It’s a tale as old as time. A government official takes action. That action benefits his family. And then, when questions are asked, there’s a cover-up. For President Joe Biden, it’s a story about money, influence, and protecting the Biden family brand.
𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏 – 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲, 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝
Between 2014 and April 25, 2019, the day Joe Biden announced his candidacy for President, Biden family members received approximately $15 million from foreign entities. It was done through a complex series of transactions involving over 20 different companies. What did the Bidens do? What services did Hunter Biden and his associates provide? What was worth the receipt of $15 million?
Devon Archer, Hunter Biden’s business partner, gave us the answer. In his transcribed interview before Congress, he said they were selling “the Brand.” And “the Brand” was Joe Biden. As another one of Hunter Biden’s business partners, Jason Galanis, put it, the Bidens provided the “relationship capital”—the “political access” the brand provided “in the United States and around the world.”
The deal with the Chinese energy company, CEFC, is one example of how the Bidens’ influence peddling operation worked. For months, Hunter Biden and his associates had been working to close a deal with CEFC. However, it wasn’t until “the Brand” himself stopped by a lunch at the Four Seasons in Washington, D.C. in mid-February 2017 that the agreement was finalized. At the lunch were Hunter Biden, his business partners, and eight Chinese executives with CEFC. Joe Biden—the “big guy”—“drop[ped] by” and gave remarks to the group. Just a few weeks later, Hunter Biden and his partners received $3 million from CEFC.
Four months after the $3 million was wired to Hunter Biden, he sent a WhatsApp message to a CEFC official: “I am sitting here with my father, and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled. I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction.” Later he reiterated, “I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father.” Nine days later, another $5 million was wired to an entity jointly controlled by Hunter Biden. Later that same day, $400,000 was moved from the joint entity’s account to a personal account of Hunter Biden. A few weeks later, Joe Biden received a $40,000 check.
𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐 – 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐧, 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
Joe Biden had forty thousand reasons to be aware of Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings. But as Mr. Biden began to run for President in 2020, these foreign entanglements became a political liability. And so Joe Biden and his campaign attempted to mislead the American people.
On October 22, 2020, Joe Biden declared that Hunter Biden “has not made money in terms of this thing about . . . China.” But the facts of the CEFC deal plainly contradict his statement. Joe Biden also stated that he “never discussed a single thing with [his] son about anything having to do with Ukraine.” Devon Archer’s testimony to Congress contradicts this statement. But the lie with the greatest impact was one Joe Biden made about his son’s laptop.
On October 14, 2020, the New York Post published the story on the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop, including evidence of Biden family influence peddling. Testimony given to Congress by current and former FBI officials confirm that the FBI took possession of the laptop in December of 2019, and that they had authenticated it by the date the New York Post ran its story. Yet the FBI said nothing when the story was censored by Big Tech. Even as Twitter locked the New York Post out of its account, the FBI remained silent. The silence continued when 51 former Intelligence Community officials published a statement that the Hunter Biden laptop story “has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.” A subsequent investigation later showed, the catalyst for this letter was the Biden campaign itself.
Three days after the Post’s story ran, Antony Blinken, then a Biden campaign official and now President Biden’s Secretary of State, emailed former Acting Director of National Intelligence Michael Morell about the story. Morell, who longed to be the CIA Director in a Biden Administration, told Congress it was Blinken’s email that prompted him to organize the letter and gather the signatures. On October 19, 2020, the letter went public. Three days later, Joe Biden cited it in the final presidential debate, claiming—falsely, we now know—that “50 former national intelligence folks” said the laptop story was “a Russian plan” Just hours after the debate, the Biden campaign chair, Steve Richetti called Morell to thank him for the statement. The move worked exactly as planned. The only problem—it was a lie. The FBI knew it was a lie! Joe Biden knew it was a lie. And his campaign knew it was a lie.
Polling, not to mention common sense, strongly suggest that if Americans had been given the truth about the laptop and the Biden family influence peddling operation, the outcome of the 2020 presidential election would have been different.
As with most lies, the story from the Bidens and the White House has changed over time. On September 21, 2019, Joe Biden unequivocally said he had “never spoken” to his son about his business dealings. Then, on July 24, 2023, the White House walked it back, stating that President Biden had never been “in business with his son.” On December 13, 2023, Hunter Biden hedged even further, saying his father was “not financially involved” in his business. “Never spoken” became “never in business with,” which then became “not financially involved.” The President and the White House aren’t the only ones who have changed their statements.
Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss, who ran the Justice Department’s Hunter Biden investigation and is now the Special Counsel conducting the investigation, also couldn’t keep his story straight. For months, many in Congress had been urging Attorney General Garland to appoint a special counsel due to the obvious conflicts of interest in investigating the President’s son. In a letter to the Judiciary Committee on June 7, 2023, however, Weiss told us: “I have been granted ultimate authority over this matter, including responsibility for deciding where, when, and whether to file charges” against Hunter Biden. In other words, Weiss, vowed, he’s got all the authority he needs, and no special counsel designation is needed.
But then, on June 30, 2023, we received a second letter from Weiss. In it he now stated, “I stand by what I wrote and wish to expand on what this means. . . . [M]y charging authority is geographically limited to my home district.”
Wow. In 23 days, David Weiss went from pounding his chest about his “ultimate authority” to, well, actually my authority is “limited.” Why? What happened between June 7 and June 30?
Here’s what happened: the testimony of two IRS whistleblowers, Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley and Special Agent Joseph Ziegler, was published on June 22. Shapley and Ziegler were the agents who had worked on the Hunter Biden investigation. In the whistleblowers’ testimony, they told Congress that the Delaware U.S. Attorney’s Office slow-walked the entire investigation and prohibited standard investigative actions. Shapley and Ziegler were not allowed to interview certain witnesses. In the interviews they were allowed to conduct, they were prohibited from referencing the term “dad” or “the big guy.” The prosecutors notified Hunter Biden’s attorney about a pending search warrant, and they allowed the statute of limitations to lapse for the most serious criminal conduct.
All of this culminated in a proposed sweetheart plea deal with just two misdemeanor tax charges and a diversion agreement for a gun charge in Delaware. The sweetheart deal was so sweet that a federal judge refused to accept it. During the court proceedings, the judge asked the prosecutors, “[D]o you have any precedent for agreeing not to prosecute crimes that have nothing to do with the case or the charges being diverted?” Their response: “I’m not aware of any[.]” The judge then asked, “[H]ave you ever seen a Diversion Agreement where the agreement not to prosecute is so broad that it encompasses crimes in a different case?” “No” was the response from Weiss’s prosecutors. This type of plea agreement had never been done before—it was unprecedented and the judge was having none of it.
The sweetheart plea deal blew up, but the Biden-Garland Justice Department was not going to be deterred in its cover-up effort. It turned to plan B.
After months of insisting that Weiss had full authority and that no special counsel was needed, the Justice Department named a special counsel. And the man they chose for that important role was none other than David Weiss. The same David Weiss who couldn’t get his story straight. The same David Weiss who put together the sweetheart plea deal. The same David Weiss whose deal was laughed out of court.
The end result: Weiss can take his sweet time in completing the investigation. And, more importantly, Garland, Weiss, and the Biden-Garland Justice Department now maintain that they cannot answer Congress’s questions because there is an “ongoing investigation.” How convenient.
𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐲 – 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐁𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐦𝐚
If there’s one case that best shows the Biden family influence operation, it’s Hunter Biden’s role with Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company. There are four key facts to this case study—four facts that will never change.
Fact #1: Hunter Biden gets put on the Board of Burisma and gets paid $1 million a year.
Fact #2: Hunter Biden is not qualified to be on the Board. He said so himself. In an ABC news interview in 2019, he was asked, “If your last name wasn’t Biden, do you think you would’ve been asked to be on the board of Burisma?” Mr. Biden responded, “I don’t know. Probably not, in retrospect. . . . I don’t think that there’s a lot of things that would have happened in my life if my last name wasn’t Biden.”
Fact #3: Executives at Burisma asked Hunter Biden to alleviate the pressure coming from the Ukrainian government. Devon Archer, Hunter Biden’s business partner, gave Congress details. On December 4, 2015, Burisma executives Mykola Zlochevsky and Vadym Pozharsky asked Hunter Biden if he could help them with the pressure they faced from the Ukrainian Prosecutor General, Viktor Shokin. What did Mr. Biden do after receiving the request from the Burisma executives? Mr. Archer replied, “I did not hear this phone call but he—he called his dad.”
Fact #4 – Three days later, on December 7, 2015, Vice President Joe Biden went to Kyiv and conditioned the release of the $1 billion loan guarantee to Ukraine on the firing of Shokin, the same prosecutor who was applying the pressure to the company on whose board Hunter Biden sat. Don’t take our word for it—Joe Biden said it himself. In a now infamous clip, he boasted about telling the Ukrainian President: “You are not getting the billion dollars. I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you are not getting the money.” And what do you know, Shokin got fired.
There was just one problem. Withholding the loan guarantee was contrary to the overwhelming consensus of the Obama-Biden State Department.
Six months before Vice President Biden’s trip to Ukraine, State Department Assistant Secretary Victoria Nuland had written Prosecutor General Shokin, “We have been impressed with the ambitious reform and anti-corruption agenda of your government.” On October 1, 2015, two months before the Vice President’s trip, the Interagency Policy Committee in the Obama-Biden Administration announced, “Ukraine has made sufficient progress on its reform agenda to justify a third [loan] guarantee.” Even the preparation documents for Vice President Biden’s trip to Ukraine, dated November 22, 2015 stated, “You will sign our third billion-dollar loan guarantee . . . .”
So what happened with the loan guarantee? As the Washington Post explained, Vice President Biden “called an audible.” Instead of just pushing for the firing of Prosecutor General Shokin—the same Prosecutor who a few months earlier the State Department and IPC said was doing a good job—Joe Biden decided on the plane ride to Ukraine that he would condition the release of American tax dollars on the firing of Shokin.
Why the sudden change? What caused the audible? Could it have been the phone call Hunter Biden made to D.C. two days earlier with Mr. Zlochevsky and Mr. Pozharsky by his side? Might the sudden change of U.S. policy have something to do with the fact that Hunter Biden was being paid $1 million a year, by the very company under investigation by the prosecutor who Vice President Biden bragged about getting fired?
It’s also worth noting the prosecutor general before Shokin had permitted the release of $23 million in seized assets back to Burisma executive Zlochevsky. The prosecutor general who followed Shokin, Yuriy Lutsenko—who had already been removed from office before for corruption—closed the case against Zlochevsky. The one prosecutor it seems who was actually investigating Zlochevsky, is the one who Vice President Joe Biden pushed to get fired.
Also in the background, leading up to Vice President Biden’s trip to Ukraine, Hunter Biden and his associates connected Burisma with Blue Star Strategies, a Democrat public relations firm in Washington. In a November 2015 communication to Burisma Executive Vadym Pozharsky, Hunter Biden wrote, “Devon and I do feel comfortable with [Blue Star Strategies] and the ability of [executives] Sally [Painter] & Karen [Tramontano] to deliver.” What were they going to deliver? Three days earlier, Pozharsky had told Hunter Biden and his business partners that Blue Star and Burisma needed to develop a “concrete course of actions” that included meetings with “US officials in Ukraine . . . and in [the] US . . . expressing their . . . support of [Zlochevsky]/Burisma to the highest level decision makers” with the “ultimate purpose to close down for any cases/pursuits against [Zlochevsky] in Ukraine.” Were they successful? In October 2016, Painter forwarded an article to Hunter Biden’s business partners Eric Schwerin and Devon Archer. The article’s title was “The Interior Ministry confirmed that Zlochevskiy is no longer wanted.” Ms. Painter wrote simply: “We won and in less than a year.”
Simply put, the Bidens were successful in firing the Prosecutor General investigating Zlochevsky and in getting the next Prosecutor General to take him off the wanted list. The Burisma case study shows the interconnected web of Joe Biden’s power, his family’s foreign business dealings, and foreign companies paying for access and influence.
It’s really a story as old as time. The question is—will Americans let the Bidens get away with it.
"Later that same day, $400,000 was moved from the joint entity’s account to a personal account of Hunter Biden. A few weeks later, Joe Biden received a $40,000 check."
But "10% for the Big Guy" was supposed to be part of the vast right wing conspiracy, right?
Everyone, let me introduce you to the friendly neighborhood democrat party bot, otherwise known as Lebkuchen Honigkucken. He never fails to try to turn the truth into something “far right” and Trumps fault. Welcome to the party pal.
Somewhere along the line Sara Biden (brother James's wife) withdrew $50k in cash - actual currency - and redeposited it into her personal account, then wrote one of the many "loan repayment" checks to the President.
"On August 28, 2017, Sara Biden withdrew $50,000 in cash from Lion Hall Group. Later the same day, she deposited it into her and James Biden’s personal checking account. On September 3, 2017, Sara Biden cut a check to Joe Biden for $40,000 for a “loan repayment.”"
Lots of loans in that family with no accompanying paperwork - notes, payment schedules, etc. This it eh oldest tax dodge known, claiming that it's money that must be repaid or, as in third case, money that was already mine once. Auditors aren't that stupid and will dig deeper unless specifically ordered not to.
This is the Biden issue. Auditor whistleblowers have come forward and testified that their IRS bosses shielded the Bidens from scrutiny.
Got it. I think most of us, including Sasha, knew that Fox was another facet of MSM and projecting Ruling Class narratives long (long) before Tucker was fired. I mean Sean Hannity was as much a shrill as Don Lemon, and in some cases, even Rachel Madow.
And on the other side we have Mitch McConnell who's wife's family owns The Foremost Group which is an Asian based shipping/shipbuilding bidness that prolly ships fentanyl and Glock switches to our southern border and the Cartel's the Chinese launder money for....
There is one reason only that Trump was kicked out of office: China.
"It’s really a story as old as time. The question is—will Americans let the Bidens get away with it."
Of course. As long as they servie the interests of the Uniparty, prosecutors will turn a blind eye. None of the Bidens ever will see the inside of a prison cell.
Don’t be so full of doom and gloom. AI will save our sinking ship. It’s always darkest just before dawn. Soon the sun will shine and all will be well with the world. No doubt about it. Here’s some nice dancing to cheer you up. No one does dance better than the Russians. If I was rich I’d go live in Moscow which is no doubt far safer than Chicago which is being destroyed by city-wide black wilding, carjacking and crime. I wish we could trade Biden for Putin. Putin would work for America rather than the CCP and the Cartels. Putin would make America great again.
I’ve lived in Chicago all my life and don’t know anyone anywhere else so where would I go? Plus our whole society is rotting so where are these safe places? The cities will collapse first and then the shock waves will bring the rest of it down. Actually our whole world is in a tailspin? This is why I believe only AI can save us. We’ll soon see about that.
Many rural areas and small towns are safe places. Just because you have done something your whole life doesn't mean you have to keep doing it when it has become dysfunctional which is your description of Chicago. Time to bail. I bailed from Denver a decade ago because I could see it coming.
I couldn’t live in places like that. Too different, too quiet. I think I’d just get very depressed. Plus I also have a lot of cats. Couldn’t move them, couldn’t leave them behind. I think then that when the waves of hate sink this city me and my cats will just have to go down with the ship. It is what it is. No point crying about it.
Funny. As much as I love Russian ballet, I would not want Putin to be our president. He is certainly smarter than Biden, but then anyone is as this point. Putin is an aged madman with a delusion of grandeur. Nope, thank you.
“Putin is an aged madman with a delusion of grandeur.”
That’s Hillary’s assessment of him. Prof. John Mearsheimer is a political science and international affairs expert at the University of Chicago. He has a much more accurate assessment of Putin and Ukraine.
“The most important video on Ukraine.” (7 min)
John Anderson interviews Prof. John Mearsheimer. Jan 10, 2024
With all due respect, Seva, yes- Putin wants to restore the glory of the Russian empire in its pre-revolutionary borders or in its Soviet borders, whatever is larger, using Stalin’s methods of governing. In my eyes he is a madman with delusions of grandeur.
I do not care of what Hilary has to say about anything. And I have mild interest in what American professors think of Putin because I have read and viewed enough material in Russian to form my opinion. I was born there and lived for a few decades, so I dare to say I may have a good understanding of the situation. Though, unfortunately, I lost contact with close friends because it is risky for them and also because, sadly, so many have been brainwashed by Putin’s relentless and effective propaganda. Imagine our country with only two sources of info: MSNBC and CNN 24/7 and nothing else.
You, of course, may find the opinion of an American professor more reliable than my personal take. I understand. But having Putin or someone like him as our president - NO.
I like Putin. He doesn’t despise white people, is intelligent enough to understand that a country needs borders to be a country and sane enough to know there are only two genders rather than scores with more discovered all the time. Plus he understands that America and the West are rotting due to the Woke virus which Elon quite right calls “a mind virus” and “a threat to civilization.” Check out his speech from a few years ago where he condemned Woke ideology. Basically said “Been there. Done that. No thanks.”
The Russian leader reserved particular disdain for the sexualisation of children and the presence of radical gender theory in Western education. “There are some monstrous things when from a very young age, you teach to children that the boy can easily become a girl and you impose on them this selection.” He continued: “You push the parents aside and make the child take these decisions that can destroy their lives. And if we call the spade a spade, this is nigh to crime against humanity, and all of that under the banner of progress…”
“Vladimir Putin addresses the decline of western civilization in anti-woke speech.”
Putin highlighted similarities between woke progressives to the Soviet revolutionaries who took over Russia in a speech translated by the Kremlin. Oct 22, 2021
Feral Finster. I love you . And you usually sound sane. Please. The Bodens are a waste of everyone’s times. They are a freak show. You can Not be possibly be saying that you want to drag these freaks through a court room.
No. Let them go home and let’s forget about them.
They have nothing compared to the Clintons in Their time.
Let’s stop pretending that they mean anything . Good bye. Go home.
This timeline is probably familiar to the majority of Congress, because they engage in similar activities. Biden inadvertently got exposed by the limelight of the Presidency.
Thanks Sasha. I grew up in the '50's and I was taught that the 3 branches of government were self-correcting. If one branch became too powerful, the other branches would rein it in. But today I see the tentacles of corruption throughout every branch of government. The executive is corrupt, the judicial is corrupt and the legislative is corrupt. Where do patriots go to get redress?
Now we see that if you make too much noise, the intelligence agencies will come after you too. This is not America. Where will this end?
As long as people have hope that corrective measures will straighten things out, they can remain patient. But when good honest God-fearing people lose hope, they attempt to fix it themselves, and the result of that is never pretty--think about the French Revolution. That is not what I want.
What am I leaving to my 3 grandsons? They will never have the life I had. But I do know there is a God, there is a Heaven, and there is a hell. and ultimately there will be justice. I hope these people enjoy their wealth and power now, for they have no idea the price they will pay for it.
Today (2/27/2024) there was a new development in the story of Alexander Smirnov and the Republican's investigation of Hunter Biden and Joe Biden which merits mention.
When asked about the indictment of a key Republican witness Alexander Smirnov for perjury, Representative James Comer (who chairs the House investigation) responded by attacking the FBI. Comer said "I don't know anything about Smirnov, but the circumstances around his indictment and his re-arrest and the changing of the original indictment by [special prosecutor David] Weiss is very concerning. Because everything that I've had to do with the FBI has been very suspicious throughout this investigation. The trust level that I have with the FBI is zero."
To cite just one reason to question Comer's response, both the current head of the FBI Christopher Wray and the special counsel David Weiss who brought the charges against Alexander Smirnov were appointed by former President Trump!
Comer's behavior is reminiscent of how cult members commonly react when they receive news contradicting their beliefs. Often in such situations cult followers will not acknowledge their past errors, Instead they double down on their commitments and attack those offering the contradicting information. That, of course, is exactly what Representative Comer did.
So today. I’ve been participating more than usual. Not sure my replies are ending up under the comments I replied to. That’s ok. I write clearly but messy. People get the idea. No matter the missplacement of replies.
Love all of you! It’s all in good fun and all in good faith. Non needs to be taken personally. As it’s about the whole scene.
When I first opened your piece, I thought that you might address or at least mention last week's really big news item for all of the Republican investigations of President Biden, namely the perjury indictment of the Republican's star informant Alexander Smirnov for perjury. Unfortunately you disappointed me. You never even mention Smirnov and what happened last week.
Alexander Smirnov has been the Republicans star informant. He now stands accused by the special prosecutor investigating Hunter Biden of lying to the government and working with Russian intelligence to smear the Bidens. Currently Smirnov is in jail in Las Vegas pending arraignment and the government is fighting his release on bail lest he flee the country for Russia.
So significant is this development that it has even briefly been reported on Fox News! Last week when asked about this story Republican House impeachment leasers repeatedly ducked reporters questions about this story.
Sasha, instead of rehashing old poorly evidenced innuendos and discredited charges, would you care to comment on last week's really significant development in the Biden impeachment inquiry? I would really like to hear your response to this major development in the alleged Biden corruption story.
"Sasha, When I first opened this piece, I thought that you might address or at least mention last week's the really big news item in all of the Republican investigations of President Biden, namely the perjury indictment of the Republican's star informant Alexander Smirnov for perjury."
First off, this guy has been working with the FBI as an informant for decades. That they would suddenly flip on him in this way is suspect. What Jim Jordan says in his summary exists regardless of the bribe the informant supposedly named. What it looks more like to me, and I don't bring it up because it sounds more like a conspiracy, is a Nixon-level ratf*cking. That is, deliver something false to gullible people. When they put themselves on the line for it and it comes out it's a fraud they're discredited.
We saw this with the "Kraken" and the 2020 election. It's a brilliant strategy to give people like you permission to ignore the more serious charges. All Biden and the Democrats need to do is give people who posture moral superiority a reason to say "it's all phony." And lucky for them, most people -- most journalists -- are suckers. I do not trust anyone to get the real story there. BUT it doesn't matter. What Jim Jordan is saying here has nothing to do with that, except that some Republicans like Nancy Mace were played.
Over many months you and I have repeatedly discussed the need to support opinions with hard evidence, not with character attacks, innuendos, other opinions, and conspiratorial theories.
So to repeat the real news item: Alexander Smirnov, a key Republican witness in the President Biden impeachment inquiry, has been indicted by a grand jury. Evidence was presented showing that there is probable cause to believe that he commit perjury and acted on behalf of Russian intelligence.
Instead of addressing this very important matter, you bring up other cases which failed in court because of the lack of real evidence. Remember that with one temporary minor procedural case in Pennsylvania, every one of the Trump 2020 election fraud allegations failed in court, many for lack of evidence. A mere hypothesis is not evidence. You need documents and witnesses who will swear under oath to what they saw. For all of the allegations of 2020 election fraud, none have actually stood up in court.
And as to Sidney Powell, the woman of Kraken fame, she has plead guilty to election interference charges in Georgia:
The Smirnov stuff does not invalidate the Hunter Biden laptop or the testimony of Hunter Biden associates, or numerous $$ transfers documented by banks. If Trump were doing this with 20 shell companies and a laptop from his son were discovered with analogous info, the response of media would be different I think.
Sorry, but as you know the Hunter Biden laptop is such a compromised piece of evidence of such murky provenance that it will never stand up in court.
Republican assertions to the contrary, witness after witness has testified under oath that President Biden was not involved with Hunter Biden's business activities.
For months, Republicans have gone on Fox News et al with tantalizing stories based on half-truths and innuendos. While I readily acknowledge that it is possible that there may be real evidence of President Biden's malfeasance, I have not seen it. If is existed, Republican investigators would have produced it by now for all of us to see. So sorry to say, to me the whole "corrupt Biden crime family" story appears to be on a par with the 2020 election fraud story, a piece of partisan mythology lacked real verifiable court admissible evidence.
Unlike many on this site, I remain of an open mind. I have opinions but I can be convinced that I am wrong. However to alter my opinion you will need to show me real verifiable court admissible evidence, not half-truths and conspiracy theories.
William, the FBI and DOJ both said the laptop was authentic and belonged to Hunter. Payments have been made and those transactions have been validated. Multiple witnesses have testified that Joe was involved. Hunter did have a job with Burisma and was paid $1 mil. His arrangements with companies in China and others are all documented. There is much evidence. You just wish to ignore it. As does the DNC and media. Don’t be like them.
Saying that the laptop is Hunter Biden's is a different thing from saying that the content of its hard drive is Hunter Biden's. And that it what is at issue. The laptop chain of custody is too compromised to permit the hard drive content to be court admissible.
Pace what you say, no one has testified under oath that Joe Biden was involved in Hunter Biden's business activities. Au contraire, multiple witnesses before the current investigations committee said the exact opposite, giving sworn testimony that Joe Biden was not involved in Hunter Biden's business activities.
No. The authentication was to prove the laptop (and its contents) are Hunters. Which the FBI and DOJ both as well as several other 3rd parties have all validated. Chain of custody issues with the FBI? Hardly, and not for a court of law anyway. Multiple witnesses have said that Joe was involved. There is also a paper trail of transactions. Sorry but there is more evidence that says Joe is compromised and corrupt. You have to admit there is much more evidence for impeachment of Joe than was produced for the 2 impeachments of Trump
The chain of custody issues arise before the laptop reached the FBI. Multiple people had access to the laptop between the time Hunter Biden left it off at the repair store and the FBI gaining control of it. There simply is no way to know whether someone added or deleted things off of the hard drive, Hence the issue of legal admissibility.
As to "Multiple witnesses have said that Joe was involved": Who are these witnesses and where is there complete sworn public testimony? All that we hear about are selected snippets of confidential testimony, rumors, half-truths, conspiracy theories, etc., etc. No one has yet testified under oath in a public setting that Joe Biden was involved in Hunter Biden's business dealings and, in fact, several have testified under oath that he was not.
So sorry, let me say again, that to the best of my knowledge after months of Republican investigations, there is as yet no real court admissible evidence showing criminal malfeasance by President Biden. And to close the loop, last week's indictment for perjury of Alexander Smirnov, a key Republican witness, confirms my doubts.
Here’s a link that hit my feed from The Free Press (the Scroll) that is a deep dive into the developing Smirnov case. There’s a lot to the story that seems weird/odd.
That’s an interesting thought process. Look around for an paid informant you can throw under the bus. Assign that person the role of “star informant” of the investigation, even though he was nowhere mentioned as part of the evidence given in this story. Ignore the actual points raised in the story, and demand an explanation for the diversion you yourself created.
How about an explanation for what value Hunter Biden provided for the millions he received?
I do not think that your take on events is quite correct. It is not a matter of throwing Alexander Smirnov under the bus as rather the special prosecutor investigating Hunter Biden realizing that this key Hunter Biden accuser was committing perjury and was a tool of Russian intelligence. Do you actually have any real evidence for your alternative version of events? I have very strong evidence for my interpretation, namely that a grand jury reviewed the available evidence and found probably cause that Smirnov commit perjury.
Read today's LA Times story about Smirnov (I link to it above). As a human being, Smirnov clearly was a very dubious character.
Thank you williamj for exposing yourself as an apologist for the malfeasance of this administration while claiming to have an ‘open mind’. You are clearly ignoring the overwhelming litany of documented Biden family grift and deceit, not to mention the DOJ and FBI law fare machinations, pretending that somehow the spurious discrediting of Smirnov negates it all.
I do not think that I am ignoring anything. I read widely and listen to multiple news channels.
What I refuse to do is to be guided by prejudice and bias. I try to form my opinions based upon verifiable evidence, especially evidence that can be admitted in a court of law. Too many people on this site bring their biases to the table and filter the available information via those prejudices.
I am not aware of any criminal malfeasance by President Biden in connection with his son. I am aware of lots of charges, lots of half-truths and innuendos, lots of conspiracy theories, etc. If there was real hard evidence produce it. Otherwise just admit that you are biased and prejudiced.
You really can't put two and two together, can you.
Sort of like, "But we don't have proof cigarettes cause lung cancer!" and "Vaccines have not been proven to cause autism and other injuries and deaths!"
An FBI informant is of dubious character? Are you somehow under the impression that most informants are fine upstanding citizens who were no doubt altar boys in their youth?
While I am at it, your argument contains the following two propositions. 1) 'Guilty until proven innocent", and 2) "Wrong about one thing, wrong about everything". Do you really believe either one of those? I hope not. I prefer to believe that you are merely being dishonest, as usual.
Here's a 3rd perfectly fair question for you: what would be wrong with the FBI fabricating evidence against Smirnov in order to help Biden "save democracy"?
And here's a 4th: how would any mole *not* be in contact with Russian intelligence operatives? So all moles are automatically "discredited"? How does that work?
You should really think more about what you are saying.
Pace what you say, my argument contains neither of the objectionable propositions which you ascribe to me. Your accusation is simply absurd.
As to your argument about Christopher Wray reporting to Merrick Garland and Merrick Garland reporting to Joe Biden, what you miss is that in order to ensure the uniform, impartial administration of the law the Justice Department has traditionally enjoyed considerable independence and insulation from the rest of the government and the FBI enjoys considerable independence from the rest of the Justice Department. If any political appointee attempted to interfere with the FBI or a President with the administration of justice by the Justice Department, it would be major news and could well lead to a resignation. Remember what happened with President Nixon and the 1973 Saturday night massacre. More recently, as you will recall, one of many things that distressed President Trump was the very independence of both the FBI and his Attorney Generals. Trump tried to subvert that independence and he repeatedly replaced Attorney Generals who did not kowtow to him. In short, you do not seem to appreciate an important part of the checks and balances of our government.
Also, pace a constant stream of charges by Republicans that President Biden has politicized the administration of justice because former President Trump has been indicted on major felonies, the truth is that the indictments were the work of special counsels who are even further insulated from the rest of the Justice Department and the FBI.
I have read the Florida and Washington, D.C. Federal indictments. They contain overwhelming evidence of his guilt. Unless you also have done so, you simply are not in a position to evaluate the charges and evidence.
So it would be wrong, in the opinion of Biden, Garland, and Wray, for the FBI to "fortify the election" by fabricating evidence against Smirnov? Why would it be? It would increase their chances of fending of a party and a person that they regard as utterly illegitimate. If the Red Wave had occurred, what were they going to say other than "Democracy was on the ballot, and democracy lost"? Translation from the Left-Speak: "It's only democracy if we win". We are not living in 1973. The Far Left has at this point successfully de-legitimized all of Western Civilization. As John Adams once (more or less) said, no system of checks and balances will prevent tyranny if those in power do not believe in it. That is the world we are now living in, and that world is very convenient for elites who just want to make themselves indefinitely safe from any supposedly outrageous populist challenge to their elite status. The ideological pretext has been created. The road is clear. And self-interest means going down it.
It is hardly "absurd" to note that "indicted" is not the same as "guilty", especially in a situation where are, at least at the historical moment, no means of independent confirmation.
Nor is it "absurd" to note that, if moles were automatically discredited, intelligence services would not seek to create them. The fact (if it is fact: nothing is secure in the Shadow World) that Smirnov got his information (or "allegations" from Russian spies does not imply anything about truth or non-truth. Maybe they were lying. Maybe they were not. Maybe they were just wrong. Maybe they were not.
The charges against Trump have nothing to do with any of this.
Sorry to say, but clearly you have such a conspiratorial mindset that you are unable to distinguish real evidence from paranoid fantasy.
So suffice it for me to say that it would be absolutely totally wrong for anyone in the Justice Department or the FBI to fabricate any evidence at all about anything. If you can really prove that anyone did anything like this they belong in prison.
Hence, as I have repeatedly said to Sasha and her followers: Do you really have the desired evidence? If so, immediately call Fox News and share it with them. I am sure that Ingraham or Hannity will want to book you for prime time ASAP!!! :-)
You have not been paying attention. A radical change in American politics happened after Trump won. You can see it in a graph presented by Andrew Sullivan (a Trump-hater) in his "What Happened to You?". (The piece seems to have two titles. The other one is something like "The Radicalization of Liberal Elites".) If you had been paying attention, you would have noticed that the Biden Administration talks about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, whereas the Obama Administration did not.
I do not posit any true conspiracy, just the usual "private" meetings at the top levels of the FBI, and the Biden campaign's to desire to discredit one of his main accusers, together with valuing power over democracy. Nothing about the process would be unusual, only the objective. If the FBI's "private" meetings qualify as conspiracies, then you are a conspiracy theorist.
The question is not whether *you* would think it wrong for the FBI to fabricate evidence in order to "save democracy". The question is whether Wray and Biden would think it wrong. Or perhaps whether Kimberle Crenshaw would think it wrong. (I guarantee you she would not.) Nothing in the process I posit would be unusual, only the objective: using the FBI to help a presidential campaign. (You may recall that Nixon attempted something similar.)
I do not claim to have proven that Smirnov's accusations are true. You, by contrast, act as if you have proven that they are false. You have not. What you have done instead is engage in the behavior that Biden and Wray were, in my view, trying to get: trumpeting.
Thank you for confirming my suspicions. If you have any real hard evidence for your conspiratorial theories, please share it with us. Otherwise I am inclined to dismiss your remarks as pure fantasy.
I understand that I may be a troglodyte or an old fogy. However I am still trying to live in a world where verifiable evidence - not mere suspicions, half-truths, partisan talking points, and Russian propaganda - counts. In the future hopefully you might try to do the same.
Ugggh! The constant rundown of all these crimes say in and day out for years now is so boring.its almost like They expect us to do something about it. Like What? Are we suppose to do. I did the most helpful thing I could think of. I switched from Republican to unenrolled here in Massachusetts.
You know. Like . No pressure Republicans. Take your time. Find your spine. Pull it together and go back to being YOUR OWN. Political party.
Not going to happens. These poor lost souls are lost.
Jeesh. Thanks Jim Jordan. How did I already know all of this. Not trying to sound rude. But The old decrepit man will take credit for all these crimes if you ask him about it.
Good Lord. I feel bad for the Republicans.
Comer and the rest have taken on the job of news reporters of all crimes Liberal. We already know all of this. How about some prevention?
We still have Mitch McConnell. Romney. Biden. Pelosi.
We know they are all dirty. Filled their pockets annd their offspring’s pockets Orchestrated Jan 6. Put their hands on the scale of 2020 election (at the very least). Nothing is ever done.
We actually have Nikki Hayley hoping and praying they take Trump down so the she can be the UniParty candidate.
Scumbags all of them. Well, actually I think Biden is in a class all by himself
Not just Joe, the entire Biden clan is as filthy as it gets. One of the most transparently corrupt and inept politicians in Washington was installed in the Presidency and is now hands down the most corrupt and inept President America has ever seen. While half of America still refuses to acknowledge it.
Is Trump in some sort of legal trouble or something? Asking because every time a poll shows Biden’s approval rating plummeting even lower, new charges are brought against people causing trouble for Biden and the Dems.
"Later that same day, $400,000 was moved from the joint entity’s account to a personal account of Hunter Biden. A few weeks later, Joe Biden received a $40,000 check."
But "10% for the Big Guy" was supposed to be part of the vast right wing conspiracy, right?
Boy have we come a long way since 'Billy Beer'
And at least they weren't trying to sell it to the Chinese.
I don't know. Did you check your halo for a bright incandescent light bulb?
Everyone, let me introduce you to the friendly neighborhood democrat party bot, otherwise known as Lebkuchen Honigkucken. He never fails to try to turn the truth into something “far right” and Trumps fault. Welcome to the party pal.
Truth? You CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH! The truth is that Democrats have been corrupt since Andy Jackson.
Liars can't handle the truth. It's a caste system.
Somewhere along the line Sara Biden (brother James's wife) withdrew $50k in cash - actual currency - and redeposited it into her personal account, then wrote one of the many "loan repayment" checks to the President.
"On August 28, 2017, Sara Biden withdrew $50,000 in cash from Lion Hall Group. Later the same day, she deposited it into her and James Biden’s personal checking account. On September 3, 2017, Sara Biden cut a check to Joe Biden for $40,000 for a “loan repayment.”"
https://oversight.house.gov/release/comer-reveals-how-joe-biden-received-laundered-china-money/
Like Fani Willis, funny business is disproportionately done in cash.
Lots of loans in that family with no accompanying paperwork - notes, payment schedules, etc. This it eh oldest tax dodge known, claiming that it's money that must be repaid or, as in third case, money that was already mine once. Auditors aren't that stupid and will dig deeper unless specifically ordered not to.
This is the Biden issue. Auditor whistleblowers have come forward and testified that their IRS bosses shielded the Bidens from scrutiny.
Thank you for pointing this out to the many people on this site who only listen to Fox News.
Wait, Bill & Leb, I’m having a hard time following. Am I not to watch Fox, and also not to watch those that Fox fired as well?
Got it. I think most of us, including Sasha, knew that Fox was another facet of MSM and projecting Ruling Class narratives long (long) before Tucker was fired. I mean Sean Hannity was as much a shrill as Don Lemon, and in some cases, even Rachel Madow.
Why does Biden crime family always twist themselves into a syndicate of lending banks, pray tell?
Putting "the Brand" in Brandon.
Putting the Bought in "Biden". Putting the Hoe in Joe.
America has already let the Bidens--and everyone else in their regime--get away with it. I can barely stand to listen to the talking heads any more.
Yeah. I agree. I don’t even watch the talking heads. Not sure how anyone could daily.
I do check in from time to time to see if anything new is going on. Nope. Never.
They are the Opitime of Groundhog Day.
And now……… back to Russia.
As I do like to poke fun. I’m even getting tired of doing that.
I agree. The comically corrupt corporate media is utterly intolerable now, just continuous lies.
I won't listen to it for even a second, and if someone turns it on in public, I leave immediately.
No. You can't. Not a single one.
And on the other side we have Mitch McConnell who's wife's family owns The Foremost Group which is an Asian based shipping/shipbuilding bidness that prolly ships fentanyl and Glock switches to our southern border and the Cartel's the Chinese launder money for....
There is one reason only that Trump was kicked out of office: China.
Git after it Sasha!
You are appreciated.
"It’s really a story as old as time. The question is—will Americans let the Bidens get away with it."
Of course. As long as they servie the interests of the Uniparty, prosecutors will turn a blind eye. None of the Bidens ever will see the inside of a prison cell.
So can we at least stop talking about it.
. Weve gone well over the usual amount of time talking about something Nobody is going to do anything about.
That would have been one day. If even that.
Ridiculous and boring.
Don’t be so full of doom and gloom. AI will save our sinking ship. It’s always darkest just before dawn. Soon the sun will shine and all will be well with the world. No doubt about it. Here’s some nice dancing to cheer you up. No one does dance better than the Russians. If I was rich I’d go live in Moscow which is no doubt far safer than Chicago which is being destroyed by city-wide black wilding, carjacking and crime. I wish we could trade Biden for Putin. Putin would work for America rather than the CCP and the Cartels. Putin would make America great again.
“Igor Moiseyev Ballet.” (5 min)
Russian ballet practice. Nov. 2018
https://youtu.be/sWK-zbbvKG4?si=i3df4VzcQWGWVdbQ
You don't have to be rich to escape Chicago. Lots of places in real America have lower cost of living.
I’ve lived in Chicago all my life and don’t know anyone anywhere else so where would I go? Plus our whole society is rotting so where are these safe places? The cities will collapse first and then the shock waves will bring the rest of it down. Actually our whole world is in a tailspin? This is why I believe only AI can save us. We’ll soon see about that.
Many rural areas and small towns are safe places. Just because you have done something your whole life doesn't mean you have to keep doing it when it has become dysfunctional which is your description of Chicago. Time to bail. I bailed from Denver a decade ago because I could see it coming.
I couldn’t live in places like that. Too different, too quiet. I think I’d just get very depressed. Plus I also have a lot of cats. Couldn’t move them, couldn’t leave them behind. I think then that when the waves of hate sink this city me and my cats will just have to go down with the ship. It is what it is. No point crying about it.
Funny. As much as I love Russian ballet, I would not want Putin to be our president. He is certainly smarter than Biden, but then anyone is as this point. Putin is an aged madman with a delusion of grandeur. Nope, thank you.
“Putin is an aged madman with a delusion of grandeur.”
That’s Hillary’s assessment of him. Prof. John Mearsheimer is a political science and international affairs expert at the University of Chicago. He has a much more accurate assessment of Putin and Ukraine.
“The most important video on Ukraine.” (7 min)
John Anderson interviews Prof. John Mearsheimer. Jan 10, 2024
https://youtu.be/emD1cN2xEz4?si=Q1g9PLmrAz0qQ2wP
With all due respect, Seva, yes- Putin wants to restore the glory of the Russian empire in its pre-revolutionary borders or in its Soviet borders, whatever is larger, using Stalin’s methods of governing. In my eyes he is a madman with delusions of grandeur.
I do not care of what Hilary has to say about anything. And I have mild interest in what American professors think of Putin because I have read and viewed enough material in Russian to form my opinion. I was born there and lived for a few decades, so I dare to say I may have a good understanding of the situation. Though, unfortunately, I lost contact with close friends because it is risky for them and also because, sadly, so many have been brainwashed by Putin’s relentless and effective propaganda. Imagine our country with only two sources of info: MSNBC and CNN 24/7 and nothing else.
You, of course, may find the opinion of an American professor more reliable than my personal take. I understand. But having Putin or someone like him as our president - NO.
I like Putin. He doesn’t despise white people, is intelligent enough to understand that a country needs borders to be a country and sane enough to know there are only two genders rather than scores with more discovered all the time. Plus he understands that America and the West are rotting due to the Woke virus which Elon quite right calls “a mind virus” and “a threat to civilization.” Check out his speech from a few years ago where he condemned Woke ideology. Basically said “Been there. Done that. No thanks.”
The Russian leader reserved particular disdain for the sexualisation of children and the presence of radical gender theory in Western education. “There are some monstrous things when from a very young age, you teach to children that the boy can easily become a girl and you impose on them this selection.” He continued: “You push the parents aside and make the child take these decisions that can destroy their lives. And if we call the spade a spade, this is nigh to crime against humanity, and all of that under the banner of progress…”
“Vladimir Putin addresses the decline of western civilization in anti-woke speech.”
Putin highlighted similarities between woke progressives to the Soviet revolutionaries who took over Russia in a speech translated by the Kremlin. Oct 22, 2021
https://www.rebelnews.com/vladimir_putin_addresses_the_decline_of_western_civilization_in_anti_woke_speech
Great dancing. Love it.
Feral Finster. I love you . And you usually sound sane. Please. The Bodens are a waste of everyone’s times. They are a freak show. You can Not be possibly be saying that you want to drag these freaks through a court room.
No. Let them go home and let’s forget about them.
They have nothing compared to the Clintons in Their time.
Let’s stop pretending that they mean anything . Good bye. Go home.
You miss my point.
Yes. I obviously did. If I miss read it. My apologies. You are a force for good Feral Finster
No worries.
Sorry. Rush typing. No editing. You get the idea.
by large majorities, Democrats think that Biden should be their nominee, and that he has dementia.
Also a good meme idea!
https://patrick.net/post/1340724/2021-08-18-afghan-chaos-undercuts-biden-s-promise?start=1091#comment-2039592
This timeline is probably familiar to the majority of Congress, because they engage in similar activities. Biden inadvertently got exposed by the limelight of the Presidency.
Yeah. I agree. Congress is def on a weird timeline.
The laptop wouldn't have changed the election. Just the number of fake ballots.
Lol, that makes a decent meme:
https://patrick.net/post/1340105/2021-07-14-hunter-biden-s-laptop-confirms-joe?start=407#comment-2039590
Agree. And Biden's corruption and senility will only increase the number of fake ballots in 2024. Biden will "win" in 2024.
Thanks Sasha. I grew up in the '50's and I was taught that the 3 branches of government were self-correcting. If one branch became too powerful, the other branches would rein it in. But today I see the tentacles of corruption throughout every branch of government. The executive is corrupt, the judicial is corrupt and the legislative is corrupt. Where do patriots go to get redress?
Now we see that if you make too much noise, the intelligence agencies will come after you too. This is not America. Where will this end?
As long as people have hope that corrective measures will straighten things out, they can remain patient. But when good honest God-fearing people lose hope, they attempt to fix it themselves, and the result of that is never pretty--think about the French Revolution. That is not what I want.
What am I leaving to my 3 grandsons? They will never have the life I had. But I do know there is a God, there is a Heaven, and there is a hell. and ultimately there will be justice. I hope these people enjoy their wealth and power now, for they have no idea the price they will pay for it.
Good summary of the key points. Thank you Sasha.
Today (2/27/2024) there was a new development in the story of Alexander Smirnov and the Republican's investigation of Hunter Biden and Joe Biden which merits mention.
When asked about the indictment of a key Republican witness Alexander Smirnov for perjury, Representative James Comer (who chairs the House investigation) responded by attacking the FBI. Comer said "I don't know anything about Smirnov, but the circumstances around his indictment and his re-arrest and the changing of the original indictment by [special prosecutor David] Weiss is very concerning. Because everything that I've had to do with the FBI has been very suspicious throughout this investigation. The trust level that I have with the FBI is zero."
To cite just one reason to question Comer's response, both the current head of the FBI Christopher Wray and the special counsel David Weiss who brought the charges against Alexander Smirnov were appointed by former President Trump!
You can read the story here: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4492160-comer-takes-aim-at-fbi-after-informants-arrest-very-suspicious/
Comer's behavior is reminiscent of how cult members commonly react when they receive news contradicting their beliefs. Often in such situations cult followers will not acknowledge their past errors, Instead they double down on their commitments and attack those offering the contradicting information. That, of course, is exactly what Representative Comer did.
Excellent, it all speaks for itself. Sadly, there's even far more to the corrupt story.
So today. I’ve been participating more than usual. Not sure my replies are ending up under the comments I replied to. That’s ok. I write clearly but messy. People get the idea. No matter the missplacement of replies.
Love all of you! It’s all in good fun and all in good faith. Non needs to be taken personally. As it’s about the whole scene.
Sasha,
When I first opened your piece, I thought that you might address or at least mention last week's really big news item for all of the Republican investigations of President Biden, namely the perjury indictment of the Republican's star informant Alexander Smirnov for perjury. Unfortunately you disappointed me. You never even mention Smirnov and what happened last week.
Alexander Smirnov has been the Republicans star informant. He now stands accused by the special prosecutor investigating Hunter Biden of lying to the government and working with Russian intelligence to smear the Bidens. Currently Smirnov is in jail in Las Vegas pending arraignment and the government is fighting his release on bail lest he flee the country for Russia.
So significant is this development that it has even briefly been reported on Fox News! Last week when asked about this story Republican House impeachment leasers repeatedly ducked reporters questions about this story.
Following are some links concerning this story.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/joe-biden/ex-fbi-informant-charged-false-intel-bidens-set-appear-court-rcna140454
https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/22/politics/alexander-smirnov-re-arrested/index.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/21/us/politics/smirnov-fbi-biden-russia.html
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-02-26/fbi-informant-bidens-detention-hearing
Sasha, instead of rehashing old poorly evidenced innuendos and discredited charges, would you care to comment on last week's really significant development in the Biden impeachment inquiry? I would really like to hear your response to this major development in the alleged Biden corruption story.
"Sasha, When I first opened this piece, I thought that you might address or at least mention last week's the really big news item in all of the Republican investigations of President Biden, namely the perjury indictment of the Republican's star informant Alexander Smirnov for perjury."
First off, this guy has been working with the FBI as an informant for decades. That they would suddenly flip on him in this way is suspect. What Jim Jordan says in his summary exists regardless of the bribe the informant supposedly named. What it looks more like to me, and I don't bring it up because it sounds more like a conspiracy, is a Nixon-level ratf*cking. That is, deliver something false to gullible people. When they put themselves on the line for it and it comes out it's a fraud they're discredited.
We saw this with the "Kraken" and the 2020 election. It's a brilliant strategy to give people like you permission to ignore the more serious charges. All Biden and the Democrats need to do is give people who posture moral superiority a reason to say "it's all phony." And lucky for them, most people -- most journalists -- are suckers. I do not trust anyone to get the real story there. BUT it doesn't matter. What Jim Jordan is saying here has nothing to do with that, except that some Republicans like Nancy Mace were played.
IBrilliant analysis. This is Nixonian ratf*cking! I laughed out loud at this indictment but couldn't figure out the four D chess.
Yeah . maybe. But what a waste of time.
I mean these people have proven you can analyze and make endless details out of nothing. Where do they go from here? I hope they just go home.
Sasha,
Over many months you and I have repeatedly discussed the need to support opinions with hard evidence, not with character attacks, innuendos, other opinions, and conspiratorial theories.
So to repeat the real news item: Alexander Smirnov, a key Republican witness in the President Biden impeachment inquiry, has been indicted by a grand jury. Evidence was presented showing that there is probable cause to believe that he commit perjury and acted on behalf of Russian intelligence.
Instead of addressing this very important matter, you bring up other cases which failed in court because of the lack of real evidence. Remember that with one temporary minor procedural case in Pennsylvania, every one of the Trump 2020 election fraud allegations failed in court, many for lack of evidence. A mere hypothesis is not evidence. You need documents and witnesses who will swear under oath to what they saw. For all of the allegations of 2020 election fraud, none have actually stood up in court.
And as to Sidney Powell, the woman of Kraken fame, she has plead guilty to election interference charges in Georgia:
https://www.npr.org/2023/10/19/1207076719/sidney-powell-georgia-guilty-plea
Her evidence of election fraud was as mythological as the Norse Kraken.
So if you can do so, please address the actual Smirnov story.
You are using NPR as a source. Enough said.
Sasha has the Smirnov story right. It's a misdirection play by the regime.
Don’t feed the troll.
Here is a link to a Fox News report on this story:
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/former-fbi-informant-accused-lying-bidens-business-dealings-transferred-california
The Smirnov stuff does not invalidate the Hunter Biden laptop or the testimony of Hunter Biden associates, or numerous $$ transfers documented by banks. If Trump were doing this with 20 shell companies and a laptop from his son were discovered with analogous info, the response of media would be different I think.
Sorry, but as you know the Hunter Biden laptop is such a compromised piece of evidence of such murky provenance that it will never stand up in court.
Republican assertions to the contrary, witness after witness has testified under oath that President Biden was not involved with Hunter Biden's business activities.
For months, Republicans have gone on Fox News et al with tantalizing stories based on half-truths and innuendos. While I readily acknowledge that it is possible that there may be real evidence of President Biden's malfeasance, I have not seen it. If is existed, Republican investigators would have produced it by now for all of us to see. So sorry to say, to me the whole "corrupt Biden crime family" story appears to be on a par with the 2020 election fraud story, a piece of partisan mythology lacked real verifiable court admissible evidence.
Unlike many on this site, I remain of an open mind. I have opinions but I can be convinced that I am wrong. However to alter my opinion you will need to show me real verifiable court admissible evidence, not half-truths and conspiracy theories.
William, the FBI and DOJ both said the laptop was authentic and belonged to Hunter. Payments have been made and those transactions have been validated. Multiple witnesses have testified that Joe was involved. Hunter did have a job with Burisma and was paid $1 mil. His arrangements with companies in China and others are all documented. There is much evidence. You just wish to ignore it. As does the DNC and media. Don’t be like them.
Saying that the laptop is Hunter Biden's is a different thing from saying that the content of its hard drive is Hunter Biden's. And that it what is at issue. The laptop chain of custody is too compromised to permit the hard drive content to be court admissible.
Pace what you say, no one has testified under oath that Joe Biden was involved in Hunter Biden's business activities. Au contraire, multiple witnesses before the current investigations committee said the exact opposite, giving sworn testimony that Joe Biden was not involved in Hunter Biden's business activities.
No. The authentication was to prove the laptop (and its contents) are Hunters. Which the FBI and DOJ both as well as several other 3rd parties have all validated. Chain of custody issues with the FBI? Hardly, and not for a court of law anyway. Multiple witnesses have said that Joe was involved. There is also a paper trail of transactions. Sorry but there is more evidence that says Joe is compromised and corrupt. You have to admit there is much more evidence for impeachment of Joe than was produced for the 2 impeachments of Trump
Barron,
The chain of custody issues arise before the laptop reached the FBI. Multiple people had access to the laptop between the time Hunter Biden left it off at the repair store and the FBI gaining control of it. There simply is no way to know whether someone added or deleted things off of the hard drive, Hence the issue of legal admissibility.
As to "Multiple witnesses have said that Joe was involved": Who are these witnesses and where is there complete sworn public testimony? All that we hear about are selected snippets of confidential testimony, rumors, half-truths, conspiracy theories, etc., etc. No one has yet testified under oath in a public setting that Joe Biden was involved in Hunter Biden's business dealings and, in fact, several have testified under oath that he was not.
So sorry, let me say again, that to the best of my knowledge after months of Republican investigations, there is as yet no real court admissible evidence showing criminal malfeasance by President Biden. And to close the loop, last week's indictment for perjury of Alexander Smirnov, a key Republican witness, confirms my doubts.
William,
Here’s a link that hit my feed from The Free Press (the Scroll) that is a deep dive into the developing Smirnov case. There’s a lot to the story that seems weird/odd.
https://stephenmcintyre.substack.com/p/the-smirnov-indictment?utm_campaign=post_embed
That’s an interesting thought process. Look around for an paid informant you can throw under the bus. Assign that person the role of “star informant” of the investigation, even though he was nowhere mentioned as part of the evidence given in this story. Ignore the actual points raised in the story, and demand an explanation for the diversion you yourself created.
How about an explanation for what value Hunter Biden provided for the millions he received?
I want an explanation as to why the FBI trusted and paid him over many years.
And then, why the Repubs were to believe he would be reliable enough to force Wray to cough up the memo with the information that is now perjurious.
And if there were or are any other providers of info to the FBI that have made things up and not been indicted...
Heyjude,
I do not think that your take on events is quite correct. It is not a matter of throwing Alexander Smirnov under the bus as rather the special prosecutor investigating Hunter Biden realizing that this key Hunter Biden accuser was committing perjury and was a tool of Russian intelligence. Do you actually have any real evidence for your alternative version of events? I have very strong evidence for my interpretation, namely that a grand jury reviewed the available evidence and found probably cause that Smirnov commit perjury.
Read today's LA Times story about Smirnov (I link to it above). As a human being, Smirnov clearly was a very dubious character.
Thank you williamj for exposing yourself as an apologist for the malfeasance of this administration while claiming to have an ‘open mind’. You are clearly ignoring the overwhelming litany of documented Biden family grift and deceit, not to mention the DOJ and FBI law fare machinations, pretending that somehow the spurious discrediting of Smirnov negates it all.
Rooster,
I do not think that I am ignoring anything. I read widely and listen to multiple news channels.
What I refuse to do is to be guided by prejudice and bias. I try to form my opinions based upon verifiable evidence, especially evidence that can be admitted in a court of law. Too many people on this site bring their biases to the table and filter the available information via those prejudices.
I am not aware of any criminal malfeasance by President Biden in connection with his son. I am aware of lots of charges, lots of half-truths and innuendos, lots of conspiracy theories, etc. If there was real hard evidence produce it. Otherwise just admit that you are biased and prejudiced.
And OJ didn’t kill his ex wife and a waiter. Sure.
You really can't put two and two together, can you.
Sort of like, "But we don't have proof cigarettes cause lung cancer!" and "Vaccines have not been proven to cause autism and other injuries and deaths!"
Right.
I think I’ll let you do the LA Times reading.
An FBI informant is of dubious character? Are you somehow under the impression that most informants are fine upstanding citizens who were no doubt altar boys in their youth?
As I said, interesting thought process.
Thank you for acknowledging that you do not want to expose yourself to news sources presenting evidenced stories contrary to your opinions.
I will make it easier for you.
Who is Christopher Wray's boss? Merrick Garland.
Who is Merrick Garland's boss? Joe Biden.
While I am at it, your argument contains the following two propositions. 1) 'Guilty until proven innocent", and 2) "Wrong about one thing, wrong about everything". Do you really believe either one of those? I hope not. I prefer to believe that you are merely being dishonest, as usual.
Here's a 3rd perfectly fair question for you: what would be wrong with the FBI fabricating evidence against Smirnov in order to help Biden "save democracy"?
And here's a 4th: how would any mole *not* be in contact with Russian intelligence operatives? So all moles are automatically "discredited"? How does that work?
You should really think more about what you are saying.
David,
Pace what you say, my argument contains neither of the objectionable propositions which you ascribe to me. Your accusation is simply absurd.
As to your argument about Christopher Wray reporting to Merrick Garland and Merrick Garland reporting to Joe Biden, what you miss is that in order to ensure the uniform, impartial administration of the law the Justice Department has traditionally enjoyed considerable independence and insulation from the rest of the government and the FBI enjoys considerable independence from the rest of the Justice Department. If any political appointee attempted to interfere with the FBI or a President with the administration of justice by the Justice Department, it would be major news and could well lead to a resignation. Remember what happened with President Nixon and the 1973 Saturday night massacre. More recently, as you will recall, one of many things that distressed President Trump was the very independence of both the FBI and his Attorney Generals. Trump tried to subvert that independence and he repeatedly replaced Attorney Generals who did not kowtow to him. In short, you do not seem to appreciate an important part of the checks and balances of our government.
Also, pace a constant stream of charges by Republicans that President Biden has politicized the administration of justice because former President Trump has been indicted on major felonies, the truth is that the indictments were the work of special counsels who are even further insulated from the rest of the Justice Department and the FBI.
I have read the Florida and Washington, D.C. Federal indictments. They contain overwhelming evidence of his guilt. Unless you also have done so, you simply are not in a position to evaluate the charges and evidence.
So it would be wrong, in the opinion of Biden, Garland, and Wray, for the FBI to "fortify the election" by fabricating evidence against Smirnov? Why would it be? It would increase their chances of fending of a party and a person that they regard as utterly illegitimate. If the Red Wave had occurred, what were they going to say other than "Democracy was on the ballot, and democracy lost"? Translation from the Left-Speak: "It's only democracy if we win". We are not living in 1973. The Far Left has at this point successfully de-legitimized all of Western Civilization. As John Adams once (more or less) said, no system of checks and balances will prevent tyranny if those in power do not believe in it. That is the world we are now living in, and that world is very convenient for elites who just want to make themselves indefinitely safe from any supposedly outrageous populist challenge to their elite status. The ideological pretext has been created. The road is clear. And self-interest means going down it.
It is hardly "absurd" to note that "indicted" is not the same as "guilty", especially in a situation where are, at least at the historical moment, no means of independent confirmation.
Nor is it "absurd" to note that, if moles were automatically discredited, intelligence services would not seek to create them. The fact (if it is fact: nothing is secure in the Shadow World) that Smirnov got his information (or "allegations" from Russian spies does not imply anything about truth or non-truth. Maybe they were lying. Maybe they were not. Maybe they were just wrong. Maybe they were not.
The charges against Trump have nothing to do with any of this.
Sorry to say, but clearly you have such a conspiratorial mindset that you are unable to distinguish real evidence from paranoid fantasy.
So suffice it for me to say that it would be absolutely totally wrong for anyone in the Justice Department or the FBI to fabricate any evidence at all about anything. If you can really prove that anyone did anything like this they belong in prison.
Hence, as I have repeatedly said to Sasha and her followers: Do you really have the desired evidence? If so, immediately call Fox News and share it with them. I am sure that Ingraham or Hannity will want to book you for prime time ASAP!!! :-)
You have not been paying attention. A radical change in American politics happened after Trump won. You can see it in a graph presented by Andrew Sullivan (a Trump-hater) in his "What Happened to You?". (The piece seems to have two titles. The other one is something like "The Radicalization of Liberal Elites".) If you had been paying attention, you would have noticed that the Biden Administration talks about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, whereas the Obama Administration did not.
I do not posit any true conspiracy, just the usual "private" meetings at the top levels of the FBI, and the Biden campaign's to desire to discredit one of his main accusers, together with valuing power over democracy. Nothing about the process would be unusual, only the objective. If the FBI's "private" meetings qualify as conspiracies, then you are a conspiracy theorist.
The question is not whether *you* would think it wrong for the FBI to fabricate evidence in order to "save democracy". The question is whether Wray and Biden would think it wrong. Or perhaps whether Kimberle Crenshaw would think it wrong. (I guarantee you she would not.) Nothing in the process I posit would be unusual, only the objective: using the FBI to help a presidential campaign. (You may recall that Nixon attempted something similar.)
I do not claim to have proven that Smirnov's accusations are true. You, by contrast, act as if you have proven that they are false. You have not. What you have done instead is engage in the behavior that Biden and Wray were, in my view, trying to get: trumpeting.
David,
Thank you for confirming my suspicions. If you have any real hard evidence for your conspiratorial theories, please share it with us. Otherwise I am inclined to dismiss your remarks as pure fantasy.
I understand that I may be a troglodyte or an old fogy. However I am still trying to live in a world where verifiable evidence - not mere suspicions, half-truths, partisan talking points, and Russian propaganda - counts. In the future hopefully you might try to do the same.
Bill
Google Kevin Clinesmith and FISA warrants, then come back and tell us that the DOJ would never do such a thing as fabricate evidence.
"Evidence of guilt" is proven in a court of law in front of a jury of peers, not in an indictment. Go back to Google Law School.
Who's in charge of the FBI?
Oh God. What’s next? A one on one with Mike Pompey
Dirty as my garden shovel.
Ugggh! The constant rundown of all these crimes say in and day out for years now is so boring.its almost like They expect us to do something about it. Like What? Are we suppose to do. I did the most helpful thing I could think of. I switched from Republican to unenrolled here in Massachusetts.
You know. Like . No pressure Republicans. Take your time. Find your spine. Pull it together and go back to being YOUR OWN. Political party.
Not going to happens. These poor lost souls are lost.
Jeesh. Thanks Jim Jordan. How did I already know all of this. Not trying to sound rude. But The old decrepit man will take credit for all these crimes if you ask him about it.
Good Lord. I feel bad for the Republicans.
Comer and the rest have taken on the job of news reporters of all crimes Liberal. We already know all of this. How about some prevention?
Wouldn’t that be refreshing?
Republicans= NO SPINE!
We still have Mitch McConnell. Romney. Biden. Pelosi.
We know they are all dirty. Filled their pockets annd their offspring’s pockets Orchestrated Jan 6. Put their hands on the scale of 2020 election (at the very least). Nothing is ever done.
We actually have Nikki Hayley hoping and praying they take Trump down so the she can be the UniParty candidate.
Scumbags all of them. Well, actually I think Biden is in a class all by himself
Not just Joe, the entire Biden clan is as filthy as it gets. One of the most transparently corrupt and inept politicians in Washington was installed in the Presidency and is now hands down the most corrupt and inept President America has ever seen. While half of America still refuses to acknowledge it.
We have met the enemy and it is us.
Last sentence: you nailed it.
Is Trump in some sort of legal trouble or something? Asking because every time a poll shows Biden’s approval rating plummeting even lower, new charges are brought against people causing trouble for Biden and the Dems.
You mean evidence like a woman claiming rape from 30 years ago with exactly 0 proof, except she says it happened?