are … so glaringly obvious that I think they’re trying to use other things to distract,” Biden continued. “And I also think they’re bullies, and they think that a billion dollars if gonna scare me.”
READ MORE: 'That's how this ends': George Conway reveals 'the only way' to stop Trump's 'gangsterism'
Melania Trump threatened to sue Biden for $1 billion if he doesn’t retract statements linking her to accused sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. She took issue with comments Biden referenced claiming Epstein introduced the first lady to now-President Donald Trump. Melania Trump’s lawyer, Alejandro Brito claimed Biden’s statements are false, defamatory and “extremely salacious,” which are causing the first lady “to suffer overwhelming financial and reputational harm.”
But Biden says he’s repeating information from other sources.
“What I said was what I have heard and seen, reported and written, primarily from Michael Wolff, but also dating back all the way to 2019 when the New York Times, I think … reported that sources said that Jeffrey Epstein claimed to be the person to introduce Donald Trump to Melania at that time,” Biden said in the interview that attracted Trump’s attention.
Trump’s lawyers have had recent success in pushing for retractions, reports The New York Post. Her team issued similar threats to the Daily Beast, which retracted an article, and it pressed Democratic strategist James Carville to apologize and retract a podcast episode in which he speculated there was an “Epstein connection” involving the first lady.
READ MORE: This shocking and atrocious Republican scheme deserves only one response
But Biden said in his video that he is eager to get to the deposition phase of the Trumps’ suit.
“If they want to sit down for a deposition and clarify the nature of their relationship between Jeffrey Epstein and the first lady and the president — if they want to do that, and all the known associates around them at the time they met — I’m more than happy to provide them the platform to do it,” Biden said.
Watch the video below or at this link.
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The Justice Department special counsel whose six-year case into Hunter Biden was short-circuited last month by the unconditional pardon President Joe Biden granted to his son, criticized the outgoing president in his final report Monday.
Special counsel David Weiss chastised President Biden as part of the 280-page report for making “gratuitous and wrong” accusations that his long-running investigation was unfair and tainted by politics. The president, when pardoning his son last month, had said Hunter Biden was the victim of a “selective” prosecution that was “unfair” and a “miscarriage of justice.”
“Other presidents have pardoned family members, but in doing so, none have taken the occasion as an opportunity to malign the public servants at the Department of Justice based solely on false accusations,” Weiss said in the report.
“Far from selective, these prosecutions were the embodiment of the equal application of justice – no matter who you are, or what your last name is, you are subject to the same laws as everyone else in the United States,” he added.
[
Related article
Ex-FBI informant behind fake Biden-Ukraine bribery allegations sentenced to 6 years in prison](https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/08/politics/ex-fbi-informant-fake-biden-ukraine-bribery-allegations-alexander-smirnov)
The report stated that “politicians who attack the decisions of career prosecutors as politically motivated when they disagree with the outcome of a case undermine the public’s confidence in our criminal justice system. The President’s statements unfairly impugn the integrity not only of Department of Justice personnel, but all of the public servants making these difficult decisions in good faith.”
Weiss also quoted the federal judge who presided over Hunter Biden’s tax case, who rebuked the president on similar grounds after he issued the blanket pardon, accusing him of “rewriting history.”
CNN has previously reported on the false and inaccurate claims that Joe Biden made in an interview with USA Today earlier this month to justify the pardon. Some of those claims about the facts of Hunter Biden’s gun case were contradicted by the evidence and testimony at trial.
The president’s pardon shielded his son from any prosecution stemming from any federal crimes he may have committed between 2014 and December 2024. Therefore, “in light of this pardon,” Weiss said he didn’t include any legal analysis in his report about “whether additional charges were warranted” beyond the 12 tax and gun crimes he charged Hunter Biden with in 2023.
In a statement Monday, Hunter Biden’s lawyer Abbe Lowell said, “What is clear from this report is that the investigation into Hunter Biden is a cautionary tale of the abuse of prosecutorial power.”
Lowell blasted several of Weiss’ key decisions, including his attempt in 2023 to wind down the probe with a negotiated plea agreement. That deal – which would’ve averted a trial – imploded after scrutiny from a federal judge and top Republican lawmakers.
“Mr. Weiss also fails to explain why he reneged on his own agreement, a reversal that came at the 11th hour in court as he and his office faced blistering attacks from Republicans,” he said.
Six-year investigation
Weiss had investigated Hunter Biden since 2018, when he was the Donald Trump-appointed US attorney for Delaware. After Joe Biden became president, he kept Weiss to finish his work, even while replacing almost all other US attorneys, as is common.
Attorney General Merrick Garland elevated Weiss to “special counsel” in 2023, after the proposed Hunter Biden plea deal fell apart in court.
In an opening note at the beginning of the report, Weiss thanked Garland for “allowing (his) Office to conduct its investigations and prosecutions independently.” The note pushes back on GOP allegations that Garland, a Biden appointee, had meddled in the probe to protect the Bidens.
Weiss charged two people during the course of his investigation: Hunter Biden and Alexander Smirnov, a former FBI informant who falsely accused Hunter and his father of taking $10 million in bribes from Ukraine. House Republicans used those claims to bolster their failed impeachment push.
Smirnov was sentenced last week to six years in prison.
During Weiss’ investigation, he made history by becoming the first prosecutor in American history to file criminal charges against the son of a sitting president. Hunter Biden was convictedby a juryon three counts related to his unlawful purchase and possession of a gun while abusing illicit drugs.
Sen. Durbin defends Hunter Biden pardon as 'a labor of love'
02:50
Weiss also brought a nine-count federal tax indictment against Biden, who pleaded guilty on what was supposed to be the first day of his trial in September. He admitted to tax evasion, filing false tax returns, and failing to file and pay his taxes on time.
Hunter Biden was never sentenced for those crimes, because he was pardoned by his father after the November election, short-circuiting the court process.
Weiss says he ‘ignored’ political attacks
The Weiss special counsel investigation has been fraught with allegations of politicization from both sides of the aisle. He has previously denied that his work was hampered by any political interference.
The Biden family and some Democrats have accused Weiss of unfairly targeting Hunter Biden and doing Trump’s bidding, caving to his demands to indict Hunter Biden. But many Republicans argued that Weiss went soft on Hunter Biden and offered him a “sweetheart deal” that would’ve swept his crimes under the rug, if it hadn’t fallen apart.
In the report, Weiss said he “ignored” politicians who repeatedly weighed in on his investigation of Hunter Biden and focused instead on “the facts and the law” while prosecuting the president’s son.
“I also never considered whether my decisions would be viewed favorably or unfavorably by any politicians,” Weiss wrote. “And when politicians expressed opinions about my conduct, I ignored them because they were irrelevant. Simply put, my decisions were based on the facts and the law and nothing else.”
Despite the fact that figures from both political parties hammered Weiss at various points of his probe, his report only rebuked Joe Biden by name for his commentary about the probe.
The report does not mention the congressional Republicans who called for Weiss’ resignation, tried to upend the plea agreement he negotiated with Hunter Biden in 2023, held hearings with ex-IRS investigators who said his probe was filled with misconduct, and pressured the FBI to release documents about an now-debunked tip from an informant that the Bidens took massive bribes from Ukraine.
Joe Biden’s looming presence
The report contains about 30 pages of new material and about 250 pages of court filings that were previously part of the public record of Hunter Biden’s gun and tax cases.
Ironically, Weiss said one of the reasons he prosecuted Hunter Biden for gun crimes was because President Biden’s administration prioritized gun control and stiffened penalties for some gun offenses.
“I considered the federal law enforcement priorities, including any federal law enforcement initiatives or operations aimed at accomplishing those priorities,” Weiss said, pointing to the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act that Biden signed into law in 2022, and various Biden-era gun control actions at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
For years, Republicans have pushed unproven accusations that Joe Biden and Hunter Biden engaged in illegal overseas business dealings. Weiss said in the report released Monday that Hunter Biden “had no co-conspirators” in his financial crimes, which prosecutors investigated from 2018 to 2024.
While Weiss was speaking narrowly about the specific federal tax charges he filed against Hunter Biden, his report is another reminder that prosecutors never accused Joe Biden of wrongdoing and never backed up GOP claims that Joe Biden engaged in illegal influence-peddling schemes with his son.
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alternet no lnx
New plans? How Trump loyalists are out for Biden family blood more than ever
:{:{Matt Lasloan}:
Raw Story June 15, 2024}:
WASHINGTON — House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden all but unraveled, but you wouldn’t know that from talking to House Republicans this week.
They’re out for Biden family blood more than ever.
The GOP’s cheering of a damning verdict for presidential son Hunter Biden — found guilty of lying on a federal firearm form and illegally owning a gun — have proven short-lived.
On Capitol Hill, the mood amongst Republicans is mostly anger as the party overflows with complaints about “a two-tiered” system of justice — even after the president’s son was successfully prosecuted by the same Department of Justice they decry for its pursuit of former President Donald Trump.
“No one's taking it seriously, because the Department of Justice, if they were actually a real justice system, they would have charged him for FARA [Foreign Agents Registration Act]. They would be charging him for human sex trafficking,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) told Raw Story while walking to the Capitol to vote Wednesday.
MTG’s far from alone.
On Wednesday, three powerful Republican committee chairs sent the Department of Justice criminal referrals for Hunter and James Biden, the president’s brother.
The two Bidens made false statements to their committees that "implicate Joe Biden’s knowledge and role in his family’s influence peddling schemes and appear to be a calculated effort to shield Joe Biden from the impeachment inquiry," wrote Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY), Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith (R-MO).
Those criminal referrals were sent to Special Counsel David Weiss and Attorney General Merrick Garland on the same day House Republicans voted to hold Garland in contempt for turning over a transcript of President Biden’s interview with the special prosecutor while withholding audio of it.
In the wake of the Hunter Biden guilty verdict, Republicans now say Department of Justice lawyers are complicit in a cover up.
“I think it's just an attempt to try to say, ‘Oh, we're not a two-tier justice system,’” Greene said. “And they [don’t] want to prosecute BLM rioters, Antifa and all these other people that caused $2 billion in damage.”
It’s more than just a different system of justice: the “deep state” is now in the driver’s seat at the DOJ, according to many in the GOP.
“The Hunter Biden trial was a veneer. There wasn't a sincere prosecution,” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) told Raw Story.
While House Republicans voted along party lines to launch a formal impeachment inquiry into President Biden at the end of last year, the effort has gone nowhere in the GOP-controlled House.
That’s in part because their star witness, retired Russian figure skater Alexander Smirnov, went from being an FBI informant to being charged with lying and creating false documents about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
While on a private fundraising call last year, Gaetz dismissed the Biden impeachment effort — “I don’t believe that we are endeavoring upon a legitimate impeachment of Joe Biden” — since then he’s been raising alarms about bribes the Oversight Committee has failed to link to the president.
ALSO READ: ‘MIA MTG’: Why Marjorie Taylor Greene has no publicly listed district offices
Even though his committee has failed to make the case that Biden corruption is a family affair leading all the way to the White House, Gaetz dismisses the Hunter Biden gun case as “dumb.” He says DOJ lawyers need to do more — and broaden their investigation.
“I identify strongly with the statement from the Trump campaign that it was a distraction from the real Biden crimes. These guys are moving around millions of dollars in Chinese bribe money, and what we got him on was lying on a gun form? It’d be like getting Jeffrey Dahmer for littering,” Gaetz said, referencing the convicted serial killer.
Dumb or not, many Republicans are now watching to see whether Hunter Biden gets any jail time for his first time, non-violent felony conviction.
“Well, I think they considered the facts and found him guilty. It’ll be interesting to see what his consequences are,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) told Raw Story. “If you’re on drugs, should you really have a gun? It’s either a law or it’s not a law. If they don’t believe in it, it’s like anything else, you gotta change it.”
While Norman’s closely watching the case against the first son, he, too, accuses the Department of Justice of playing politics even after the special prosecutor won a conviction this week.
“I do think it's a smokescreen,” Norman said. “I mean, look at what Hunter Biden’s gotten by with. $8 million in art sales. I don’t think he’s an artist.”
President Biden has said he will not pardon Hunter Biden.
“I will accept the outcome of this case and will continue to respect the judicial process as Hunter considers an appeal," President Biden said. "Jill and I love our son, and we are so proud of the man he is today. So many families who have had loved ones battle addiction understand the feeling of pride seeing someone you love come out the other side and be so strong and resilient in recovery."
President Biden also reaffirmed his loyalty to his family.
"Jill and I will always be there for Hunter and the rest of our family with our love and support,” Biden said. “Nothing will ever change that."
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an 6 24
Hannity suggests Hunter Biden is connected to Chinese spy balloon
06/12/24
hannity: NEWT GINGRICH (GUEST): Kamala's hopeless because she's Kamala. I mean, anybody who watches her knows that the idea of her being president makes Biden look good, which is really hard nowadays.
So, you have to start with the idea that she's imprinted on the country permanently that she is a really shallow, uneducated and uneducable person, and that other than her weird laugh, there's no really significant part to her Now, I do think her efforts in the last month or two on abortion, running around the country on women's rights, she's actually stabilized and sounded semi-serious, but I think basically she's a huge drag on the ticket.
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ROB SCHMITT (HOST): I mean, again, this trial was so meaningless. In the grand scheme of what this family's been doing, this is the psyop. Here it is.
MONICA CROWLEY (GUEST): Yeah exactly. I mean, it's not meaningless in the sense that it was a head fake. It's meant to distract the American people with Hunter's shiny little object of a gun away from the much larger crimes of the Biden crime family, and that is influence peddling and making bank by selling America out to some of our worst enemies, including the --
SCHMITT: China, Russia.
CROWLEY: Chinese Communist Party, the Russians, and deeply corrupt entities and regimes like Ukraine.
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mma
:{:{06/12/24}:
06/12/24 9:03 AM EDT
06/12/24 9:02 AM EDT
06/11/24 7:43 PM EDT
06/11/24 7:42 PM EDT
:{06/11/24
:{:{06/11/24}:
Delaware jury found President Joe Biden’s son Hunter guilty of federal gun crimes on Tuesday. The verdict comes amid a years-long right-wing media effort to delegitimize the federal justice system as a weaponized arm of the Democratic Party.
But MAGA propagandists, rather than abandoning their conspiracy theories, are coalescing around a new twist: The conviction is an “op” in which Hunter Biden is being deliberately sacrificed to protect the rigged system.
“The true crimes of the Biden Crime Family remain untouched,” Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk posted on X after the verdict. “This is a fake trial trying to make the Justice system appear balanced. Don't fall for it.”
“DOJ is Joe’s election protection racket,” said America First Legal’s Stephen Miller. “The gun charges are a giant misdirection. An easy op for DOJ to sell to a pliant media that is all too willing to be duped. Don’t be gaslit. This is all about protecting Joe Biden and only Joe Biden.”
Others added that the prosecution had protected the president’s son by charging him with the wrong crimes. “Hunter Biden should be on trial for money laundering, tax evasion for his Burisma bribes, illegal influence peddling, and operating as an unregistered foreign agent of corrupt foreign governments. But he’s not, because a corrupt prosecutor refused to charge him for anything related to the Biden crime family syndicate,” complained The Federalist’s Sean Davis. “They went after Hunter on his gun stuff to make you overlook all his Ukraine stuff,” concluded Real America’s Voice host Jack Posobiec.
The new right-wing line that Joe Biden rigged the trial to put his son in prison replaces the old right-wing line that Joe Biden was rigging the trial to keep his son out of prison. MAGA propagandists claimed that first lady Jill Biden had attended the trial as part of a “mob tactic” to influence the jury, that Joe Biden visiting Beau Biden’s widow was part of a tyrannical plot to tamper with a witness, and that the president was trying to sway the jury by taking bike rides with his son.
Apparently, these efforts all failed — or did they?
Here’s what’s really happening.
Donald Trump, his former campaign chair, his former campaign manager, his former legal fixer, his longtime political adviser, his company’s chief financial officer, and several of his other associates have been convicted of -- or pleaded guilty to -- crimes since he became president in 2017.
Trump’s allies could have acknowledged that the man they made the presumptive Republican presidential nominee is, in the words of critic-turned-potential-vice-presidential-nominee Marco Rubio, “a con artist” who surrounds himself with shady people.
Instead, right-wing propagandists responded to these events by concocting a baroque conspiracy theory positing that the federal law enforcement apparatus under both the Trump and Biden administrations was seeking to take down Trump through “witch hunt” investigations, while protecting Democrats like Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and Hunter Biden. And they’re whipping themselves into a fury on that basis, claiming that if Trump is elected, he will have no choice but to, in their preferred but inaccurate framing, retaliate against his political foes.
These claims were always nonsensical: It was largely Republicans and Trump appointees who were conducting the investigations and making the decisions about whether to bring charges for the Trump allies and Democrats alike. And while Trump clearly views the FBI and Justice Department as extensions of presidential will — and has repeatedly suggested he would drive politicized prosecutions of his enemies — Biden has kept his distance, maintaining some degree of confidence in the system.
But the Hunter Biden verdict shows just how bankrupt the right’s conspiracy theory is.
Hunter Biden is at the center of a years-long campaign by right-wing media, Trump, and congressional Republicans to use his actions to damage his father’s political standing. In 2018 — during the Trump presidency — he became the target of a federal probe. The investigation was launched under a Trump-appointed FBI director and a Trump-appointed attorney general and helmed by David Weiss, a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney.
Rather than complaining of a “witch hunt,” Biden avoided impropriety by retaining Weiss as U.S. attorney when he entered the White House. Attorney General Merrick Garland later named Weiss a special counsel, granting him even more insulation from political forces.
The result was that a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney has convicted the president’s son on federal gun charges that experts say are virtually never brought.
To a normal person, a federal criminal conviction of Joe Biden’s son demonstrates that there is not a massive conspiracy to use the law enforcement system to protect Joe Biden’s allies and attack his enemies.
But the one thing MAGA propagandists refuse to be under any circumstances is normal. They want their excuse to throw their enemies in jail, and they’ll do whatever it takes to retain it.
ref nbc
WASHINGTON — The charges brought against President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden are rarely prosecuted, legal experts say.
Hunter Biden was charged Thursday with three felony gun-related counts, including possession of a firearm by a person who is an “unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance." Under a plea deal that later fell apart, Biden was also charged with two misdemeanor charges of failing to pay taxes, which he later reimbursed; those charges are not included in Thursday's indictment.
*[Follow along for live updates.]
The federal gun charge, which makes it unlawful for a drug addict to possess a weapon, is a rarely used statute that is facing legal challenges and has recently been used as a catch-all charge against white supremacists.
Like the gun charge, the tax charges are rarely brought against first-time offenders and even more rarely result in jail time, Andrew Weissmann, a former FBI general counsel and NBC News contributor, tweeted Tuesday. "This is if anything harsh, not lenient," he wrote.
Hunter Biden to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges
Former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti agreed. "It insults the intelligence of the American people to compare misdemeanor tax charges to a scheme to steal Top Secret documents and obstruct justice when the government asked for them back," he tweeted, comparing the charges against Hunter Biden to the recent federal indictmentagainst former President Donald Trump. "If anything, Hunter Biden was treated harshly — those crimes are rarely charged."
The case is being overseen by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Delaware, which is headed by Donald Trump appointee David Weiss, who was named special counsel in the case.
The gun charge itself is under legal threat. A federal appeals court ruled in June that the government cannot ban those convicted of nonviolent crimes from possessing a weapon, and a federal court in Texas recently ruled — following a major Supreme Court case last year that expanded gun rights — that the ban on drug users possessing weapons violates the Second Amendment.
The charge, when brought, has often been used in high-profile cases where the underlying conduct doesn't violate any obvious federal criminal statute. Last week, the mother of a6-year-old boy who shot his teacher in Newport News, Virginia, pleaded guilty to the charge — possessing a firearm while using marijuana — along with a charge of making a false statement.
The charge has resulted in serious prison time in other cases. A 23-year-old from Waterloo, Iowa, was recently sentenced to nearly five years in federal prison for possession as a drug user, while another 23-year-old in Lincoln, Nebraska, received three years in federal prison on the charge. Other sentences have not been as harsh: A man arrested during a burglary call in Vermont in May 2022 received a sentence of time served in March 2023. (There are undoubtedly other recent cases; but those that resulted in nonsubstantial sentences are also less likely to be mentioned in press releases issued by U.S. Attorney's Offices.)
The charge has also recently been used against white supremacists when their conduct did not provide an obvious violation of any other criminal statute, including against a white supremacist who was arrested in Washington, D.C., and found with a stash of weapons after his brother died by suicide. In that case, a federal public defender who had been working for 30 years said he “never had a case in which the government went forward" with the addict-in-possession charge. A judge concurred that the charge was unusual. The white supremacist was ultimately sentenced to time served after less than a year behind bars.
Chuck Rosenberg, a former top federal prosecutor and acting administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and a current NBC News legal analyst, noted that the addict-in-possession charge is used "sparingly," but said that did not mean it was used improperly in Hunter Biden's case, as each case needed to be evaluated on the individual evidence.
Paul Butler, a former federal prosecutor and an NBC News legal analyst, said on MSNBC on Tuesday that the deal Hunter Biden reached was a decent outcome for the president's son, but not the "sweetheart deal" that Trump and his allies have made it out to be.
While the plea agreement spells out that prosecutors will recommend a probationary sentence, the federal judge who ultimately sentences Hunter Biden is not bound to that agreement and could ultimately decide that the charge warrants incarceration. Court dates have not yet been set in the case.
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06/11/24 1:03 PM EDT
06/11/24 12:11 PM EDT
06/11/24 11:43 AM EDT
06/11/24 11:36 AM EDT
06/11/24
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note tropes lib press silence gag twit files laptop whattaboutism...
greivance projection, note attack dem women
running for trump vp
:{alternet- no lnx
Home | Marco Rubio shouts over Kristen Welker in cringeworthy interview about election fraud
Marco Rubio shouts over Kristen Welker in cringeworthy interview about election fraud
:{David Edwardsand Raw Story May 19, 2024
An animated Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) raised his voice and refused to say he would accept the outcome of the 2024 election on Sunday.
During an interview on Meet the Press, host Kristen Welker asked the senator if he would accept a loss by former President Donald Trump in this year's presidential election.
"Will you accept the election results of 2024, no matter what happens, Senator?" Welker asked.
"No matter what happens? No," Rubio insisted.
"No matter who wins?" Welker pressed.
"Well, why don't you, I think you're asking the wrong person," Rubio shot back. "The Democrats are the ones that have opposed every Republican victory since 2000."
"It's Hillary Clinton who said it," he continued.
Welker pointed out that "no Democrat has refused to concede," including Clinton.
"Hillary Clinton said the election was stolen from her and that Trump was illegitimate," Rubio asserted.
"Senator, she conceded the election," Welker noted again.
But Rubio raised his voice as he talked over the host.
"She said that the election had been stolen. Kamala Harris agreed," the senator argued. "And you have Democrats now saying they won't certify 2024 because Trump is an insurrectionist and ineligible to hold office."
"So you need to ask them," he complained. "I think you've ever asked the Democrats this question on your show. I bet you you've never asked the Democrat that question."
Welker reminded the lawmaker what he had said after certifying the 2020 election.
"Democracy is held together by people's confidence in the election and their willingness to abide by its results," Welker recalled. "So by your own definition, are Donald Trump's claims undermining Americans' confidence in democracy, given that he has not conceded the last election?"
Rubio, a possible vice presidential nominee, refused to condemn Trump.
"I think what undermines people's confidence in the election is when you have places like Wisconsin with over 500 illegal dropbox locations, when you have places like Georgia where liberal groups are [paying] people, $10 a per vote," he complained. "You couldn't even talk about it on social media. They would deplatform you."
"I have to jump in here, Senator," Welker interrupted. "You voted to certify the election. Nothing has been censored on this program."
Rubio griped about coverage of a laptop belonging to President Joe Biden's son, Hunter.
"We covered the laptop," Welker said.
"You couldn't even talk about it on social media," Rubio replied.
"And just to note that Chris Krebs, who was a top election official, called it the safest and most secure election in recent history," Welker added.
"But I'm telling you that if it's unfair, we are going to do the same thing Democrats do," Rubio pouted. "We're going to use lawyers to go to court and point out the fact that states are not following their own election laws."
Watch the video below from NBC or at the link.
Marco Rubio shouts over NBC host in cringeworthy interview
www.youtube.com
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Hunter Biden plans lawsuit against Fox News amid 'conspiracy of disinformation' - Alternet.org
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Fox News host Sean Hannity and his House Republican allies spent 2023 trying to manufacture an impeachable offense against President Joe Biden out of their fact-free obsession with the president’s son, Hunter. Hannity’s Fox show aired at least 325 segments about Hunter Biden in 2023, 220 of which featured at least one false or misleading claim, according to an extensive Media Matters review of the program for nine categories of misinformation.
But the Hunter crusade now appears to be collapsing, with Republicans telling reporters that the House may not even vote on articles of impeachment and pointing fingers at House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) and his habit of conducting his investigation via right-wing media appearances.
The looming debacle is a black mark for Hannity, who has been fixated on Hunter Biden’s potential to damage his father’s political standing since[ vid]
](https://youtu.be/mo3LpGOFIAY), serving as the key clearinghouse for Hunter allegations and a cheerleader for the resulting impeachment push. Bogus Hunter Biden claims and conspiracy theories have been a fixture on Fox and throughout the broader right-wing media — but Hannity made them part of his program’s core mission.
When House Republicans triumphed in the 2022 elections, Hannity touted their newfound ability to use the investigative process to find how “the big guy himself, Joe Biden,” had “ended up using his crack-addicted son as a bag man” — allegations he promised would lead to Biden’s impeachment. Over the following year, the notorious GOP propagandist provided a ready platform for House investigators to offer up their thin-gruel findings, and would then trumpet those claims over and over again to his viewers.
Hannity’s most frequent guest for his program’s Hunter Biden segments was Comer, who made an eye-popping 43 Hannity appearances to discuss the president’s son last year. Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith (R-MO), the other two members of the House GOP troika overseeing the impeachment investigation, were also among the most-frequent Hannity guests for Hunter Biden discussions in 2023.
The group has assembled a massive trove of Hunter Biden minutiae, full of decontextualized snippets that become buzzwords like “the big guy” and “Hunter’s laptop,” the “FBI 1023 Form” and “the IRS whistleblowers.” The terminology, utterly incomprehensible for anyone without a Ph.D. in Sean Hannity Studies, is somehow meant to add up to “potentially the biggest bribery, money laundering scandal in American history,” as Hannity puts it, in which foreign companies and governments paid Hunter Biden for access to Joe Biden, the son kicked back money to the father, and the father took state action to help his son’s partners.
But no substantive evidence linking Joe Biden to Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings has ever emerged, with several committee witnesses telling investigators they had no knowledge of any wrongdoing or involvement by the president (even as far more direct evidence showed then-President Donald Trump’s own businesses receiving millions from hostile foreign governments while he was in office). The purportedly nefarious Hunter allegations, removed from Hannity’s hothouse atmosphere, wither under tough questions from Democratic members of Congress and journalists at other outlets (and even, somehow, *Fox & Friends’* Steve Doocy).
Comer, Jordan, and Smith constantly return to Hannity’s show precisely because he offers nothing resembling scrutiny of their claims. And their colleagues suggest that the result has been that the investigators got high on the likes of Hannity’s supply. Republicans “have grown tired of Comer’s frequent TV hits on conservative networks like Fox News and Newsmax in which they say he promises bombshell information, but then fails to produce impeachable evidence to meet the bar he himself has set too high,” The Messenger reported last month.
There's still plenty of time for House Republicans to unite for a partisan impeachment. But it now seems plausible that Hannity’s Hunter Biden fixation will go down in history for resulting in the impeachment of Donald Trump — but not that of Joe Biden.
sean Hannity's Hunter Biden obsession, by the numbers
- Media Matters identified and reviewed every Hannity segment about Hunter Biden in 2023 — all 325 of them.
The Fox host averaged more than one segment per night and ran as many as 56 Hunter Biden segments in a single month — August, when Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that he had granted special counsel powers to David Weiss, the Trump-appointed prosecutor who had been investigating Hunter Biden on gun and tax charges.
Media Matters analysts (including myself) reviewed the transcripts of each segment to determine whether they promoted one of nine categories of misinformation (described below).
We found that 220 of the Hannity segments featured at least one of the examples of misinformation, or 68% of the total of 325 segments. In some months, the figure exceeded 80%. (Note that the absence of the particular categories of misinformation we reviewed does not imply that the segments in question were wholly accurate.)
The conspiracy theory that Joe Biden took corrupt action in Ukraine as vice president to benefit his son’s employer was mentioned in 115 segments, for example, while the falsehood that Hunter Biden paid his father half his salary was referenced in 52.
Seventy-one of the 220 Hannity segments about Hunter Biden were monologues by the host. Of those segments, 59 (83%) included at least one of our misinformation categories.
We also identified the guests appearing in segments about Hunter Biden. Comer made the most appearances, with 43. His fellow House investigators were also among the most frequent guests: Jordan had the fourth-most appearances, with 32, while Smith had the seventh-most, with 11.
Other regulars featured inHannity’s Hunter Biden segments included Fox legal analyst Gregg Jarrett (40 appearances), right-wing journalist John Solomon (37), New York Post columnist Miranda Devine (15), and former Trump impeachment lawyer Alan Dershowitz (12). Fox contributor and former Trump White House aide Kellyanne Conway, former Trump acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker, and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) rounded out the top 10 with 10 appearances each.
- ## The Ukraine conspiracy theory
- Hannity’s show aired at least 115 segments in 2023 promoting the falsehood that then-Vice President Joe Biden corruptly pressured the Ukrainian government during a December 2015 meeting to fire its then-prosecutor general, Viktor Shokin, for conducting a probe into Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy company on whose board Hunter Biden sat at that time. Of those 115 segments, 28 were Hannity monologues.
The Fox host and his House Republican allies have treated these claims as the heart of a Biden impeachment push — even though it was thoroughly debunked during Trump’s first impeachment. Here’s Jordan trying to lay the theory out after Hannity asked him for the “four facts that never change” following a September impeachment inquiry hearing:
- > JIM JORDAN: Hunter Biden gets put on the board of Burisma. Fact No. 2, he’s not qualified to be on the board, he’s said so himself. Fact No. 3, Burisma executives ask him to weigh in and relieve the pressure. Fact No. 4, Joe Biden does just that, weighs in, relieves the pressure, and that last fact is entirely consistent with what the confidential human source told the FBI and they recorded in the 1023 form. And then the final fact is the Justice Department tried to sweep it under the rug. Sean, this is a tale as old as time, politician takes action that benefits his family financially, and then they try to conceal it. That is as old as the hills, and that is exactly what it looks like played out.
- This account is totally incomprehensible to someone who isn’t steeped in the deep lore of the Hannity archives. It’s also a version of facts which requires the witting or unwitting involvement of a wide array of figures on multiple continents and contradicts the narrative of Shokin’s firing established by the testimony of several U.S. officials appointed by Democratic and Republican presidents, government documents, and contemporaneous and more recent reporting.
In reality, U.S. policy called for firing Shokin, who was viewed as unwilling to prosecute corruption by U.S. diplomats, foreign governments, international bodies, and Ukrainian anti-corruption groups, and his office had not been actively investigating Burisma at the time Vice President Biden sought his removal.
- ## The Biden “shell companies”
- We identified 89 segments in 2023 in which Hannity or his associates suggested that Hunter Biden used an array of “shell companies” for shady and nefarious purposes. They often insinuated that the “shell companies” were a mechanism for laundering money from foreign sources. Of those 89 segments, 20 were Hannity monologues.
Here are some examples:
- > - Hannity, May 12, 2023: “Now, according to an ongoing investigation from the House Oversight Committee, there are over 20 shell companies we learned about this week, mostly formed during Biden's time as VP. … Why were all of these Bidens allegedly now receiving payments from foreign nationals funneled through multiple shell corporations as James Comer is claiming?”
Kevin McCarthy to Hannity, August 7, 2023: “I don't know of any other family that puts together in government 20 shell companies while you're the vice president of America.”
Hannity, December 6, 2023: “According to the House Ways and Means Committee and Jason Smith, Scherwin was the architect of the Biden family's systems of shell corporations. They have identified dozens of them used to distribute foreign funds. These were not real businesses as far as James Comer is concerned.”
- This allegation appears to originate with Comer, who claims his committee identified “20-plus shell companies that the Bidens have created to launder the money they were receiving from foreign nationals down to their personal bank account” and regularly uses the terminology on Hannity’s show and elsewhere.
But The Washington Post found that the Oversight staff memo actually identified only a single “named ‘shell’ company,” which the partners had quickly decided to dissolve; “virtually all” of the other entities “had legitimate business interests” or “clearly identified business investments.”
- ## The Burisma bribe
- Hannity’s show aired at least 85 Hunter Biden segments in 2023 promoting the dubiously sourced and wholly unproven notion that Mykola Zlochevsky, the Ukrainian oligarch who controlled Burisma, paid a $5 million bribe to Joe Biden. This is an extension of the Ukraine conspiracy theory with all the problems detailed above, in addition to its own issues, but nonetheless is treated credulously by the Fox host. Of those 85 segments, 28 were Hannity monologues.
In May 2023, Comer and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) put out a joint statement demanding the release of “an FBI-generated FD-1023 form” which showed that Biden “allegedly engaged in a bribery scheme with a foreign national.” As The Washington Post reported:
- > That allegation was based on an FBI interview of an informant who had spoken with Mykola Zlochevsky, founder of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma. If validated, it would mark not only a significant legal violation on the part of Biden, but the first time that Comer’s breathless efforts to tie Biden to foreign payments was actually demonstrated.
It was not validated. Comer and Grassley — who were already familiar with an FBI form detailing the contents of the interview — spent a few weeks demanding that the FBI release the interview to the public. The FBI, concerned both about putting the informant at risk and about making public unsubstantiated claims, decided to offer a redacted version of the memo for legislators to see. Comer and Grassley then started complaining about the redactions as they demanded more people be able to see the interview. Eventually, Grassley just went ahead and released a lightly redacted version on social media.
- The document Grassley released in July indicates that the FBI informant said that Zlochevsky told them “it costs (million) to pay one Biden, and 5 (million) to another Biden” to help Burisma.
Hannity provided breathless coverage of the FD-1023 allegations, culminating the night Grassley published it. “There are now real and growing concerns that your president, the president of our country, is compromised,” Hannity said, arguing that through the form, Joe Biden had been “very credibly accused of public corruption on a scale this country has never seen before.”
Hannity crony Jarrett, in a subsequent segment, accused Joe Biden of “extortion” as well as “conspiracy, violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act,” “money laundering, tax fraud, not to mention racketeering,” and “bribery and treason,” which he stressed “are impeachable offenses in addition to being felonies. So, you know, this is a blockbuster scandal that could doom Biden's presidency.”
But as the Post recounted, the House GOP reviews of the finances of Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, and other Biden family members and associates have not found a trace of the purported $5 million payment to Joe Biden or the $5 million payment to Hunter Biden, raising the prospect that the Zlochevsky claim was “part of what the informant identified as a tendency in the region for business executives to brag — as Zlochevsky may have been doing about his purported connections and savvy.”
- ## Hunter Biden’s purported admission that he gave “half” his “salary” to his dad
- At least 52 of the segments on Hannity alluded to a 2019 text message Hunter Biden sent his daughter to suggest that he had admitted handing over a large portion of the profits from his business dealings to his father. In the message, Hunter Biden said, “don’t worry unlike Pop I won’t make you give me half your salary.” Of those 52 segments, 28 were Hannity monologues.
“Did Joe profit from his son's shady international business deals?” Hannity asked in May. “Now, based on texts and emails from Hunter's laptop from hell, there is evidence that appears to show that Hunter complained bitterly about having to hand over half his salary to ‘Pops.’”
But a New York Times investigation revealed the interpretation provided on Hannity’s show is wildly incorrect. “Rather than referring to money Hunter Biden received from the Ukrainian energy company Burisma or from a venture with a Chinese partner, Hunter Biden was alluding to his financial support for his own children and his school days, when his father allowed him to keep half the paycheck from part-time jobs but asked that he turn over the other half to help pay for room and board,” the paper reported.
- ## The $20 million foreign entities supposedly paid “the Bidens”
- At least 45 Hannity segments reference the Comer-promoted claim that foreign sources paid $20 million to “the Bidens and their associates.” This is often shortened as the money going to “the Bidens” or “the Biden family.” Of those 45 segments, nine were Hannity monologues.
“Now, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer says the Bidens overall have taken in tens of millions of dollars from foreign entities in Russia, Ukraine, China, Kazakhstan, Romania and many other countries,” Hannity said in September, demanding that the White House “explain what the Bidens did to earn all of this money, tens of millions of dollars.”
But when The Washington Post reviewed the Oversight Committee’s staff memo, the Post found that two-thirds of the money had gone to Biden business partners who were not members of the family. The paper reported that the committee had identified “about $23 million in total payments from foreign sources. Of that, nearly $7.5 million can be fairly attributed as going to ‘Bidens,’ but virtually all of it went to Hunter Biden. No money has been traced to Joe Biden.”
- ## Joe Biden as “the big guy” who got “10 percent”
- At least 43 Hannity segments about Hunter Biden suggested malfeasance by referencing a 2017 email in which Hunter Biden business associate James Gilliar suggested that a 10% stake in a business deal would be “held” by Hunter “for the big guy,” presumably Joe Biden. Of those 43 segments, 21 were Hannity monologues.
“Bribery, corruption allegations against the big guy, Joe Biden himself swept under the rug,” Hannity complained in June. “The country is in serious trouble. It will only get worse if your big guy wins reelection.”
But as the Times noted, none of this ever came to pass: Gilliar “told The Wall Street Journal in 2020 that his suggestion never went anywhere. The former vice president did not get involved with their business, and the proposed deal never produced any profit for anyone to split. … In an interview with the F.B.I., Rob Walker, Hunter Biden’s former business partner, described suggestions of getting Hunter’s father involved with the business as ‘wishful thinking.’”
- ## Joe Biden purportedly “sitting” in with Hunter’s Chinese business associate
- At least 39 segments referenced a 2017 WhatsApp message Hunter Biden sent a potential Chinese business partner in which he stated, “I am sitting here with my father and we would like to know why the commitment has not been fulfilled.” Of those 39 segments, 14 were Hannity monologues.
Hannity and his cronies regularly cite this message as evidence that Joe Biden was an active participant in Hunter’s foreign business dealings. Hannity said in June the message shows that while Joe Biden has denied involvement with Hunter Biden’s business dealings, “it appears Joe is a critical part of that business.” In a representative August monologue, Hannity said the message shows Joe Biden is “potentially, even likely compromised when it comes to China.”
But Hunter Biden business associate Devon Archer has testified that while they attempted to sell an “illusion of access,” Joe Biden played no substantive role in their operations. The Times reported regarding the WhatsApp message: “Democrats have argued it is more likely an example of Hunter Biden’s bluster than an accurate statement of Joe Biden’s involvement in a shakedown. A lawyer for Hunter Biden says he does not remember sending the message. The president has denied he was present at the time.”
- ## The false claim that Joe Biden received laundered money from his brother
- At least 13 segments promoted the false GOP claim that Joe Biden’s receipt of $240,000 from his brother James constituted money laundering from foreign business sources. Of those 13 segments, three were Hannity monologies.
In fact, as the Times notes, evidence shows “Joe Biden had first loaned money to his brother before being repaid.”
- ## When Jim Biden worked with Hunter’s “father alone.”
- Three segments included the false suggestion that a 2018 text to Hunter Biden in which his uncle, James Biden, wrote, “I can work with you father alone !! We as usual just need several months of his help for this to work,” was a reference to their business dealings. One of the segments was a Hannity monologue.
In fact, as the Times pointed out, “another text in the chain makes clear James Biden was referring to working with Joe Biden to get help for Hunter Biden as he struggled to keep up with his bills, get sober and find a place to live.”
- ## Methodology
- Media Matters searched transcripts in the Nexis database for all original episodes of Fox News Channel's Hannity for either of the terms “Hunter” or “Biden” from January 1, 2023, through December 31, 2023.
We included segments, which we defined as instances when Hunter Biden was the stated topic of discussion or when we found significant discussion of Hunter Biden. We defined significant discussion as instances when two or more speakers in a multitopic segment discussed Hunter Biden with one another.
We then reviewed the identified segments for whether any Fox personality or guest made any of the following false GOP claims at least once:
- > 1. Suggesting that a Hunter Biden message referring to “half [his] salary” meant Hunter regularly gave his father, President Joe Biden, half of any ill-gotten gains.
2. Suggesting that the phrase “10 percent for the big guy” in messages with an associate meant Hunter Biden gave his father a stake in his business dealings.
3. Suggesting that the message from James Biden, President Biden's brother, that he “can work with [Hunter's] father alone” referred to business dealings.
4. Suggesting that loan repayments of $240,000 from James to President Biden were actually money laundering.
5. Suggesting that Hunter's invoking President Biden with a business partner was meant to apply pressure for a payment rather than simply bluster on part of Hunter.
6. Suggesting that President Biden took illicit action to benefit Hunter in business dealings with the Ukrainian company Burisma Holdings Limited.
7. Suggesting that an FBI informant claimed Burisma's founder sent President Biden a $5 million bribe.
8. Suggesting that foreign sources have paid “the Bidens and their associates” $20 million.
9. Suggesting that Hunter used “shell companies” to launder money from foreign sources.
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08/14/23 2:36 PM EDT
09/06/23 10:31 AM EDT
09/29/23 12:12 PM EDT
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MTG EXCUSE ME
MACE BIDEN NO BALLS WALK OUT AFTER REFUSE TO HEAR HIM
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mma mg 1 24
After years of convoluted attempts by Republicans and right-wing media to somehow prove that China had compromised President Joe Biden via his son Hunter Biden’s business interests, Democrats revealed on Wednesday that China directed millions of dollars straight to Donald Trump’s businesses while he was serving as president.
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee detailed the transactions in an extensive new report titled “White House for Sale: How Princes, Prime Ministers, and Premiers Paid Off President Trump.” Based on records obtained through litigation, the report finds that the government of China and two state-owned entities spent at least $5,572,548 at Trump Tower in New York City and the Trump International Hotels in Washington, D.C., and Las Vegas, Nevada.
The report also finds that “the ability of Trump family businesses to secure trademarks in China improved markedly and rapidly after Trump entered office,” describes these payments and similar ones to Trump-owned businesses from other countries as unconstitutional “foreign emoluments,” and links the payments to how “Mr. Trump inexplicably took positions favorable to specific Chinese interests” as president.
As The New York Times noted in its writeup, “the transactions … offer concrete evidence that the former president engaged in the kind of conduct that House Republicans have labored, so far unsuccessfully, to prove that President Biden did as they work to build an impeachment case against him.”
Indeed, the right has tried to damage Biden’s political standing by suggesting that he had been compromised by foreign payments to his son’s businesses since at least 2018, when conservative activist Peter Schweizer tried to repeat his success in damaging Hillary Clinton’s campaign. While such claims have collapsed time and time again, they’ve nonetheless become the heart of Republicans’ ludicrous push to impeach Joe Biden.
They’ve also led right-wing media figures to offer comments that seem comically detached from reality given the direct payments detailed in the Democratic report. Commentators have cited payments to Hunter Biden’s businesses as evidence of “the real Biden crimes, potentially treasonous corruption charges after years of selling Joe Biden's power all over the world, including places like China,” said that “we have to know why and where is the president compromised” given that “more money is flowing into the Bidens' bank accounts from China than all the other countries,” and argued that if Joe Biden “can be compromised by the likes of China,” that would make “Watergate look like a smash-and-grab.”
The right’s inept efforts to paint Joe Biden as compromised by China
The insinuations in Schweizer’s book spawned major lines of attack from Rudy Giuliani, John Solomon, Sean Hannity, and other Trumpists that revolved around the bogus conspiracy theory that Joe Biden had taken corrupt action in Ukraine when he was vice president due to his son’s position with a Ukrainian company. Trump’s obsession with this falsehood led him to try to leverage U.S. military aid to Ukraine to get that country’s president to announce an investigation into the Bidens, yielding Trump’s first impeachment for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress in 2019.
The attacks took on new urgency and refocused on Hunter Biden’s business interests in China in the waning days of the 2020 presidential campaign, when Trump and Fox tried to turn disgruntled former Hunter Biden business partner Tony Bobulinski into a household name. Bobulinski had alleged that Joe Biden had met with him in 2017 as part of a joint business venture involving Bobulinski, Hunter Biden, and Chinese oil company CEFC China Energy Co.
Right-wing outlets desperately trumpeted the Bobulinski story even as less credulous reporting revealed that the venture reportedly “never received proposed funds from the Chinese company or completed any deals” and corporate records “show no role for Joe Biden,” who denied any role in the business and was in any case neither in public office nor running for one at the time. And Bobulinski himself acknowledged that when they met, Joe Biden did not ask about the proposed deal.
The right’s Hunter Biden push failed to lift Trump to victory in 2020. But they responded with more of the same, spending the first years of Joe Biden’s administration trying to damage his political standing with similar attacks. And when Republicans won the House in 2022, they pledged to follow through with investigations into what Trumpists like Hannity termed the “Biden Crime Family.”
The House Republican investigations produced a series of reports detailing tangential issues to smear Joe Biden that soared on right-wing media outlets and crashed everywhere else.
In one particularly farcical case, House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer alleged that a Hunter Biden business entity “made direct monthly payments to Joe Biden” after it “received payments from Chinese-state linked companies & other shady entities,” which purportedly proved that “Joe Biden knew & benefitted from his family's business schemes."
Fox host Jesse Watters, over onscreen text that read “China Paid Hunter’s Company, Who Then Paid Joe,” said this showed that “China, after being threatened by Hunter, wired millions of dollars to him, and then Hunter started sending his dad payments.” For Hannity, Comer had revealed that “not only did Joe Biden discuss his son's business ventures, but he also received direct payments from one of Hunter's corporations.”
In reality, Joe Biden took over many of his son’s expenses during a period when Hunter was in the depths of drug addiction and Joe Biden was out of office. That included buying his son a truck to use. Hunter Biden made three payments, each for $1,380, to repay his father for the initial payments on the truck before taking over future payments directly.
This was happening at the same time the Chinese government was trying to curry favor with Trump — the sitting president — by making payments directly to the companies he owned and that his sons oversaw. And those revelations from the House Democratic report are the tip of the iceberg as far as corruption during Trump’s presidency is concerned.
While Fox shills like Watters have been contorting the facts to declare Joe Biden “a money laundering operation for foreign nationals,” they’ve curiously missed the massive influence peddling that happened right before their eyes. I wouldn’t hold my breath for that to change — as of posting, Fox had not mentioned the Democratic report.
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SEAN HANNITY (HOST): To be very honest, I think we're making a big mistake if we don't get to the bottom of this. I cannot, for the life of me, you know, imagine what the media and how the country and the left in this country would be reacting if Donald Trump and the Trump Organization or the Trump family were making tens of millions of dollars from our top geopolitical foes like China and Russia. I can't imagine the left in this country not going insane, but lo and behold, here we are.
Donald J. Trump’s businesses received at least $7.8 million from 20 foreign governments during his presidency, according to new documents released by House Democrats on Thursday that show how much he received from overseas transactions while he was in the White House, most of it from China.
...
Using documents produced through a court fight, the report describes how foreign governments and their controlled entities, including a top U.S. adversary, interacted with Trump businesses while he was president. They paid millions to the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.; Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas; Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in New York; and Trump World Tower at 845 United Nations Plaza in New York.
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“By elevating his personal financial interests and the policy priorities of corrupt foreign powers over the American public interest, former President Trump violated both the clear commands of the Constitution and the careful precedent set and observed by every previous commander in chief,” Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, wrote in a foreword to the report.
Among the countries patronizing Mr. Trump’s properties, China made the largest total payment — $5.5 million — to his business interests, the report found. Those payments included millions of dollars from China’s Embassy in the United States, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and the Hainan Airlines Holding Company.
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accusations are confession/ projection:
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far-right MAGA Republicans typically regard Fox News and Fox Businesses as safe spaces, expecting softball questions if they are interviewed by Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham or Maria Bartiromo. But House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Kentucky) is avoiding the morning show "Fox and Friends" after being mildly challenged by long-time co-host Steve Doocy.
Comer has been pushing for an impeachment of President Joe Biden and trying to link him to his son Hunter Biden's legal problems. But when Comer appeared on "Fox and Friends" on Monday morning, December 11, Doocy told him, "They've connected the dots, the Department of Justice did, on Hunter, but they have not shown where Joe Biden, you know, did anything illegally."
Doocy wasn't especially forceful. But when Comer was interviewed by Newsmax's Eric Bolling the following day, he announced that he has decided to avoid "Fox and Friends."
"He's had that position from the very beginning,” the far-right House Oversight chairman said of Doocy.
Comer told Bolling, "I've quit going on 'Fox & Friends' because of Doocy, you know? I mean, he's the one guy on Fox that's been very critical of the investigation. I have my theory why, and we'll talk about that at a later point. But at the end of the day, he's entitled to his opinion. But I don't think the average viewer of Fox News agrees with Doocy one bit."
The New Republic's Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling, in an article published on December 13, emphasized that Comer was triggered by a "tiny hole in the conservative safety net."
"If Comer is too afraid to face down Fox News for even the mildest bout of criticism," Houghtaling writes, "what does that mean for the actual impeachment proceedings, which Republicans seemingly want to keep in the dark? Last week, the caucus threatened to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress if he refused to appear for a closed-door deposition, despite the president's son's previously voiced preference for a public hearing, fearing that information from those interviews would be selectively leaked and used to 'manipulate, even distort, the facts and misinform the American public.'"
READ MORE:Maria Bartiromo ripped for pushing 'conspiracy' that Hunter Biden charges are part of a 'cover up'
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hypoc
an 12 23 no lnx
Busted: Jim Jordan and James Comer have a new judicial plan
Matt Laslo
andRaw Story
December 25, 2023
WASHINGTON – Republicans in Congress aren’t just doing all they can to impeach the Biden name – and possibly President Joe Biden himself – they’re also going to extraordinary lengths to protect two billionaire GOP megadonors who helped the party remake the Supreme Court in recent years.
For one, House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) are trying to stymie Washington, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb’s investigation into Federalist Society co-chairman Leonard Leo.
Schwalb is looking into allegations that Leo is illegally profiting off non-profits. Jordan and Comer have responded by threatening to subpoena Schwalb.
ALSO READ: A neuroscientist’s guide to surviving Christmas with Trump-loving relatives
Meanwhile on the other side of the U.S. Capitol, Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee walked out en masse, boycotting Democrats’ effort to subpoena Leo and Republican jurisprudence sugar daddy Harlan Crow over the hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts he’s given to Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife Ginni over the decades, according to a ProPublica investigation.
The GOP offensive to protect two billionaire donors is blatant hypocrisy, according to ethics watchdogs.
“There are many senators who will say anything. I mean, as long as it's their guy, they'll defend anything, and they have no consistency whatsoever and they're completely hypocritical,” Melanie Sloan, a senior adviser for nonpartisan watchdog American Oversight, told Raw Story.
ALSO READ: Florida judge’s son is a neo-Nazi patron: data leak
In today’s tribal and perpetually warring Congress, it seems even pay-to-play politics are now partisan. While Senate Republicans are vowing to use all procedural tools at their disposal to block Leo and Crow from being subpoenaed, most in the party are also backing the Biden impeachment inquiry because they say Hunter Biden was selling access to his father — an accusation for which they’ve provided no evidence to date.
On paper – paper stamped with GOP letterhead, mind you – the impeachment inquiry is focused on buying access.
“It better be, because, quite honestly, Hunter Biden's personal problems aren't the issue. The issue is whether he was selling access to a vice president willing to provide that access, and whether the vice president at the time – the current president – was enriched by it,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) told Raw Story.
As for the hundreds of thousands of dollars in private jet travel, stays at his private retreat and luxurious free vacations aboard his 162-foot yacht that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife Ginni admitted to receiving from Harlan Crow?
“That's not enriching yourself, because you went on a boat ride for God's sake. That's not the same as cash in your checking account,” Cramer said of ProPublica’s revelations.
Cramer argues, if the trips weren’t free “maybe he wouldn't have gone on it.”
“The difference is … he’s a friend. Friends are allowed to provide hospitality for you in their home or on their boat. That's very different than a foreign adversary providing cash to a sitting vice president of the United States through his son. That's barely, barely even in the same ballpark, if at all,” Cramer said. “It’s a stretch, to say the least. It's just, it's not the same thing.”
That’s not even mentioning the free private school tuition Thomas’ nephew – who he raised like a son – received from Crow, which ProPublica estimates could have totaled upward of $150,000.
ALSO READ: Busted: These healthcare nonprofits are accepting millions from Big Tobacco
Senate Democrats, some of whom argue Thomas was in a prime position to rule on cases that effect Crow’s fortune, are particularly interested in whether Crow declared the lavish free vacations and travel as business expenses on his federal taxes.
For Leo – co-chairman of the Federalist Society, including the $1.6 billion fortune it now controls – Campaign for Accountability filed an IRS complaint alleging he’s funneling money from seven nonprofit entities he controls to his for-profit businesses, thus illegally profiting off campaign donations. The apparent interference from Jordan and Comer is appalling to watchdogs.
“Then, at the same time, they're screaming about the politicization of justice when they talk about Donald Trump, but they want to tell a sitting U.S. attorney – you know, the state's attorney for D.C. – who he can and can't look at because they don't want him looking at Leonard Leo,” Sloan said. “They just are bowing down at the altar of Leonard Leo and his $1.6 billion.”
House Republicans deny they’re interfering with an ongoing investigation.
“I’m confused. So it’s OK for Democrats to subpoena Leonard Leo and Harlan Crow, but not OK for us to look into AG Schwalb? Isn’t that literally the definition of a double standard — a.k.a Democrats can do something, but we can’t?” Russell M. Dye, communications director and counsel for the House Judiciary Committee, emailed Raw Story.
ALSO READ: ‘Too preposterous to be real’: College hires ‘pink slime’ publisher as journalism prof
Republicans say there’s no reason for an investigation, because the megadonors aren’t accused of trying to change the outcomes of specific cases before the Supreme Court.
“I really think there's like a fundamental difference here between trading favors and not, right? The difference here is the consideration. I've seen no evidence that any of the Supreme Court justices, least of all Clarence Thomas, offered to give anything back. To me, that’s the big difference,” Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) told Raw Story.
“Now look, if Harlan Crow or anybody else wrote $100 million to a Supreme Court Justice, and say, ‘Hey, please do this thing in my benefit’ — well, that raises some serious problems. But is it the standard that a Supreme Court justice can't have a rich friend?” Vance continued. “If they want to set that standard, it’s up to them, but I don't think that that raises nearly the same pay-to-play concerns as Joe Biden’s situation.”
Gifts are different than business appears to be the current GOP ethical standard for such matters.
“We're not talking about gifts. This is business. So with Hunter [Biden], this is, you know, he's on the Burisma board. He's doing these foreign business deals in Ukraine and China and lots of offices, and he is openly out there selling his dad,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) told Raw Story. “At the very least, he's clearly making money off his father. The question is, did the president benefit from that? That's what they need to answer. So that's why we have the inquiry.”
When pressed on the impeachment inquiry into Biden, former Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) wasn’t up to date on the specifics, even as he proudly remembers getting the investigative ball rolling for House Republicans.
“You’re talking about the substance of it. I’m not sure I can talk about the substance of it,” Grassley told Raw Story. “Except, the process is necessary to complete what [Sen. Ron] Johnson (R-WI) and I started four years ago, and that is to get all the information that Congress is entitled to in our oversight capacity and that's what it's all about, as far as I know.”
The Supreme Court adopted a new code of ethics since the lavish gifts were first reported, so Democrats’ complaints are outdated, Grassley argues.
ALSO READ: You blew it in New Hampshire, Joe Biden. Pray it doesn’t hurt you — and then some
“Because the judicial branch put out their … new regulation, and if that doesn’t take care of it – and we won't know that for a little while, maybe a year or two – then maybe that'd be a legitimate question,” Grassley said. “But right now it’s not a legitimate question considering the initiative of the Supreme Court.”
After all, 10 Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee walked out of the vote to subpoena Leo and Crow on November 30 – allowing Democrats to pass the measure 11-0 – Senate Republicans argue the vote broke committee rules.
“They’re not legal,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) told Raw Story. “Anybody who knows a lawbook from a J. Crew catalog knows they can get those subpoenas quashed in one hearing.”
Because of wholesale GOP opposition, there doesn’t seem to be the votes to formalize the subpoenas on the Senate floor where Republicans are threatening to require a 60-vote threshold.
“You’ll never see this come to the floor,” Judiciary Committee ranking member Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told Politico. “We’ll attack it legally, we’ll vote against it. It’d be a s—show.”
Even as the party hasn’t decided how it will proceed in the Senate, many Democrats expected this.
“We're going after the icons of the Republican Party, Leonard Leo, of course, and, to some, Justice Thomas. They’re very sensitive to that,” Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) told Raw Story. “Public sentiment is overwhelmingly in our favor, so they have got to be strident in opposition.”
The two different standards for Biden and GOP donors is remarkable to Democrats.
“Republicans want to protect the court that they have packed, and they protect the court by maintaining its status as an unaccountable highest court of the land,” Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) told Raw Story. “It looks like they're doing everything they can to keep hidden the secret relationships that are going on at the court with powerful interests that bring cases before the court.”
To the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), this made-for-Fox-and-Newsmax drama shows how completely former President Donald Trump has remade the GOP in his own image.
“It is just sad the way that Donald Trump has completed his stranglehold over the Republican Party,” Raskin told Raw Story. “Donald Trump has taught them – from the Charlottesville riot forward – that there should be no enemies on the right. And they have no enemies on the right, and they will take no principled stance against anybody on the right, no matter how fascistic they are.”
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hunter makes presser across st from assclowns
an ah 11 23
with 2024 GOP presidential frontrunner facing four criminal indictments and a variety of civil lawsuits, right-wing media outlets and MAGA conspiracy theorists have been claiming that President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden is the real legal story. But legal experts have responded that there is no evidence showing the type of criminal conspiracy within the Biden family that Trump's supporters are alleging.
House Republicans have subpoenaed Hunter Biden to testify during a closed-door deposition on December 13 — and he was quick to respond that yes, he'll be there.
In an op-ed published on November 29, MSNBC's Hayes Brown argues that if Biden's testimony makes anyone look bad, it will most likely be House Republicans.
"Rather than fight the subpoena," Brown observes, "Hunter Biden appears eager, maybe too eager, to appear before the GOP-led panel. In a letter from his lawyer on Tuesday, Biden not only agreed to testify, but to do so in an open committee session. And in his response, Oversight Committee Chair Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., made clear how caught off guard he was — and how unprepared he is to back up his tough talk in public."
Abbe Lowell, Hunter Biden's lawyer, told Comer, "Your fishing expedition has become Captain Ahab chasing the great white whale."
"Demanding a public hearing is a dramatic and potential fraught play from Lowell, who has been spearheading an aggressive counteroffensive strategy for his client," Brown notes. "Could such a hearing be embarrassing for Hunter Biden? Yes, definitely. It's a chance for Republicans to bring up the very public scandals he's been linked to and the personal demons that have haunted (him)…. And yet, despite those risks, Lowell in his letter is clearly ready to call Comer's bluff."
Brown continues, "And as he noted, history is on his side in this case. The scramble for Republicans to find something impeachment-worthy to use against Biden has been an absolute circus…. But based on what we've seen so far, it seems more likely that any trap that gets sprung would be ACME-branded and backfire completely on the hapless coyote — er, I mean Comer — who set it."
READ MORE:'Epic humiliation': House Dem blasts James Comer over 'miserable failure' in Hunter Biden inquiry
*Read Hayes Brown's full MSNBC column at this link.
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on Tuesday, lawyers representing Hunter Biden said their client was willing to testify before the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability to answer lawmakers' questions in response to their subpoena — but only if his testimony was conducted in full view of the public.
Defense attorney Abbe Lowell said committee chairman Rep. James Comer (R-Kentucky) had previously used closed-door committee meetings "to manipulate, even distort the facts and misinform the public" and instead proposed "opening the door." Comer rejected the offer and said President Joe Biden's son must first appear before the committee in a closed-door session, but proposed a public hearing at an undetermined later date.
In a public statement, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland), who is the ranking member of the oversight committee, said that Comer's "wailing and moaning" about a "vast unproven family conspiracy" proved that the chairman's inquiry was little more than partisan bluster.
"What an epic humiliation for our colleagues and what a frank confession that they are simply not interested in the facts and have no confidence in their own case or the ability of their own Members to pursue it," Raskin stated. "After the miserable failure of their impeachment hearing in September, Chairman Comer has now apparently decided to avoid all Committee hearings where the public can actually see for itself the logical, rhetorical and factual contortions they have tied themselves up in. The evidence has shown time and again President Biden has committed no wrongdoing, much less an impeachable offense."
"Chairman Comer’s insistence that Hunter Biden’s interview should happen behind closed doors proves it once again. What the Republicans fear most is sunlight and the truth," he added.
While Comer has repeatedly assailed Biden over alleged corrupt behavior, he has bristled at accusations of impropriety within his own family. Earlier this month, Comer erupted at Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Florida) when the Democrat brought up unanswered questions regarding a $200,000 loan the Kentucky Republican made to his brother involving a land transaction made with an LLC.
"Why should they believe you? There’s there’s a different rule for the president and there’s a different rule for you? Why should they believe what you’re saying? Mr. Chairman, why?" Moskowitz said. "You go on Fox News and say, ‘loans and deals are a way to evade taxes,' we don’t know that’s what you’re doing or not? We don’t know. We have no idea."
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'Pressure campaign': Hunter Biden wants to subpoena T
rump and Barr in criminal trial - Alternet.org
AN 1123
David Weiss, who was tapped by Attorney General Merrick Garland as special counsel to oversee the Department of Justice's investigation into Hunter Biden, recently testified under oath that his investigation has not been obstructed in any way by the Biden administration.
The House Judiciary Committee — chaired by Trump acolyte Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) — recently brought in Weiss for questioning in relation to the ongoing Hunter Biden investigation, which Republicans argue is being hamstrung by the White House. But the Washington Post reported Wednesday that Weiss' testimony silenced those rumors.
"I am, and have been, the decision-maker on this case," Weiss said. "At no time was I blocked, or otherwise prevented from pursuing charges or taking the steps necessary in the investigation by other United States Attorneys, the Tax Division or anyone else at the Department of Justice."
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-New York), the ranking member on the committee, called Weiss' testimony a "waste of time."
"[Weiss] was very clear that no one told him what to prosecute and what not to prosecute. He made all those decisions himself, and he said that before," Nadler said. "And I mean, [Republicans] tried to get him to say anything, but they just go over and over and over again the same thing."
House Republicans disagreed with that sentiment, insisting that Weiss' testimony wasn't credible and that questions still lingered about political pressure from the White House on the DOJ's investigation into the president's son.
"The important thing is that he has no answers for why he would offer a misdemeanor plea bargain with no jail time to someone who committed felonies and exclude all unknown or yet-to-be-investigated crimes," Rep. Darrell Issa (R-California) said. "It’s that lack of explanation that leads us to all the other questions of whether he was influenced by others or in consultation with others."
READ MORE:Republicans' 'untethered' Hunter Biden claims demolished by WaPo fact-checker*
Hunter Biden is set to go to trial in 2024 on charges relating to gun possession and filing false statements after a plea agreement fell apart earlier this year. Weiss was appointed by former President Donald Trump in 2018 to be US Attorney for the US District Court in the District of Delaware. President Biden has kept him in that position.
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far-right activist and legal gadfly Larry Klayman announced this month that a “citizen grand jury” had indicted President Joe Biden and members of his family, and that a “citizens’ judge” has handed down felony convictions after a “trial” in Boise, Idaho.}:
“BREAKING: The Bidens Convicted!” was the subject line of an August 24 email sent by Klayman’s group Freedom Watch to readers of the right-wing publication Human Events. Klayman has also talked about the Biden “conviction” in online videos, where he has also posted clips of “evidence” being presented to the fake judge in the fake trial.
Klayman said that “sentencing of the corrupt Biden plan” will be held August 29:{. “We will then commission established law enforcement and the military to take Biden and his son and his brother into custody if they don’t turn themselves in, and frankly, put them in the slammer,” he said in a }
:{ posted on YouTube. He has promised future trials of public health official Anthony Fauci and other perceived enemies of the MAGA movement.}:
Klayman’s cosplay has no legal standing, but could inspire violent behavior from one of former President Donald Trump’s passionate supporters. Klayman denounced the “Marxian Jewish left”he said was persecuting Trump, calling for a “counterrevolution.” He called the judge in the Georgia indictment an “anti-white racist.”He said he believes that someone in Trump’s orbit will be harmed, which would set off Trump’s supporters.
Klayman’s escapades in the past have included a citizen grand jury that “convicted” then-President Barack Obama of fraud, and a failed rally at the White House that was meant to force Obama out of the White House.
Klayman is using his new version to raise money forFreedom Watch, a group he founded after falling out with the leaders of Judicial Watch, which he also founded.
Tags: Larry Klayman Civil War MAGA Freedom Watch
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an 8 23 no lnx
Republicans’ 'untethered' Hunter Biden claims demolished by WaPo fact-checker
Alex HendersonAugust 17, 2023
A Washington Post fact check on Thursday took House Republicans to task as right-wing lawmakers "over hype" the House Oversight Committee's investigation into President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Kentucky) has been leading the Hunter Biden probe in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Post's Glenn Kessler gives Comer and his GOP colleagues an aggressive fact-check in his August 17 column.
"The House Oversight Committee, led by Comer, has been investigating business dealings of President Biden's son, Hunter, and other family members — and by extension, unverified allegations that the president was involved in his son's business as well," Comer explains. "The Committee has obtained thousands of bank records, and the Republican staff has issued three memorandums summarizing some of the findings. The memos are written in a partisan manner — ignoring or playing down contrary information — but an interesting pattern has emerged."
Kessler continues, "The memos themselves have careful language that is often hedged. Then, Comer and other GOP lawmakers, including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), go on Twitter or speak to conservative media using hyperbolic language that goes well beyond what the memos say. Over time, the reporting on the memos in conservative media becomes untethered from the documentation in the reports."
House Republicans, Kessler emphasizes, typically exaggerate the amount of $20 million in payments that went to the Biden family because of Hunter Biden's business activities.
"As for the $20 million in payments," Kessler explains, "Comer and other Republicans invoke this figure often. A close reading of the memos, however, finds that only about $7 million can be directly attributed to Biden family members, mostly Hunter, while the rest went to 'associates,' according to the memos. Yet Comer and other lawmakers misleadingly suggest all of the money went to the Biden family or, as some label it, 'the Biden crime family.' No evidence has emerged that any of these funds can be traced to Joe Biden himself."
Kessler points out that Comer "often suggests that the Biden family used…. so-called shell companies to launder money." But that claim, according to Kessler, is "undercut by the list of 21 companies that appear in" a staff memo.
READ MORE: 'It's like a soap opera': These Republicans are weary of their colleagues' Hunter Biden obsession
The term "shell company," Kessler points out, has a dark connotation. But the companies Hunter Biden headed, he adds, "had legitimate business interests."
"Others had clearly identified business investments," according to Kessler. "Digging through the records, we find only three whose business purpose remains vague. One, Rosemont Seneca Global Risk Services, LLC, may not even be related to Hunter Biden, according to an e-mail found in Hunter Biden's laptop. The memos do not list any payments that flowed through these three companies."
READ MORE: Vivek Ramaswamy implies Hunter Biden is reason behind US aid to Ukraine: report
Glenn Kessler's full column is available at this link (subscription required).
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