Joe Biden was speaking with reporters in Iowa when Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked the relevant question about the controversy over his son’s windfall business dealings while he was Vice President. Doocy asked “How many times have you spoken to your son about his overseas business dealings?” Biden’s response was the second greatest surprise from the press scrum. Biden declared “I have never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings.” The greatest surprise was what followed. Nothing. The rest of the press corps let Biden walk away without a single follow up answer of how it is possible for Biden could fly to China on Air Force II with Hunter Biden and never hear that his son was about to close an over billion dollar deal with the government’s Bank of China. Nothing. I just wrote a column noting the conspicuous lack of interest in the Biden deals by the media. Biden simply attacked Trump and barked at Doocy to “Ask the right questions!” He then continued on with his campaign.
Hunter Biden accompanied his father on an official trip aboard Air Force Two to China. Shortly thereafter, Hunter signed a $1 billion private equity deal with a subsidiary of the Bank of China, a deal that was later expanded to $1.5 billion. So Biden flew for almost a full day to and back from China but his son never mentioned that he was working on an over one billion dollar deal with China? One could ask what his son was even doing on an official trip to China and why he did not feel compelled (for ethical, if not familial, reasons) to mention this potential conflict of interest for his father.
Hunter also was asked to be a director of a Ukrainian natural gas company, Burisma Holdings, owned by a government minister and close associate of bloodsoaked former president and Russian stooge Viktor Yanukovych. Biden later forced the government to fire the Ukrainian chief prosecutor fired after he threatened to investigate Burisma Holdings. Biden bragged that he held up more than $1 billion in loan guarantees and gave the Ukrainians just hours to fire the prosecutor.
In fairness to Biden, the United States and many countries were clamoring for Ukraine to act on its rampant corruption, including the need for a more aggressive prosecutor. However, the obvious conflicts posed by Hunter’s dealings has been largely ignored.
There are two concerns with Hunter Biden. One is the concern of whether Joe Biden knew that his actions may benefit his son. I am willing to believe that Biden was not aware of the potential investigation of his son’s company in the Ukraine. Yet, there is the other question of whether the Biden family cashed in on Biden’s positions in these convenient and ample contracts. Children and spouses of politicians are often given positions and contracts to influence them. These payments are more difficult to track and to address under anti-corruption laws. Now, there is the incredible suggestion that Hunter Biden has never (even to this day) discussed his business dealings with his father. Never.
What has long been difficult for many of us to square is how China and the Ukraine searched the world over for the best possible person to handle almost $2 billion and they just happened to come up with the son of the Vice President of the United States, a world leader who happened to be coming to their countries with massive trade and aid plans. Hunter Biden was that much of an intellectual and finance genius from Asia to Europe and beyond?
Biden’s response in Iowa perfectly reflected the past handling of this story. Reporters have raised the story and then simply observe that Joe Biden denies any knowledge of the dealings. Thus, absent a confession, there is no evidence of wrongdoing or corruption. That’s it. It is hardly the approach taken to stories involving Trump family dealings. Yet, here was a politician faced with a serious question involving his son’s alleged profiteering during his term as Vice President and Biden lectured the reporter on “asking the right questions.” He just then walked away . . . or, perhaps more accurately, the media walked away.
David Leonhardt explains The Donald in 40 sentences: TNYT.
And ever on and on and on…
Have all the spleens been vented then?
No, it appears that PCS needs to go on and on…
David Benson is the God Emperor of Making Stuff Up and owes me thirty-seven citations (one from the OED, one from the town ordinances and two from the Old Testament), an equation and the source of a quotation, after forty-four weeks, and needs to cite all his work from now on. – still in mourning after losing to a team who was 0-3? They scored 29 points on you in the 4th quarter.
Was Biden the subject of a whistleblower complaint by someone who risked his or her career to report conduct that could be a threat to national security? Is this piece suggesting that there is anything close to equivalence between Trump’s endless lying and sketchy secret deals with foreign leaders and Joe Biden denying that he knew about some deal between his SON, not him, and a Ukrainian?
This sounds like classic Kellyanne pivoting. How lame.
Yes, just a gossip column.
Wait. NUTCHACHA, what do you know about “lame?”
Music song played on the night of the Democratic Primary election:
Bye, bye, Miss American pie…
Drove my Biden to the levee but the levee was dry..
Good ol boys drinking whiskey and rye..singing…
This will be the day Biden’s high.
When you believe in rock n roll…
The juke box plays the Rolling Stones…
Show properties respect for rank, viz:
Yoman it out;
Knight it out;
Baron it out;
Count it out;
Duke it out;
King it out.
Terminal paraboloid sections: pointy heads
“I have never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings.” I lie.
“Hunter Biden’s sweetheart foreign business deals are creating a big problem for his father’s presidential campaign.” YUP they are.
BBB – bye bye biden
This is not going away.
Ukraine 2nd most corrupt, at least in Europe.
DBB, you must be counting Russia. But how about Belgium?
Yes, Russia is a Eurasian country so counts as a European one.
Belgium has a low corruption index, even tho’ the populace doesn’t trust the government.
Just abuncha gossips.
TRUMP SWINGS THROUGH CALIFORNIA..
TO REAP $15 MILLION FROM FOUR FUNDRAISERS
BUT CASH GRAB EXPOSES BIG LIE
“The president does not believe California is in play, but there is surprisingly a decent pot of money in fundraising in the state,” said one close White House adviser. “The same people who gave to his campaign have a list of problems they have with the state, and they’re running up against a Democratic state legislature while looking for creative solutions.”
Trump is more than happy to listen to their concerns at roundtables and private dinners and lunches. Trump supporter and California attorney Harmeet Dhillon said the president’s message to California-based donors this week behind closed doors included discussions of rising property crime, immigration and homelessness in San Francisco.
The four fundraisers Trump attended in Los Angeles, San Diego, Beverly Hills and the San Francisco area netted $15 million for Trump Victory, a joint fundraising committee made up of the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee, said one Republican official familiar with the events.
Trump’s donor base in California is bigger than one would presume for a blue state, even if many of its donors would prefer to remain under-the-radar given Trump’s divisiveness. In 2016, between May and the November election, the Trump campaign and the RNC took in roughly $11.2 million in donations of at least $5,000 or more from California residents, according to data from the Federal Election Commission.
Edited from: “Trump’s Obsession With California Has Cash Benefits”
Politico, 9/20/19
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
$15 million from four stops in L.A., San Diego and The Bay Area; not bad for a state Trump loves to hate. Apparently some very rich Republicans live in California. This comes as no surprise to California residents. We’ve always known a strong faction of Republicans resides in this state. No Democrat here ever thought that every last Republican had left California.
So what lie does this story expose?
It is ridiculous to think ‘illegal aliens’ were voting in significant numbers here on Election Day 2016. This story reveals that many rich Republicans are alive and well in California. Had this state openly tolerated voting by ‘illegals’, Republicans had the power and money to make a huge stink. They would have quickly pinpointed the most suspicious voting districts. That would not have been hard to do. These resident Republicans know California. They would have had no trouble exposing election irregularities had such abuse taken place.
Therefore this common talking point that ‘illegals’ in California were responsible for Hillary’s Popular Vote victory is just the lamest of stupid lies.
Has Biden ever had a job or met a payroll? Seems like a wise (i.e. lucrative) move to Delaware from Scranton, PA. Why is practically every corporation in America headquartered in Delaware? What exactly do the politicians in Delaware do to attract all those corporations? Delaware has what, 950,000 people? Biden seems to have a knack for ending up where the money is – Delaware, China, Ukraine. How about a special prosecutor for the Biden family to see just how a politician who has never worked in his life made so much money? Is Delaware near the ocean because it seem awfully fishy!
Hell no. Biden has never had to make life on his own. Only off the public tit.
January 23, 2018, Foreign Affairs Issue Launch. Pages are unnumbered.
“So they said they had—they were walking out to a press conference. I said, nah, I’m not going to—or, we’re not going to give you the billion dollars. They said, you have no authority. You’re not the president. The president said—I said, call him. (Laughter.) I said, I’m telling you, you’re not getting the billion dollars. I said, you’re not getting the billion. I’m going to be leaving here in, I think it was about six hours. I looked at them and said: I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money. Well, son of a bitch. (Laughter.) He got fired. And they put in place someone who was solid at the time.”
Hey JOE, your pants are on fire, you creep.
Sure BIll, Biden bragged about using his office to protect his son in a speech before the Council On Foreign Affairs. Are you kidding?
The Obama admininstration and our European allies had been trying to fire this prosecutor for at least a year prior to this precisely because he was not pursuing corruption in the country. Biden was bragging about being our point man on the entirely right thing to do and which was successful .
mespo, the unattributed text claims that begin this video are false. No wonder they are unattributed.
Sure BIll, Biden bragged about using his office to protect his son in a speech before the Council On Foreign Affairs. Are you kidding?
The Obama admininstration and our European allies had been trying to fire this prosecutor for at least a year prior to this precisely because he was not pursuing corruption in the country. Biden was bragging about being our point man on the entirely right thing to do and which was successful .
Anon1 – no one is jesting, Shirley.
As you are fond of dismissing what you don’t believe in, I am here to say that the Transcript is available and I have posted it here 2 times. Your post here is just a major spin job. Smells like cow manure to me. So, you get only 2 ‘pies’ out of 5 for only a mediocre spin. You have no facts to back it up.
Anon1:
“Sure BIll, Biden bragged about using his office to protect his son in a speech before the Council On Foreign Affairs. Are you kidding?”
***********
Oh, whom to believe? The law student plagiarist, who became the political speech plagiarist who had the luck to have a son who the Chinese picked from all the world’s arbitragers to give a $1.5 Billion deal while daddy was still in office and who never breathed a word to daddy despite daddy booting the guy in Ukraine who could blow the whistle on sonny boy? Or the guy who was just cleared of wrongdoing after a $40 Million witch-hunt that was unprecedented in the annals of our Democracy? Tough call, huh?
So mespo,it appears you do think BIden would appear before the Council on Foreign Relations and brag about using the federal treasury to pay off investigators getting too close to his son.
Interesting theory.
PS You may want to read the Mueller Report.
“Did you actually totally exonerate the president?” Nadler asked.
“No,” Mueller replied.
https://www.apnews.com/f109a539220b41218860fa68176a9c98
And as I said, “everybody starts exonerated.” You have to prove guilt.
mespo, you said Trump was cleared.
No, he wasn’t.
Perhaps you remember the letter now signed by former federal prosecutors of both parties
“We are former federal prosecutors. We served under both Republican and Democratic administrations at different levels of the federal system: as line attorneys, supervisors, special prosecutors, United States Attorneys, and senior officials at the Department of Justice. The offices in which we served were small, medium, and large; urban, suburban, and rural; and located in all parts of our country.
Each of us believes that the conduct of President Trump described in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report would, in the case of any other person not covered by the Office of Legal Counsel policy against indicting a sitting President, result in multiple felony charges for obstruction of justice.
The Mueller report describes several acts that satisfy all of the elements for an obstruction charge: conduct that obstructed or attempted to obstruct the truth-finding process, as to which the evidence of corrupt intent and connection to pending proceedings is overwhelming. These include:
· The President’s efforts to fire Mueller and to falsify evidence about that effort;
· The President’s efforts to limit the scope of Mueller’s investigation to exclude his conduct; and
· The President’s efforts to prevent witnesses from cooperating with investigators probing him and his campaign….”
(details follow)
https://medium.com/@dojalumni/statement-by-former-federal-prosecutors-8ab7691c2aa1
Anon1:
The jury doesn’t say “innocent” they “not guilty,” which means “legally cleared” of the charges.
Completely irrelevant mespo, as you surely know. There has been no trial and no jury. As president the DOJ says there can’t be one.
You said “cleared”.
There
“Who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?”
– Groucho Marx
Anon1 – why was Obama interfering in their business?
Paul, as major recipients of our aid, we and our European allies had a reasonable interest in the Ukrainian government not being corrupt. Shokin was a controversial figure who was accused of not acting against corruption by many people, including at public demonstrations. If Biden was acting to protect his son – the timeline is not even correct – he had many allies who it is hard to believe GAFF about Hunter Biden.
https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-protest-prosecutor-shokin-dismissal/27639981.html
Anon1, our post of 4:13 has more holes in it than a colander. How do you defend our Central American “friends” who take our aid then export their citizens to you know where. Your BS sounds just too good to be true. Especially since Russia invaded the Ukrainian.
The timeline of threat to withhold money unless an investigator was fired, then little biden jr getting a wheelbarrow full of money is just too hard to believe. How do you know what was behind the investigation? Were you there? Did you work for the Obama State Dept? What is your proof? Smells like conjecture to me.
Make that our post to your post
Bob, since you also think it’s plausible that Biden would brag in public to a group who knows their way around a world map about bailing out his son with $1 billion in US funds , how about the WSJ?
“KIEV, Ukraine—Joe Biden’s involvement with Ukraine and his son’s work in the country, which President Trump has repeatedly said should be investigated, began when the former vice president was serving as the Obama administration’s point man on relations with Ukraine and rooting out bureaucratic corruption.
Soon after Moscow invaded the country in 2014 and annexed its peninsula of Crimea, Mr. Biden took a lead role in U.S. efforts to support the fragile government in Kiev. He shuttled back and forth to the Ukrainian capital, coordinating U.S. aid packages and cajoling the officials to enact reforms even as the country fought off Russian-backed rebels in the country’s east….”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/bidens-anticorruption-effort-in-ukraine-overlapped-with-sons-work-in-country-11569189782
The article goes on to explain the entire western world’s concern with corruption in the Ukraine as a hindrance to our ability to help them against Russian aggression.
Your Biden cover story is kinda believable but not. Until you offer proof it’s kinda NOT believable. Smells like cow pies to me.
“I am willing to believe that Biden was not aware of the potential investigation of his son’s company in the Ukraine. ”
Yeah. Sure.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
The main reason DJ Trump was elected president was that mainstream America was sick and friggin tired of politicians, corrupt politicians, lying politicians, politicians who frame others for their bad deeds. While a politician goes political school, for many years, to learn the fine art of stealing, lying, dodging, spinning and dodging, spinning, (git it?) all to avoid being held accountable for their broken promises and lies. And it will happen again. America will NOT SUCCUMB TO ANY ISM EXCEPT FOR AMERICANISM.
signed by a person who believes in TRUTH OVER FACTS! yikes
Bob Miller – did you have to go to your “safe place” after signing your post?
What safe place would that be Paul?
Bob Miller – don’t you have a safe place at your home?
And why would I need a safe place at my home?
Bob Miller – it was a joke and I should put an emoji with it. Sorry, my bad.
OK, thanks. Can’t tell if one is kidding or not, without some sort of emoji. 😐
Bob, Trump lost the popular vote by 3 million votes. Americans didn’t select him, the EC did. You should amend your post to indicate that these trends you sense were trends of the EC, not America.
I think Americans did select him. He lost the illegals’ vote.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/01/huge-california-and-los-angeles-county-to-remove-1-5-million-inactive-voters-from-voter-rolls/
Of course you do mespo. You probably think Dorian hit Alabama and the Trump inauguration was the most well attended in DC history
Well northern Ala did get lucky and trump’s inaugural seemed much better attended than Hillary’s.
mespo – what was the estimated head count at Hillary’s inaugural?
🙂
REVELATIONS SHOULD HURT BIDEN AND RIGHTLY SO
There is no excuse for Hunter Biden’s role in these dealings with The Ukraine and China. If Trump wanted to make it an issue, all he had to do was let his friends at Fox News run with the story. Though Trump should have waited until Biden got the nomination, so Democrats would be stuck with him.
But foolishly Trump tried to politicize U.S. aid to Ukraine. And by doing so Trump set himself up to look like he was working on Russia’s behalf. Which leads one to suspect that Trump was indeed looking out for Russia. Apparently Trump can’t help himself in that regard!
What’s more, it looks like pure hypocrisy when Trump attempts to highlight the nepotism surrounding Hunter Biden when Jared Kushner is operating as a shadow Secretary of State. If Hunter Biden’s activities were unseemly, then Kushner’s role in Trump’s White House is totally inappropriate. Sons and Sons-In-Law should have no role whatsoever in high level dealings and, or, foreign diplomacy.
Personally I am delighted by these revelations. This might be the stone that kills two birds at once. Those birds are Biden and Trump, of course. If this scandal can take out Biden as the Democratic nominee while sealing Trump’s defeat, it will be the most welcome of developments.
Memo to Nancy and Jerold: would you impeach Trump already? Pence would make a fine President, and Brett Kavanaugh will look like a liberal once Pence jams the US Courts with his Judges.
woo hoo!
Jonathan Turley:
Ever since before the 2018 midterm election, I have written that the impeachment push was a bait and switch on voters. Democratic leaders never had any actual intent to impeach Trump. They wanted him anemic but alive for the election. However, I noted that the great danger of pretending to want to impeach is that they accidentally stumble into an actual impeachment. Now, they may have stumbled over precisely such an offense while continuing to reassure their voters that, if they only had a clear case, they would move forward aggressively.
It is a nightmare for Pelosi. The only thing worse would be succeeding in such an effort. A removed Trump would leave millions of enraged and energized Trump voters and an undamaged Republican nominee for the 2020 presidential election. To make matters worse, any impeachment proceeding would highlight the dubious business deals of Hunter Biden, reportedly had a penchant for making huge profits in countries where his father was conducting official government business.
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/462445-ukraine-could-badly-damage-both-donald-trump-and-the-democrats
I am willing to believe that Biden was not aware of the potential investigation of his son’s company in the Ukraine.
I’m not willing to believe you are willing to believe that Professor Turley. You may believe in climate change like a religion, but there is nothing about the facts in this case that would lead any reasonable person to believe Biden.
I’m not willing to believe:
– the person appointed by the President to lead on all things Ukraine
– having been given $1 billion in his pocket for Ukraine
– threatening to withhold that $1 billion if they don’t fire a prosecutor investigating alleged corruption
– having every American intel tool at his disposal to brief him on all things Ukraine
Would make that $1 billion threat not knowing everything the prosecutor was doing, at least and especially because Biden knew of Hunter’s involvement with Burisma.
Biden, and by extension the Obama administration has at least 3 problems:
1. Making Biden the go to for everything Ukraine with knowledge Biden’s son was financially involved with Burisma.
2. If Biden really didn’t know about Burisma being investigated, then how incompetent is our intel community? If not the intel community incompetence, how incompetent was Biden?
3. Financially leveraging aid to Ukraine by forcing the Ukraine government to do our bidding. Somehow it’s okay for the US to meddle in a foreign government (Ukraine), but not okay for a foreign government (Russia) to allegedly meddle in the US.
“Yet, there is the other question of whether the Biden family cashed in on Biden’s positions in these convenient and ample contracts.”
Another one of those mysterious questions with perhaps (just perhaps) no answer…Does a bear shit in the woods?
Never fear. When Biden is forced to debate Trump our duly elected president will not be as deferential ad the obsequious press. This isn’t going away. Further, the aforementioned press is morphing into an irrelevant comedy act.