Below is my column in the Messenger on the use of Hunter Biden’s addiction as the final line of defense to corruption allegations. This week, President Joe Biden is continuing to deny that he had any knowledge of his son’s business dealing despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. In the meantime, pundits are insisting that this is really not a story of millions of dollars being sent to the Biden family from foreign sources or the direct use of Joe Biden to shake down (apparently successfully) a Chinese official with ties to foreign intelligence. Rather, it is now portrayed as “a story of a father’s love for his son.” In other words, it is just like “On Golden Pond” if the father and child were working together to extract millions in actual gold from the pond.
Here is the column:
In Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1890 story, The Sign of the Four, there is a scene in which Sherlock Holmes prepares to give himself an injection of cocaine in front of a curious Dr. Watson. Holmes explained: “It is cocaine, a seven-per-cent solution. Would you care to try it?” Watson wisely demurred — but the 7% solution has not lost its appeal to others as a diversion.
Last year, I wrote a column suggesting that there was a notable shift among Biden associates and some media figures in addressing the Hunter Biden scandal. In the wake of the release of new evidence of Hunter Biden’s alleged influence-peddling efforts, the Biden team has fully retreated to what I called the “Seven-Percent Solution” to the scandal.
In 2022, I wrote:
“The president and the press have been shifting to a new defense. As the father recently insisted of his son, ‘He fought an addiction problem. He overcame it. He wrote about it.’
“The family and the media have been cultivating the angle for months as they anticipated possible criminal charges. … With possible criminal conduct exposed, all that’s left is the addiction defense.”
One of the most vocal with this recent rollout was former U.S. senator Claire McCaskill (D.-Mo.), who became irate on MSNBC and declared that “Everybody needs to back off!” because Hunter was an addict and “suffering from these diseases.” Of course, such suffering did not prevent him from allegedly shaking down foreign figures for millions of dollars in exchange for access to his father.
The Biden defense team invoked much the same explanation when confronted with a story about a WhatsApp message that purportedly showed Hunter threatening a Chinese businessman with ties to China’s Communist Party if he did not send Biden millions of dollars. He repeatedly referenced the fact that his father was sitting next to him, and suggested his father would be involved in the threatened response if the money was not transferred.
According to testimony made public last week, IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley told the House Ways and Means Committee in May: “[W]e obtained a July 30th, 2017, WhatsApp message from Hunter Biden to Henry Zhao, where Hunter Biden wrote: ‘I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled. Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight. And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang, or the chairman, 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. I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father.’”
This past weekend, there were reports that, after the threatening WhatsApp message was sent, two payments totaling $5.1 million were sent to a law firm and another firm associated with Hunter Biden.
The response from Hunter Biden’s defense team seems telling with its conspicuous absence of an outright denial that Hunter sent the message. His lawyer, Chris Clark, first insisted that the release of the messages “are not only irresponsible, they are illegal.” (He did not explain why a message legally acquired by the government from the cloud account of his client would be illegal to include in the report of a congressional investigatory committee.)
He then added that any “verifiable words or actions of my client in the midst of a horrible addiction are solely his own and have no connection to anyone in his family.”
The 7% solution: It worked for Holmes, and it now appears to be working for Hunter.
The problem with this line of defense, however, is that it runs into some glaring contradictions.
In the first few years of the scandal, Biden associates — and Hunter himself — emphasized that he was a highly educated lawyer with executive-level experience to offer these companies. Back then, he was insulted by the notion that he was unqualified to sit on boards for companies like Burisma. He told ABC News reporter Amy Robach to “say it nicer” when she raised the subject of allegedly using his connections to his father.
Another problem is that Hunter did not appear to have any chemical-based challenge in allegedly maintaining what has been described by accusers as a global, multimillion-dollar influence-peddling scheme. As I noted last year, the fact is you can be an addict or an alcoholic and still be capable (or culpable).
Even more troubling is how members of the Biden family apparently continued to work with him on these deals despite his reported addiction. Before becoming the designated defendant of the Biden family, he was the conduit for millions in revenue, including alleged transfers to other Biden family members.
The Justice Department also appears to have latched on to the 7% solution. Rather than prosecuting Hunter Biden for a felony in lying on a federal gun form, it is sending him into a diversion program due to an addiction that he says he was able to break years ago.
Now, however, he is portrayed as a junkie emailing threatening messages to foreign figures, demanding (and apparently receiving) millions of dollars. It is little more than an elite version of an addict panhandling in Times Square — except that Hunter apparently panhandled effectively in different countries for almost a decade, reportedly using a web of more than 20 LLC corporations and banking accounts.
Hunter Biden’s 7% solution won’t do much to help the public resolve what really happened here — but it may help those in Washington who prefer to discuss addiction instead of corruption.
Jonathan Turley, an attorney, constitutional law scholar and legal analyst, is the Shapiro Chair for Public Interest Law at The George Washington University Law School.
Jonathan: There are some strange things going on over at the GOP controlled House. Really strange things. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Elice Stephanik have teamed up to sponsor a House resolution to “expunge” Trump’s 2 impeachments. That’s right, to just erase them from the historical record. What’s even more bizarre is that Speaker McCarthy supports the resolution.
The move by MTG and Stephanik is apparently an attempt to give Trump the right to campaign on the slogan “I was never impeached!”. MTG and Stephanik live in an alt universe where parts of the House record can just disappear. Perhaps they, and Trump, think voters have a short memory. Don’t count on it!
Instead of your self-proposed book title, why don’t you just use a publisher’s platform/venue to advertise your own book listing/expounding upon/opining about all the topics that you want others to write about?
i.e., Write about something that you are most familiar with. Thanks.
lin: Actually, there is a chapter in my book about people like you. The working title of the chapter is entitled: “All the suckers who fell for Trump’s lies”. Do I have your permission to quote you in that chapter?
How about all the suckers that fell for my lies.
That would be an honest title.
You could list yourself.
People like me? What makes you think that people who call out your nonsense are all Trump supporters? Flawed inductive/deductive reasoning or just plain naivete?
Dennis,
It is well withing Constitutional Power of Congress to fix a political hack job.
But this fits your MO. Attempting to make something out of nothing.
Dear Prof Turley,
I knew, of course, Sigmund Freud did enough cocaine to kill small elephant, but have never heard of the 7% solution. I bet those old codgers had the good stuff, too.
It’s not like today, where wippersnappers like Hunter Biden drink a quart of Vodka a day and smoke crack cocaine every 15min. Hookers and crack cocaine – that’s how you move WH product today .. .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2w1dNi0Pvns
Most addicts end up losing everything including the shirt off their back. Hunter managed to rake in millions for him and his family while suffering greatly from a crippling addiction. All from many countries his father was the ‘point man’ for in the Biden administration. Maybe Hunter should offer a “help” clinic for addicts to teach them how to turn THEIR addiction into millions. Also, his family apparently had no problem with his addiction for as long as the money continued to roll in. Are bank robbers usually excused these days if they have addiction as their excuse? Maybe so, but I admit I haven’t kept up with the current trend in convictions and sentencing. I do know that “parading in the Capitol” resulted in prison sentences of several years for some. However, maybe they didn’t have the drug addiction excuse to fall back upon.
Oh, and leave Hunter alone! President’s children have always been considered “off-limits” (unless their parent has a (R) by their name.
I want to know how to get in the line where shady business people and foreign leaders of obscure nations pass out free, no-strings attached money. I have life experience and education and have yet to find these amazing discoveries nor have found complicit government agencies who will look the other way. In my experience, people pay money for goods or services. So, the big question is this: What is the product?
The answer is obvious. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure this out. A grade school kid could do it. Yet, this is the administration that is full of highly educated people who cannot tell nor answer the question that asks what is the difference between a man or a woman.
@JesseKellyDC
The FBI is a clear and present danger to The United States of America and red states should have removed it from their borders yesterday.
They’re actively running protection rackets for Democrats and arresting the opposition. Can people not see where this is going?
BabyTrump says:
June 27, 2023 at 12:51 PM
“Trump was one of th BEST presidents this country has ever had”
One must always choose the lesser of two evils.
@Anonymous
Read the article and then comment.
She was not on trial for the crime in which the gun was used. She was on trial for the same federal offense for which Hunter was convicted.
Same crime, both of the accused are convicted and Hunter gets playtime probation while Deja gets 2yrs in the slammer? Yet, “The two situations aren’t analogous.”??
You are right in the sense she is a black female and he is a white male that happens to be, at a minimum, the convicted tax dodging son of the same POTUS that appointed his (Hunter) and her (Deja) prosecutor’s boss. Otherwise, quite similar.
But I think it is clear where you are coming from….
We have a timeline of events that began on January 30, 1933, that show what happens when the head of state, media, the justice department, and police are all controlled by one party. The 14th of July will be the 90th anniversary of the outlawing of all political parties in Germany except for the National Socialists.
“They’re Baaack!”
– Poltergeist II
The most descriptive examples herein are the slavering, maniacal fanatics, Dennis the Meanass and his partner, NUTCHACHACHA.
These psychotic ideologues know radical, extremist fascism, the cruel “dictatorship of the proletariat,” and the diametric antithesis of the Constitution.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“You are free to do whatever you want, as long as it is exactly what I say, in the complete absence of any fundamental law.”
– The National Socialists
Turley is either absolutely obsessed with Hunter Biden or is continuing his employer’s ongoing harping about Hunter and sad efforts to tie something, anything, bad to JOE Biden by association. Of course, this is nothing but a diversion away from Trump’s actual crimes. Again, Turley employs his qualifiers like “alleged”, “reports that”, “pundits say”… etc., and then proceeds to engage in punditry as if there are actual facts backing up his allegatoins. The disciples are buying it, as the posts to this piece show.
Today’s post ignores the tape that CNN reported on, showing that Trump KNEW he had classified documents that were top secret and shouldn’t be disclosed, that he KNEW the documents had not been declassified (which shoots in the head his lame defense that he could “mentally” declassify them and/or that if he took the papers, this constituted automatic declassification by virtue of some nonexistent standing order. He was trying to impress someone by showing off that he had such sensitive materials. Somehow, Turley didn’t deem this breach in national security and pathetic display of malignant narcissism worthy of his time, choosing instead to continue harping about Hunter Biden.
And, Turley, your reference to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes is lame, just like every other time you try to look cool by working in references to classic film and literature about which your knowledge is pathetically superficial. Cocaine addiction is no laughing matter and those who overcome it deserve praise. Alt right media just can’t get over the fact that the Hunter Biden saga is over–he pleaded guilty to failing to pay taxes–which he has since paid–and he also pleaded to a gun violation. Even Turley admits that influence peddling is not a crime, so why continue harping about Hunter?
“Cocaine addiction is no laughing matter and those who overcome it deserve praise.” Cocaine addiction is a serious crime harming people in the places where the trade starts, through which transits, and where it ends. No one fueling this trade deserves praise.
EdwardL to my knowledge, Hunter was not a dealer. People have been addicted to substances since there have been people and substances to which people can become addicted. People who develop a chemical dependency go through significant physical suffering to stop using–whether it is alcohol, cocaine, heroin or whatever. When people start using substances, it’s usually to literally drown their sorrows or to help them cope with something that is emotionally overwhelming and for which they lack the skills and support to cope. After becoming addicted, the fallout of the addiction itself–loss of job, family, relationships, debt…whatever.. increases the need to use. This is why it is so difficult to overcome addiciton, and when someone does, they deserve admiration and praise for doing something that is very difficult.
Tell us how the great Rush Limbaugh was praised by you when he overcame oxycodone addiction.
He had severe back or spinal issues so he needed the pain pills. Also your illiberal commie friends used so much hatred against him you probably caused most of it, right ?
Can you give us a half dozen quotes from your extensive Rush deserves praise archive ?
LOL
When Hell freezes over, I’ll be waiting.
Gigi:
Should drug addicts not go to jail for murder, rape, extortion, theft, or any other crime? Does drug addiction shield one from the consequences of breaking the law? Is someone excused from soliciting, and receiving, millions of dollars from foreign nations, including Russia and China, and from sharing classified information in emails to these principals, because he is a drug addict?
Where’s your proof that anyone actually solicited or received millions of dollars from Ruissa or China? Mark Levin’s rants don’t count. Joe Biden has released his tax returns—are these alleged payments on there? The only one proven to have “shared classified information” is your hero. What “classified information” did Hunter Biden allegedly have? Where did he get it, since most of the claimed transactions happened when Biden wasn’t in office?
You keep proving, over and over again, like always, to be a devoted disciple. You believe whatever alt right media spoon feeds you.
He got it from Daddy’s garage, the his attached residence to that garage in between drunken and stoned runs in Daddy’s Porche, and Daddy’s office in that home, and the Chinese quid pro quo office in Pennstate.
DUH.
Gigi – I did not say he was a dealer. He was a mammoth user, who fueled the trade through his usage.
The leaking of the audio that CNN reported on IS A CRIME.
Makes one think.
Someone within the DOJ leaked evidence that should of been held for Trump’s trial, now to CNN . . . why? Why now? Who benefits? Could it be a distraction to the whistleblowers testimony of all the corruption of the DOJ, the IRS, the FBI to protect the Biden Crime family? Of course!
Felonies are okay.
“And as former US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman notes; “Help me with this: DOJ is prosecuting Trump for sharing information with a reporter, when DOJ itself shared the same information with CNN.””
It’s hard to prosecute and traditionally the DOJ isn’t prosecuted in these types of cases, thus, they can probably get into some addiction clinic correspondence since they are so busy upholding the law they won’t do any in person or inpatient, or write a essay on strictly following rules for thee not for me for their work file and that is sufficient punishment. They have to live with their conscience till the day they die so they have suffered enough. They should attend some parties at Martha’s Vineyard with Joe and Hunter Biden to reduce their estrangement from the good life, so they can pay attention at work better.
“Someone within the DOJ leaked evidence”
An assumption on your part, one for which you have no evidence.
If the evidence was supposed to remain in the confines of the DOJ, then how else does it get to CNN?
Depends on who shared it with CNN. If it was the Meadows’ ghostwriter who made the tape, there’s nothing illegal about sharing it with CNN. If it’s Trump sharing the copy that his aide made, there’s nothing illegal about sharing it with CNN.
TDS on full display. You can’t look at this and see anything but excuses for the left. Alt left Democrats and the media fuel these excuses. Very sad. But Trump, but Trump, but Trump. This has nothing to do with the Biden family and their crimes.
Trump fever pitch may be worse than crack cocaine and Vodka put together. I deal with it everyday – friends, neighbors, family and most of their progeny. For many of these people, Joe Biden et el could shoot someone on 5th Ave. in broad daylight, and they would blame it on Trump. .. like they did with the Ukraine impeachment.
They can neither perceive the fast-approaching geopolitical dangers, nor comprehend their origins. But Trump.
*TDS should be listed in the DSM under cognitive disorders.
DgSnowden,
TDS should also be justification for mandatory psychiatric evaluation, anti-psychotic medication, not allowed to operate heavy machinery, not allowed to vote, not allowed to own real estate, and not allowed to reproduce.
But those with TDS generally support abortion so that is okay.
The topic at hand is addiction, so maybe Gigi is drunk (again!) from gulping all of that free
horse pissBud Light? No judgement!🤡
“Bud Light offers free beer over July 4 holiday in wake of Dylan Mulvaney fiasco”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/bud-light-offers-free-beer-over-july-4-holiday-in-wake-of-dylan-mulvaney-fiasco/ar-AA1d4tzq
Estovir,
HA!
Thank you for the laugh!
On a serious note, TDS, I think it should be classified as a real mental illness. During the Trump admin, I read articles about people who really did suffer from depression, psychologists reporting of patients increase in therapy sessions, some saying they had weight gain as a method of dealing with their TDS.
Can you imagine what if Trump were to get re-elected?
A small percentage would lash out violently as we have seen with the 2020 Summer of Love, anti-police protests, BLM and antifa riots.
And the rest, well, they would require serious professional help, medication and should have their access to heavy machinery, firearms, sharp items household cleaning products restricted for their own well being.
As obviously they are not of sound mind, I reiterate my previous list of not allowed to vote, not allowed to own real estate, and not allowed to reproduce.
Society would be so much better.
this may not be the forum for this dialogue but I wonder what keeps you from being religious. You have stated as such many times, never explained, but articulate many religious ideas. Just thinking out loud
One of my closest friends was an avowed atheist when we met > 20 yrs ago but now prays to a “higher power”. Don’t ask me to explain that one.
Estovir,
Thank you for a most interesting question.
Well, like you I was raised in a very Christian back ground family. I can recall attending mass in Chicago that was in Latin. Naturally as a child, I did not understand a word of it.
However, the church was very beautiful and I appreciated the architecture and art.
In high school I read Religions of Man, later re-titled Religions of the World by Huston Smith and found myself gravitating towards Indian and Eastern thought vs Mid-East or Western. They appealed to me more so namely Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism. While in Japan, I saw Buddhists who would make a grueling run every day to visit Buddhist shrines to make prayers ever day to become monks. That was something I could respect.
While I do not consider myself as religious per say, I can say I am spiritual having worked in the fields with the livestock, gardening, walking with nature every day, that is my church. Watching the life cycle up close and personal one cannot be. Be it when I have raise livestock from birth to me putting them down or wild game, I thank them for their sacrifice.
It may not be a formal religion, but it is something I feel higher. What that is, I have no idea. But I also am not sure us mere mortals can understand fully.
To know the mind of God is beyond our comprehension.
And how the heck do we not know that God just might be a woman? Only woman can give birth to something like the universe.
St Francis of Assisi in Upstate New York has a nice ring to it, dont you think?
Thanks for sharing that.
NB: After college I entered a Benedictine Monastery, FWIW. Yes, monastic life is very arduous
Upstate, this is an interesting question. What counts? The religious laws (observance) or the actions of a person? This can be heavily debated.
From what I see you are a religious person based on your actions though your observance is scant. That is OK. All types of persons are needed. 1) all observance, 2) all actions, 3) low observance higher actions, 4) higher observance, lower actions. Who is to say which is perfect?
You are fine. We are all a project waiting to be completed.
There is another teaching that says. We are as God created us. We are complete, healed and whole. No waiting required. We are complete. 🙂
As I understand it….the concept of God is Oneness, not either/or…not either masculine or feminine, but both/and. All That Is. Omni…everywhere, all the time. Oneness. We recognize a higher ‘something’ and call this ‘higher something’ God, or nature or chi, or whatever we resonate toward. Many roads….all will take you home. Poet Dylan Thomas described it as “The force that through the green fuse drives the flower.” Good stuff.
And yet you read Turkey”s page to feel better about yourself!
Gigi:
In the most recent press conferences at the White House, most of the journalists asked Karine Jean-Pierre if Joe Biden lied when he said he never spoke to Hunter about this business dealings, or if the White House had a statement on the evidence of corruption.
This is a major news story. Watergate involved GOP operatives breaking into one campaign headquarters to spy on the opposition, and if President Nixon knew about it. Now, planting moles and hacking media accounts is en vogue. How does Watergate compare? Did Joe Biden direct the DOJ and IRS to delay investigations into Hunter Biden, reduce felonies to misdemeanors, was millions of dollars funneled to Joe, his brother, other relatives, and Hunter Biden through an illegal influence peddling scheme, was Hunter Biden an unregistered foreign agent, was he compromised by foreign intelligence agencies such as of Russia or China, did Joe Biden fail to disclose and pay taxes on millions of dollars laundered through shell companies, and did Joe Biden abuse his authority to protect his son and shield his own criminal activity, beyond his right to pardon?
Why do you keep harping about Hunter Biden? Why? As an offset to Trump’s actual crimes, proof of which we’ve actually seen? You keep repeating the same slime you hear on alt-right media, reinforced by Turley”s “alleged” “reportedly” and other non-factual qualifiers because you are a disciple, and every single day more proof is adduced proving that Trump is a crook and unfit for office, so they keep up the attacks on Joe Biden via Hunter, even though that is now a dead horse. You are not an informed voter–you are a disciple–proven by your obsession with Hunter Biden. And, if Joe Biden was the crook he is accused of being, he would have pardoned Hunter a long time ago. The Hunter story is over and done with–he pleaded, was sentenced, and it’s done.
Re: “IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley told the House Ways and Means Committee..[W]e obtained a July 30th, 2017, WhatsApp message from Hunter Biden to Henry Zhao…after the threatening WhatsApp message was sent, two payments totaling $5.1 million were sent to a law firm and another firm associated with Hunter Biden.”
I’m pretty convinced that the Biden Mafia are first order criminal grifters. However, I am not a lawyer, but aren’t those accusations no more than hearsay at this point? I.e., claims made about evidence without the evidence being presented. “Take our word for it” does not cut it.
So where is the verified copy of the WhatsApp message? Where are the electronic invoices of the $5.1 million being deposited in those accounts on that date? And OBTW, why hasn’t the House called former Hunter partner Tony Bobulinski to testify?
Like it or not, until a smoking gun of explicit evidence that clearly implicates doddering Uncle Joe is publicly presented, the MSM and DOJ will allow the entire clan to walk away from their felonious activities.
“….but aren’t those accusations no more than hearsay at this point?”
We now have a new standard when it comes to allegations. It was set during the previous years since Trump announced his candidacy in 2015. The allegations are serious enough and quite numerous. Obviously, the Bidens are guilty or there wouldn’t be so many allegations. No need for anything more.
Jonathan: What else besides Hunter Biden is in the news today? Well, everybody knows Trump needs money. Lots of it! Because he goes through attorneys like Hunter went through a bottle of Jack Daniels. And in the process of discarding his attorneys Trump owes a lot in legal fees. So what does the King of Sleaze do? He is scamming his loyal MAGA supporters–again!
When Trump launched his 2024 campaign last November, 99 cents of every dollar he raised from his followers went into campaign coffers while one cent was diverted to his Save America PAC that went to pay his legal fees. Sometime around March of this year the split quietly changed. In the fine print campaign solicitations changed the split–from 1% to 10%. So now 10 cents of every dollar goes to Trump’s legal fees. Doesn’t seem like a lot? Out of the $122 million raised $16 million went to Trump’s lawyers!
The law says a PAC cannot pay for things that benefit the candidate personally. Legal fees for Trump’s many lawsuits are considered personal expenses. So Trump is scamming his loyal followers. While Jack Smith’s investigation centers around the Mar-a-Lago docs he is also looking into possible wire fraud charges against the Trumpster. Talk about piling on!
Now I am writing a book with the working title “The Many Crimes of Donald Trump”. Anyone out there who can come up with other possible crimes by the King of Sleaze that I may have missed please let me know.
That Donald Trump and the Biden’s are parasitic grifting reptiles is not disjoint.
Oh Dennis, so happy you chimed in because it would be such a boring day otherwise. I suggest you find something more uplifting as a subject of a book you wish to pen. Readers are worn out with TDS.
DM You need to take a sabbatical and prepare for DT to be the next POTUS. Otherwise some aneurisms might take you out. You are now beyond just a big chapping. One thing you can commensurate with is; your fella Dem Socialists have the same degree of hate for DT as you.
Dennis – you say “Legal fees for Trump’s many lawsuits are considered personal expenses.” If these many lawsuits from many sources have the overriding goal of derailing his campaign, why are they “personal” in nature? They are really a form of legal/political warfare. I would have no objection if Trump used my donations to preserve his political viability.
Edward: except that the crimes with which Trump is charged were the result of personal acts that he chose to commit, irrespective of his political aspirations. No one made him pay off an adult actress and then try to write this off as a legitimate campaign expense. No one made him steal classified documents, fail to keep them secure, lie about returning them or flash them around like some kind of trophy to impress people. No one made him call the GA Secretary of State, lie about winning Georgia, and then demand that the SOS “find” him 11,780 votes. No one made him lie to his supporters about a “landslide victory” being stolen by a “rigged election”.
To the extent you buy the argument that the real reason for his being prosecuted is to derail his campaign, Michael Cohen was charged criminally and sentenced to prison for paying off Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougall, and he did these things for Trump’s benefit. In addition to getting a felony record and serving jail time, Cohen lost his law license being Trump’s “fixer”. Why should Trump escape responsibility for this? Those who steal classified documents are held to account–why should Donald Trump be any different? Because he found a way to cheat his way into office–so he this entitles him to a free pass to break whatever laws he wants? He knew when he stole the papers that he had no right to possess them, he dragged his feet when politely asked to return them, lied about returning them, lied about declassifying them and forced the NARA to obtain a search warrant. So, we, the American people, should just shrug this off because Trump is running to be a candidate–he isn’t the nominee yet–to avoid the argument that any prosecutions are pollitically-motivated? The DOJ would be engaging in malpractice and official misfeasance if they failed to enforce the laws that Donald Trump broke.
You are wasting your money, Edward, if you believe that Trump has any “political viability”. The American people rejected him in 2016 and 2020, and will do so again in 2024, irrespective of whether he gets convicted, has further indictments, or other civil lawsuits. He found a way around the popular vote in 2016, and tried, but failed, to do so in 2020, when a record number of Americans voted. If he runs in 2024, we’ll again show up in record number to vote against him again. The American people know a bad thing when they see it.
edward: Well, then, you better step up to the plate because Trump is going to need millions from suckers like you to pay his legal fees. But you better read the fine print. 10% of your donations are going for his legal fees–not his “political viability”. When Jack Smith brings the hammer down on Trump for wire fraud you may be having second thoughts. You are a perfect illustration of Mark Twain’s famous quip: “The truth has no defense against a fool determined to believe a lie”!.
Dennis – He will need our help to pay his legal fees because local, state and federal prosecutors, with deep pockets financed by all of us, and egged on by suckers like you, cannot be fought with purely private funds. This is not law. It is a very menacing and dirty form of politics. Even fair-minded Democrats, if any are left, should want to stop it.
“When Jack Smith brings the hammer down . . .”
Would that be the same Jack Smith who concocted the plan to “bring the hammer down” on conservatives?
I know, I know. He’s the D’s hammer. So for this instance, politicizing the law is acceptable.
“Rather than prosecuting Hunter Biden for a felony in lying on a federal gun form, it is sending him into a diversion program due to an addiction that he says he was able to break years ago.”
This sentence is loaded with innuendo that leads to a false impression. First-time offenses regarding false applications for a gun purchase seldom lead to jail time or even prosecutions. Surely Turley knows this does he not? It is hardly the only time he has done it on this matter.
I appreciate if this were Don Jr. and Trump were the Dad, I would be seeing non-stop vacuous headlines at the New York Times for months on end. But that’s what they would be. Vacuous.
I’m getting a lot of fuzzy innuendo on this matter. Give me some semblance of a timeline, a statute, and facts the statute was violated.
SteveJ – There isn’t much point in having gun laws if they are not enforced. Do you have a source for saying that these laws are not generally prosecuted?
Read the comments carefully. A discerning read can detect similar writing patterns. Most of us refer to our host as Professor Turley or JT or something along those lines. None of us cast aspersions on him because we appreciate his scholarly legal analysis. We come here because no one else in the country offers such a detailed legal breakdown of current events for the non-lawyer
Referring to our host in a familiar tone, one where there is condescension, a holier than thou dismissive lecturing, making demands of the host, and others, are clues that a troll has cast his pablum for pay or out of scotched earth animus. They are vapid.
Of all the comments to choose from, mine indicates a troll?
Surely you jest.
Incidentally, put me with Radical Pragmatist above unless you think he’s a troll as well.
He puts it better than I have.
I got it from Forbes: However, I was generally aware that this kind of thing for first time offenders without having to check Forbes. And I am highly suspicious that Turley was unaware of this. Yet he writes the sentence implying something anyway. And it is not the only sentence with regard to Hunter Biden where he implies more than there is — at this point in time at least.
“Legal experts said first-time offenders are rarely prosecuted for both the gun and tax charges Biden faces.”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2023/06/20/did-hunter-biden-get-off-easy-republicans-thinks-so-heres-what-legal-experts-say/?sh=4b53ca9e794b
The first time offender argument assumes naiveté or simple error. Are you forgetting all the associated facts? Drugs and guns are a dangerous combination.
S. Meyer,
Well said.
And as Joe Biden is the so-called common sense, gun control president, he was fully on board with enforcing gun control laws . . . until it was his son who broke a federal law and lied on the 4473 about his addiction to controlled substances.
Anyone of us who would of done the same would be serving time in prison.
But our last name is not Biden.
“as Joe Biden is the so-called common sense, gun control president, he was fully on board with enforcing gun control laws”
There is something to be said for this, and I am surprised I have not heard more of it from Republicans. This gun charge is, after all, blatantly unConstitutional. Perhaps they do not consider it politically expedient at the moment. People like President Biden and Kamala Harris, in her prosecutorial days and the present, have striven to make sure that someone like a Hunter Biden gets multiple years.
That is their solution to anything gun. Criminalize more and more people with more and more onerous sentences. Never mind that they never actually did anything or ever intended to. Just round them up, throw em in. Round them up, throw them in.
And make sure you concentrate on poor intercity areas where you’re going to have easy marks. Just round them up, throw em in.
That’s the Biden/Harris way. Helping poor people get 3 sqaures and bed. Mighty nice of them.
3/5ths are PROSECUTED.
That is “rarely” according to our woke demoncrats.
From your link sir spin a lot.
“In the 2019 fiscal year, federal prosecutors received 478 referrals for lying on the federal form required to purchase a gun, but filed just 298 prosecutions .”
So nearly 300 prosecuted out of less than 500. That certainly is not rare.
That’s the best lie the liars could come up with. It convicts the Bidens.
Try the truth some time. Or don’t, remain the same.
Well I’m certainly willing to accept revisions to quotes made in other magazines like Forbes. You seem to be inferring that I will be voting for Biden next year. You are grossly mistaken. I am quite open to proceeding with charges against the Bidens. But there are some other hoops to jump through if the Forbes statement is indeed incorrect. My understanding is that there are investigations into errors on the form that are not referred to prosecutors at all. There were not merely 478 cases of improper information on gun forms in 2019. That was the number that went on to get referred. I wouldn’t mind in the slightest changing that understanding. Even after that, how many first-time offenders who are prosecuted get jail time?
I am quite willing to proceed against the Bidens. But I am not interested in a Republican version of crossfire hurricane and Mueller special counsel. This country has a special counsel addiction problem.
No one should forget that taking drugs is a choice, and in most cases, the severe addict has to steal to feed his habit. Hunter is the user, but the damage to society is much more significant. Look on the streets of the big cities and look at the crime and murder associated with drugs.
Hunter is a drug addict, enabled by his close association with his father, a life-long politician who uses his son as a bridge to the criminal world that feeds his (Joe’s) addiction to money and power. Addicts frequently have no concern for the damage they do to those around them. Joe is no exception. He has sold you, me, and the entire American public down the drain for his ‘fix’ while using his son, the one he supposedly loves, to be the bridge to the criminal world.
What amazes me is so many Democrats lack any concern for the ugly picture in front of their faces.
You are so right. For the Dems, the end justifies the means and if being deaf, dumb, and blind to corruption, so be it. Their argument is and will continue to be that corruption is not illegal.
S. Meyer: where’s the evidence that JOE Biden has committed any crimes? I’m talking actual court-admissible evidence–not the slop served up by Mark Levin. Do you have any? Where’s the proof that anything gleaned from the laptop actually happened–like, where’s the proof that Joe Biden was present, or that he ever received any money? What money and from whom? Can you say, or do you just believe the swill served up by alt right media? What, exactly, has JOE Biden done to “sell…the entire American public down the drain…while using his son…to be a bridge to the criminal world”? Such lies are absolutely outrageous, especially since ignore the malignant narcissist you worship who is the very definition of somone addicted to “money and power”.
These are good points Gigi. It would have been nice if these kinds of questions had been asked before a cointel op known as crossfire hurricane upon which a bogus special counsel was based.
We don’t need a repetition of that kind of misuse of government. I’m sure you agree with me on that.
Steve, you are correct about Crossfire Hurricane, but I hope you aren’t buying into Gigi’s craziness about the Bidens. You realize that before one goes to court, one gathers proof. I am sure you know about the evidence I and others talk about.
The problem S is the influence peddling. I think we have enough to conclude that Joe Biden is one of the slimier influence peddlers in Washington. Even by Washington standards he is the muck of the muck. But influence peddling is legal. So far, all I’ve heard about that has been established are S corporations which are perfectly legal. The Bidens have funneled a lot of income through those. But those are used for tax loopholes. And that could be the explanation here. Loopholes are legal. Comer is starting to come across as an Adam Schiff figure. Saying he has this and that when he doesn’t.
“The problem S is the influence peddling”
The problem is more than influence peddling. Potentially there are a lot of other criminal issues out there.
“But influence peddling is legal.”
Influence peddling is not the crime. Selling things for personal gain is. Obstruction is, Theft is. Tax evasion is. There are lots of potential crimes.
“S corporations which are perfectly legal.”
They are legal until used for laundering money or other illegal things.
“But those are used for tax loopholes.”
How? S. Corporations don’t change the tax status of money received. It is income that needs to go onto one’s IRS forms. The use of S Corporation might affect which year the tax will be due if the game is played correctly, but that involves the present or the following year.
“Loopholes are legal.”
Loopholes are legal, but if the taxes aren’t paid, and the money is hidden, it leads to major charges against the individual. The Biden’s are not basing their game on tax loopholes. They are basing it on their power to corrupt the DOJ as they have for many years.
“Comer is starting to come across as an Adam Schiff figure. Saying he has this and that when he doesn’t.”
Specifically, what doesn’t Comer have that you deem of great importance so that you bring in Schiff’s name?
Well he’s not producing any evidence. You yourself wrote: “Potentially there are a lot of other criminal issues out there.” Well okay, let’s have them. Adam Schiff: “Well we have evidence of collusion.” Well okay. Let’s have it.
I’m getting deja vu. A variation on that connection between a Russian bank and the Trump campaign. Bupkis. How Russian money saved Trump’s business. Real evidence. None. Innuendo. Plenty. Deutsche Bank in a money laundering scheme involving Jared Kuschner and Trump. Evidence. Well……”suspicious activity.” In other words, no. Lot’s of detailed potential illegality with fancy banking terminology galore. Actual evidence for indictment. Zip. Zero. Nada.
Of course, there isn’t anything wrong with a congressional investigation that shows Biden is an influence peddling slimeball. It’s useful information. I think the electorate accepts that conclusion. In fact, the Republicans were obligated to do what they’ve done. If that’s Comer’s ultimate goal and he phrases it that way, then it is a successful endeavor. Biden doesn’t have much of a chance at getting reelected — unless the Republicans nominate Trump. The electorate wants to vote for someone other than those two. The Democrats seem determined to shove Biden down our throats. So the Republicans are in the driver’s seat.
Based on what is known today, and this man was not the POTUS controlling the DOJ and IRS, most experts would probably say this was a slam-dunk conviction of Joe Biden. They would likely settle for a guilty plea or a lesser sentence.
But it is the POTUS with all the associated problems, the bureaucracy, and many of Congress, including Republicans dragging their feet. How many could open up all the details of their political lives and walk away with their head up? Not that many.
You are entitled to believe what you wish, but there comes a point where such beliefs represent naiveté instead of rational thought.
“Well we have evidence of collusion.” Well okay. Let’s have it.”
The laptop has such evidence. The transcriptions of statements have such evidence. Bobulinski’s testimony is such evidence. The FBI has documents that further cause ties to the President. If a forensic audit is done on Biden’s finances, that too will be evidence.
Bobulinski’s comments in and of themselves are not evidence. And neither is the laptop. Nor is the F.B.I. FD-1023. They are nothing of the sort. They are possible leads — that have not produced evidence of illegality as of this date.
Perhaps I am not so naive as I am consistent in applying the same standards of evidence to Trump as I do to Biden.
While certain others view the “facts” based on their political preference. I have no intention of voting for Biden, and every intention of acknowledging evidence if it ever gets produced.
“Bobulinski’s comments in and of themselves are not evidence. “
Why is his statement not evidence?. Why are the pictures not evidence? Why is the laptop not evidence?
Generally no one piece of evidence leads to a conviction. I think Bobulinski provides a lot of evidence.
“Perhaps I am not so naive as I am consistent in applying the same standards of evidence to Trump as I do to Biden.“
The evidence against Trump, ie. Russia hoax, was contrived and created by his opponent. The evidence we are dealing with here is from third parties and his own son.
The evidence is there. Whether you agree it is enough to convict is a different story. It has to be put together. That you will not vote for Biden demonstrates sanity, but will you pull the lever for Trump should he be the candidate?
That you will not vote for Biden demonstrates sanity,
Well I appreciate the compliment S.
Incidentally, my understanding is that Bobulinski and the e-mail about “the big guy” reference a deal that occurred in August 2017. So while it might be politically sensitive for Joe Biden (i.e. slimy) he was not in office. So I would like clarity on how the law would apply. I would also like some semblance of a timeline by now. Again, these things simply are not happening.
As for Trump, is it your view that everybody in the Republican field other than Trump is a RINO who will be business as usual? Some of these folks may surprise us.
I don’t think the issue is so much who I’m going to vote for as what would you like to see happen? I’m from Michigan. Trump lost here. The electorate here knows that. This State had a Governor and an A.G. that were extremely vulnerable. Shouldn’t have taken much to beat them. Tudor Dixon, who should have emphasized her endorsement by Betsy DeVos, didn’t do so. The A.G. isn’t decided by primary. The Republican Party appointed a loon — an election denier. As a result, the Democratic Governor and A.G. won rather comfortably. I live in what was Peter Meijer’s Congressional district. The Republican voters here decided to throw a hissy fit over a single vote by Peter Meijer on the 2nd impeachment and primary him with and fringe candidate and election denier. So now I live in a Congressional district represented by a liberal Democrat.
The Democrats are offering the House, Senate, and White House on a silver platter. Here you are, take it! If the Republicans refuse such an offer, they have no one to blame but themselves.
“be politically sensitive for Joe Biden (i.e. slimy) he was not in office.”
Steve: Details might occur at a specific time, but that doesn’t mean the corruption surrounding them failed to exist over a longer time frame. The deals I make might have a date attached, but those deals might take months or years to complete. How long was Bobulinsky a patner? Did what happened at that moment tie in with future or past events?
“is it your view that everybody in the Republican field other than Trump is a RINO”
That would be a very superficial way of discussion. There are Republicans that are consistently RINO, and there are those that are corrupt. No one is perfect.
When dealing directly with you in the context of the discussion, a minor issue had to do with who you were voting for. My response was to your statement saying you would not vote for Biden. But that doesn’t mean you will vote for Trump. That is your decision.
“The Republican Party appointed a loon — an election denier. ”
I don’t know what that means, but the election had severe problems with too many questions. I blame no one for a well-thought-out opinion of the election outcome.
“You can live with your craziness so long as no one else has to live with you.”
What craziness are you referring to? Earlier, I said, “but I hope you aren’t buying into Gigi’s craziness about the Bidens.” Did you buy into her craziness?
The Biden’s affairs are non-trivial.
The first issue – is that regardless of when the deals, conduct and payments occured, Joe biden has CONSISTENTLY lied about them.
I would note that Hunter Biden has NOT. Hunter has consistently confirmed that his father was aware of and a part of his deals.
Only Joe is denying knowledge. Oddly the press beleives Joe – not hunter, and not the myriads of others.
Next, Hunter and Joe are ALWAYS subject to FARA as well as the FCPA – Foreign corrupt practices act. These apply to conduct with foreign governments and foreign businesses and they make alot of conduct with foreign government and businesses criminal.
Most of the conduct that the Biden syndicate engaged in would violate the foreign corrupt practices act, slightly less would violate FARA.
Further all transfers of funds for activities that violate FARA or the FCP or avoid taxes are money laundering – Mueller established that with Manafort.
Finally – completely independent of FARA, FCPA, or bribery, the US government not only thoroughly regulates the transfer of money, but it has criminalized efforts to hide financial transfers from government scrutiny – Even LEGAL transfers.
In many instances payment was for service provided while Biden was VP even thought some of the payment came later.
The most clearly damning allegation at the moment is that involving Burisma.
It is beyond any doubt that Joe Biden acting as US VP, leveraged US loan guarantees to get Prosecutor Shokin Fired.
Shokin was fired and Joe Biden has bragged about being responsible.
There is no doubt that Burisma wanted Shokin fired.
There is no doubt that Burisma paid Hunter Biden to get Shokin fired
All of the above were proven long ago – well before the Hunter Biden laptop, and were proven by the communications of Hunter Biden to the US state department or other public records.
Further information that is established – but most are not familiar with is that Joe Biden directed the FBI Task force that falsely concluded that Shokin was corrupt, that informed The EU and others that participated in lobbying to remove Shokin.
There remains through today absolutely no evidence at all of the claim that Shokin was corrupt. After his firing he lives modestly with no connection to an oligarch on a government pension. There is no evidence of hidden wealth, or lavish lifestyle.
There are no corvettes in his garage. No beachfront homes.
The Laptop provides us with information on numerous other such deals, as well as additional confirmation regarding Shokin’s firing.
The most recent evidence – the FBI 1023 adds only one element. The informant alleges that there was a clear formal agreement between Burisma and the Biden’s that the Biden’s were paid specifically to get Shokin fired, how much they were paid and that Joe Biden was personally involved and personally paid.
“You can live with your craziness so long as no one else has to live with you.”
That’s from some other commenter. I haven’t said that kind of thing about you.
“S. Meyer: where’s the evidence that JOE Biden has committed any crimes? ”
Gigi, your rants demonstrate a lack of reality. There is evidence though there is no conviction due to a corrupt DOJ.
The DOJ is withholding information from Congress, according to the WB.
The FBI found the laptop was legitimate and withheld that information and documents attempting to protect the President. A long trail of evidence, including SARS and testimony, implicates the President. The Administrative bureaucracies protect Hunter, and by doing so, they protect the President.
You can live with your craziness so long as no one else has to live with you.
S. Meyer,
Natacha has TDS.
She actually believes in the lies that have been fed to her by MSM. She repeats them over and over again and again. She really believes that Russia interfered with the 2016 election in some meaningful way.
2 minutes after the RNC convention concluded, 98% of Americans knew whom they were voting for.
Did Russian parties in fact buy ads to influence Americans?
Yes.
$100,000 on Facebook after the election.
But her TDS will not allow her to see that. She will spew the same MSM talking points over and over. She is a true believer.
To Natacha, before you try to accuse me of being a Trumpester or some other moronic name, as I have stated many time here on the good professor’s blog, I did not vote for Trump in 2016 or 2020. S. Meyer and I even had a good discussion about it.
But come 2024, as I have stated many a time, I am voting for the Republicans no matter who the candidate is. Even if it is Trump in jail.
BTW, America under the Trump admin was better off until COVID.
Under the Biden admin, America is worst off.
That is a fact.
Under the Biden adm, Amierica is worst (sic) off”? Really? You don’t like the Infrastructure bill (thousands of good-paying jobs to build roads, bridges and airports), the COVID Relief Bill, the Inflation Reduction Act (insulin capped at $35/month) , the CHIPS Act, the Debt Ceiling Act, the fact that inflation is under control and is going down, the economy is growing, unemployment is at a 50 year low, COVID is under control, America is back to work and back tro school, restaurants and businesses are open again and that relations with NATO and EU are healed–all of which Biden accomplished in 2 year’s time? Biden fixed the damage Trump did to our national health, our economic well-being, our relations with EU and NATO, and our national reputation, but you’re complaining and would vote against him, no matter who the candidate is? You believe all of the lies about Biden being a criminal, even though there isn’t even one indictment, you haven’t seen actual proof, but you still believe. There’s something seriously wrong with you. You’d rather see a twice-impeached, twice-indicted fat, swaggering, arrogant slob of a wonanizing and racist liar, whose delicate ego requires attention, adulation and praise, bloviating about Little Rocket Man, praising Putin as a “genius” for invading Ukraine, pretending he belongs in the same office as Abraham Lincoln, FDR, JFK, Eisenhower and Obama? You don’t preceive reality.
And, PLEASE list for me what you claim are the lies “fed to me by MSM”.
Two wrongs make a right
I see something of a parallel here. When V.P. Biden was trying pressure the Ukraine leader into getting rid of Shokin, a prosecutor who was zeroing in on Burisma, the leader at first said Obama would not agree. Biden, if you don’t fire him, I’m going to get Obama on the phone.
In the Whats App case, Hunter keeps repeating that Joe Biden is sitting next to him and still has immense power in Washington, so send the damn money.
The evidence to date that shadows the Bidens is enough to warrant a DOJ assessment of the allegations followed by a preliminary investigation based upon the credibility of the allegations. With sufficient facts thus obtained in the preliminary investigation, then would follow a full investigation to uncover all the facts. Such has always been DOJ procedure up to now. Turley and others concerned for the Republic and the rule of law are absolutely encouraged to continue hammering the matter until Merrick Garland recovers his integrity and appoints a special counsel.
One cannot recover something they never possessed
Proof the Biden DOJ is racist.
“Rather than prosecuting Hunter Biden for a felony in lying on a federal gun form, it is sending him into a diversion program due to an addiction that he says he was able to break years ago.”
Hunter Biden (cocaine) goes into a “diversion program” for lying on a federal gun form while a black woman (marijuana) goes to jail for 2 years for lying on the same form. Both Deja and Hunter plead guilty, were druggies and careless with their weapons. But only Deja gets hard time for lying on the federal form. But then again, her daddy did not appoint the prosecutor’s boss.
https://www.reuters.com/legal/mother-6-year-old-boy-who-shot-teacher-pleads-guilty-federal-charges-2023-06-12/
Wake up people of color and read Steve Biko. Are you really thinking that DEI and similar applies to the Democrat leadership or their families? This game ain’t new or complicated. It is just another con.
Her gun was used in a crime. The two situations aren’t analogous.
The crime was perfected when he signed the form. How the gun was later used should be irrelevant.
It’s not irrelevant to whether the two situations are analogous.
Edamahl,
Well said.
Read about another woman who lied on the 4473 about substance abuse.
They brought that up as a separate charge.
Right complexion, right connection.
All crooked roads lead to Obama as the shot caller in all of this during his administration. Hunter and “Dad” were the errand boys for Obama. The Bidens had a domestic criminal racket that Obama sanctioned for them to take international. He approved all the travel and the strong arm tactics of the Biden family, as “Dad” clearly stated in his recounting of message to UKR of his authority to withhold loan money if things didn’t go his way – down to a single prosecutor.
The media collectively need to have their press passes pulled. Their shifting this narrative to soliciting sympathy for poor drug addicted Hunter is a new low and quite insulting to “us”. Next they will revive the sad story of how his mother was tragically killed by a drunk truck driver… etc etc bring out the violins. Of course they will fail to mention that it was actually his mother who caused the fatal accident. And the driver’s life, (who was cleared of any fault) was tarnished for the rest of his life. It’s all so disgraceful .
The Biden’s are lower than whale poop. Same composition, too.