I previously wrote a column marveling at the success of the Bidens in pulling off one of the neatest tricks in political history. I analogized it to how Houdini used to make his 10,000-pound elephant Jennie disappear on a stage in front of a live audience. The media and political establishment is now striving to top that performance by declaring $20 million in payments to Biden family members as an “illusion” of influence. At the heart of this scandal is the BFF, the Biden Family Fund.
Here is the column:
This week, President Joe Biden responded to calls for greater access to the media with a blockbuster interview with . . . the Weather Channel.
The interview immediately prompted critics to speculate that the president wanted to continue to talk about the weather — the same claim made after the disclosure of his participation in various dinners with his son’s foreign associates.
As the number of these dinners, meetings and outings increase, Joe Biden appears to have covered more meteorological subjects than Al Roker.
The problem is that conditions are worsening in Washington.
This week, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer released a third report on the ongoing investigations into the Biden corruption scandal.
The latest bank records indicate the Biden family has received more than $20 million, including from corrupt Kazakh figures.
Some of this money provided Hunter Biden with extravagant toys. On April 22, 2014, Kazakh oligarch Kenes Rakishev wired $142,300 to the Rosemont Seneca Bohai bank account.
That account then shows the exact same amount being wired to a New Jersey car dealership for a Fisker sports car for Hunter. Finding the Fisker unsuitable, Hunter traded it in for a Porsche.
Notably, these payments often coincided with dinners and meetings with Joe Biden.
Russian oligarch Yelena Baturina, the widow of Moscow ex-Mayor Yury Luzhkov, wired $3.5 million to Rosemont Seneca Thornton Feb. 14, 2014.
She later attended a dinner with Joe and Hunter Biden at Washington, DC, hotspot Café Milano.
For weeks, Joe Biden’s prior claims have been collapsing as his allies in the media and Congress struggle for an alternative spin on these new disclosures.
The president’s denials of any knowledge of his son’s foreign dealings finally have been exposed as a lie.
Even the Washington Post has acknowledged Biden lied when he insisted that Hunter never made any money in China.
It was always a boldfaced falsehood (and a confusing claim from a man who insisted that he had no knowledge of his son’s foreign dealings).
But the testimony of associate Devon Archer and new bank records forced the paper and others to recognize the falsehood.
There is also the confirmation that Biden’s long denials that he attended key dinners with Hunter’s business associates were false.
Most notably, the media are grudgingly admitting that Hunter was openly selling influence peddling and access to his father as part of what Archer called “selling the brand.”
The final line of defense is now that Hunter Biden was selling access to Joe Biden but it was an “illusion.” The reason, they claim, is there is no evidence of direct payments to Joe and Jill Biden.
There is, of course, nothing “illusionary” about tens of millions moving to Hunter and other family members.
But political spins are often built on illusions. The latest is that Joe Biden only benefits from these payments if they were directly deposited in his accounts.
For a family that Hunter explained was “the best” at this type of dealing, it is absurd to expect a deposit slip from a corrupt Ukrainian official to the account of Joe and Jill Biden, one of the most vulnerable accounts in the world to review and monitoring.
These claims, moreover, ignore emails discussing Hunter’s and his father’s use of joint accounts to pay for expenses, including how one account was used to pay Joe’s taxes. There is also Hunter’s complaint that he was using half of his earnings to support his father. Indeed, one trusted FBI informant said that, in planning a bribe, one foreign figure was told to avoid direct payments to Joe Biden. Today, that is as amateurish as an envelope of cash and the Bidens have been in the business of influence peddling for decades.
Responding to the new evidence, Washington Post columnist Phillip Bump led the charge in asking: Where’s the bribe?
In other words, as long as Hunter got the luxury car, Joe didn’t benefit or receive a bribe.
(Notably, Bump did not have the same high standards when he pushed the false claim over a photo op in Lafayette Park and later refused to concede with the rest of the media on the lack of Russian collusion with Donald Trump.)
Not even millions to Biden children and grandchildren would seem to satisfy Bump as an inducement for the then-vice president.
Yet the greatest illusion is the claim Joe Biden would only be motivated by a direct payment to one of his accounts.
Biden clearly benefited from millions going to the Biden Family Fund (BFF). Even grandchildren received some of the transfers funneled through a labyrinth of accounts.
Joe Biden is 80 years old. Despite holding only government jobs in his career, he is worth an estimated $8 million.
Forbes reported he earned $17.3 million over the four years he was out of office. He will never spend his fortune. Any additional money would have to pass to his descendants.
For most wealthy people in their final years, the challenge is not raising more money but getting that money to your children without heavy taxes or delays.
This money was going to his BFF. That is a benefit and probably of greater value to a man of Joe Biden’s age and wealth.
None of this has stopped politicians, press and pundits from insisting that absent a direct payment to the president’s account, there is no corruption or crime.
After all, $20 million going to a president’s family is like complaining about the weather in Washington.
Jonathan Turley is an attorney and professor at George Washington University Law School.
It is telling that the Biden Syndicate did *not* seek bribes (that we know of) from those in semi-civilized countries, such as France or England. Instead, they got in bed with the crookedest of the crooked.
Birds of a feather.
@Sam,
You’re overthinking.
France, England, or any of the major 1st world countries have checks and balances which make it more difficult.
Hunter used to use a certain bank known for its lax record keeping. That is until it was shut down.
There’s a lot you can find in the data if you have a history of all of the SWIFT transactions for the past decade or so and the SARS.
Then you can create knowledge graphs that detail who did what and with whom.
This is only 1/2 the solution. You also need to have news accounts, and communication files. (emails, texts, appointment calendars, travel logs, etc …)
Then you can create a very detailed picture.
Want to go for the bonus credit… then do the same for the FBI, Treasury, IRS, DoJ and Secret Service.
That will open a huge can of worms.
The data volume isn’t that great. Nor is the Data Science that difficult.
You’ll find obstruction and a conspiracy to obstruct.
And if you want to go even further… get the cell tower data if they still have it. For the entire set of all telcos.
Here you’ll discover any burner phones that may have been used. Of course for most of the data… this may end up being too late due to lax data retention rules and the time delay.
But what do I know?
I just do data architecture
-G
Also, Peter Ducci is just another hack reporter/agent provocateur. A serious journalist would have followed up his question to Biden when Biden responded that’s a lousy question, with were you aware who was on the other end of those 20 phone calls?
A good journalist is like a good lawyer, he knows the answer to the question before he asks it. And he is ready with his follow up. Nailing a lifetime, liar, sneak, crook like Biden is a chess match. You’re not going to win with one move.
For the record, Clarence Thomas and possibly Justice Alito need to resign. And all of the rest of the justices need to have their finances thoroughly vetted. But I am all for waiting until there is a Republican back in the White House. We simply cannot turn the court back over to the liberal activists.
And then Congress needs to enact legislation, that makes it a crime to offer or accept any kind of gift worth more than 100 bucks! It also needs to establish in the judicial branch an ethics enforcement group. No more goddamn enriching yourself in public service..
@Tom,
Nope.
There’s this loophole and as long as no ethical issues arose … they are in the clear.
Also be careful. You have a couple of other justices that have gone further over the line… like with her book. 😉
You should read my posts a little closer. I said that EVERY Justice should be scrutinized. Any legislation enected now would only affect future conduct obviously. No more books. No more trips. Someone offers you something of value, you get to name one charity for them to send them all to.
I also said that we can’t afford to turn then court over to the likes of KBJ. Someone who in one breath argues that she has the right to determine whats in the best interests of the state (kill ’em until they are viable) and in the next says to hell with whether AA is constitional if it saves a black baby or two.
By his own admission, Hunter was addicted to crack cocaine when the money came rolling in from China and Russia. He had nothing to offer anyone……,.except access to his father.
It takes a certain level of blissful ignorance to deny the obvious Biden family crimes, but how does one develop the temerity to simultaneously indict Trump?
Ken Larsen: There is no actual evidence proving that the Biden family committed any crimes–no matter how much Turley’s purchased advocacy on this point is put out there–there’s no paper trail–no cancelled checks, wire transfers–nothing but the laptop, which PROVES nothing. On the other hand, evidence, in the form of witness testimony, documents and videos were considered by actual grand juries, who indicted Trump.
As to the classified documents indictments: 1. admitted he took classified documents–falsely claiming some “right ” to possess them, and/or that he “declassified them”; 2. refused to return them for months, lied about returning them, forcing a search warrant and hid them from his own lawyer, who was coming to retrieve them to comply with a subpoena; 3. discussed the contents with persons not authorized to receive classifed information; 4. stored them unsecure locations where any number of people could have had access to them; 5. ordered security camera footage to be erased to cover up his crimes.
As to the J-6 indictments: 1. Trump began lying about “fraud” even before Election Day because polls predicted he would lose; 2. claimed victory at 2:00 a.m, before all the votes had even been counted, and was way behind at that point; 3. went on “Stop the Steal” campaigns, lying to his fans that he had been cheated out of victory by a “rigged election”; 4. filed over 60 lawsuits, all thrown out for being frivolous due to no evidence; 5. tried to bully Secretaries of State in swing states into rejecting valid vote counts and to “find” him enough votes to “win” that state, knowing there was no evidence of fraud, and despite multiple recounts; 6. got fake “electors” to commit felonies by falsifying Electoral College certificates, claimng he won when he hadn’t–these were sent to the National Archives; 7. tried to bully Pence into refusing the certified vote totals from swing states;–all without any evidence of widespread voter fraud; and when none of that worked: 8. told his fans to come to Washington on Jan. 6, promising it would be “wild”, telling them to “fight like hell or you’re not going to have a country any more” and that Pence should “do the right thing”, which is refuse Biden’s victory, even though he had no authority to do so; -so they invaded the Capitol, smashed doors and windows, rifled offices, urinated and defecated in the halls of the Capitol, and hunted Pence with a noose and gallows–all to try to prevent Biden’s victory.
In NY State: Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, went to prison on Trump’s behalf and lost his law license for falsifying campaign reports by claiming payoffs to a porn actress were”attorney fees”.
Ken: in claiming that prosecutors have “temerity” to charge Trump for his crimes, you’ve ignored all of this evidence, which is in the public domain, and which was considered by grand juries who found Trump committed crimes BEFORE criminal charges were filed.–so who’s being “blissfully ignorant’?
And, if you want to talk about family members and suspicious conduct–what about Jared Kushner being given billions by some Saudis–Jared actually worked in the White House—Hunter Biden never did. And, even Turley has admitted that influence peddling isn’t illegal–but, you don’t even have hard evidence of that.
It should be illegal to make money off of the fact that you or one of your relatives is or has been an elected official. That would include speaking fees, appearance fees, lobbying fees, consulting fees, or any other money-making endeavor.
It would also include fees for writing books no one wants to read. Why the hell does everyone feel obligated to write a book?
@Kevin,
Its a way to funnel money to the author.
You promise to write a book. I give you an advance. Not illegal for no book to come out of it … let alone a bad book that doesn’t get published. Not only do I get your attention, I also get a write off.
Just like buying bad art at an inflated price.
-G
The Grand Delusion
There’s no such thing as free speech in England. The police brutally take down a 16-year-old autistic girl with physical disabilities because earlier in the day she said “I think she’s a lesbian” about a police officer. Aww, poor little police officer is the victim of a disabled teenage girl who hurt her feelings.
https://humanevents.com/2023/08/10/autistic-uk-teen-girl-brutally-arrested-in-her-own-home-after-saying-i-think-shes-a-lesbian-about-a-police-officer?cfp
Clarence Thomas engaging in the sleazy business of accepting gifts is, sadly, a practice that is common among public officials in DC. The law should prohibit all public officials from accepting one cent beyond their government salaries. What is rare in DC is a president soliciting and accepting millions of dollars in bribes from foreign leaders who would not hesitate to blackmail the president to get what they want.
Never ending flow of unaccounted for U.S. $ billions in “aid” to Ukraine war, for example.
Democrats Say It’ll Take A Lot More Than Eyewitness Testimony, Bank Records, Audio, Video, Complete Confessions For Them To Believe Biden Did Anything Wrong
-Babylon Bee
But later, after it became clear Biden was now a liability, top party officials told democrats the accusations against the Biden’s were true; to which the sycophantria dutifully condemned President Biden as both a crook and a racist.
You’re a bunch of whackadoodles.
Please do not insult whackadoodles.
Guess that means you realize that the walls are finally closing in on Biden and company.
“The Illusion of Scandal: How Washington is Attempting to Dismiss $20 Million as an Illusion”
How Washington is Attempting to Dismiss 103 Million Working-Age People are not full-time employed.
How Washington is Attempting to Dismiss that America has fallen way behind in every Industrial Sector.
How Washington is Attempting to Dismiss the economic system has become unjust and off balance.
How Washington is Attempting to Dismiss that People are living on a thread, day to day.
How Washington is Attempting to Dismiss the Cannons of Our Constitution for Profit.
How Washington is Attempting to Dismiss that the whole thing is a Joke.
How Washington is Attempting to Dismiss …
How Washington is Attempting to Dismiss …
How Washington is Attempting to Dismiss …
…
how about dismissing a national debt of almost 32 trillion dollars. https://www.usdebtclock.org/
If you come to understand “Blockchain” (Crypto Technology)
We can begin to level the playing field.
This TED Video is a very good place to start
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pl8OlkkwRpc
how about dismissing the Federal Reserve, ½ of Wall Street & Markets, and Bringing Back Sound Money
It would make more sense to spell prison as prizzen.
I appreciate all the comments about the Bidens, but there most likely be no visible: persecution, proceedings, or prosecution until the 2024 Election is over. We are just going to have to wait. I know it Sucks but be patient, the Action will eventually come. Pray its got too.
I would say that depends on whether Obama decides “Joe Biden” needs to be replaced before then.
You’re kidding yourself. They already own it all fella.
The Consitution does a pretty good job of protecting me from the government, but what I really need is a constitution that protects me from my fellow citizens, who are more likely to do me wrong from one minute to the next, subjecting me to constant misery,
Hunter Biden has never registered as a foreign agent, despite lucrative work done on behalf of foreign interests. His name does not appear in the public FARA database kept by the DOJ, and political opponents have sought to take him to court for allegedly skirting the law.
But critics of the DOJ have long alleged unequal application of the law. “It’s a double standard, 100%,” former assistant FBI director Chris Swecker, who led public corruption cases out of Washington, previously told RealClearInvestigations. On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board argued that “a bad law used against Trump associates now haunts President Biden’s son.”
Legal jeopardy casts a long shadow. Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley called on the DOJ in 2020 to probe why Biden never registered as a foreign agent, despite his documented business dealings with a Chinese government-backed energy company called CEFC.
“Are there things here that set off alarm bells? Sure,” said an attorney with expertise in FARA issues who requested anonymity to comment before all the facts were known. “Especially that meal with the vice president,” the lawyer added, referring to a 2014 dinner at Café Milano in Washington, which the Comer memo cites and then-Vice President Biden attended with Hunter Biden’s foreign business partners.
The attorney asked, “What was that all about?”
……………………………………….
Real Clear Politics
Punchbowl News Portrays $20 Million As ‘Stunning Claim’
Tucked inside a memo released by House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) on Wednesday is one of the clearest signs yet that a potential House GOP impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden is coming this fall.
“President Biden’s Family is the Vehicle to Receive Bribery Payments,” Oversight Republicans asserted on the third page of the memo, which detailed “over $20 million” in payments from foreign oligarchs to shell companies controlled by Hunter Biden and his business associates.
It’s a stunning claim for Comer to make, and it isn’t backed up by evidence of any bribe given to Joe Biden — at least none seen so far. Yet the repeated allegations by Comer against Biden show the direction House Republicans are moving in on an impeachment inquiry.
Up to this point, Republicans haven’t tied any official actions by Biden as vice president to the money received by Hunter Biden, other family members or their business associates. The Republicans’ basic thrust is that there has to be corruption or something illegal going on because it all seems so sordid.
https://punchbowl.news/archive/81023-punchbowl-news-am/
……………………………………….
This story has gotten almost ‘no’ traction in mainstream media because Comer has no evidence Joe Biden received ‘any’ of that money.
China planned the release of “China Flu, 2019” to be effective approximately 6 months prior to the landslide 2020 reelection victory of the unbeatable (dems left it to loser Biden) Real President Donald J. Trump.
The RINOs will definitely defer to their marketing department on the timing of any action or release related to the threatened potential impeachment of Biden.
It’s doubtful that the RINOs will impeach a member-in-good-standing of the Deep Deep State “Swamp” no matter the party.
The Joe and Hunter joint account is proof Joe received a share of that money
Iowan2, it doesn’t matter if Joe received any of the money. He was enriching his family, at a minimum by selling access and almost certainly actual protection as well.
No evidence??
How about Hunter complaining contemporaneously that he was giving him half of what he earned.
How about the Schwerin emails that show Hunter paid Joes bills? How about emails showing joes taxes were paid out of a joint account with Hunter? This is all called evidence. Its just not the confession you libtards need.
Do you know any f-ing adult man who shares a bank account with his adult son. For what purpose?
Jim Biden said it best to Tony Bobulinski, “plausible deniability”. Thanks to Hunter’s laptop, Joe now has only “deniability”. Not a goddam thing about it is plausible.
Joseph Biden, husband to “Dr Jill”:
“Yes, I did catch my wife in bed with oligarchs from Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine, and yes they were completely unclothed and yes, they were all under the covers, and yes, Dr Jill was screaming, moaning and sweating profusely. But, c’mon, Man! We all know that my wife, the eminent Dr Jill, is an educational scholar, and was merely providing strategic plans on how to build community colleges in those nations. She was merely expressing in voice and sounds what MAGA supporters do when they learn a community college will have DEI and CRT curriculum. She did nothing wrong, in fact, I gave her some tips from my
underaged victimsthe kiddie books Governor DeSantis has banned in Florida schools!”Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine Oligarchs to Biden: “check is in the mail”
Dear Prof Turley,
I have no ‘illusions’ about the Biden Brand’s ‘abuse of soft power’ in Ukraine.
” Despite the evidence of Biden’s corruption in Ukraine, the Zelensky government has not outed Joe for his sordid history in his country. But why would Zelensky need to expose Biden? At tremendous American cost, Biden is leading the largest war since World War II to help Ukraine.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/does-ukraine-have-kompromat-on-joe-biden-opinion/ar-AA1eXIy6?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=11a2aea5b542447292e0f756c887f9ff&ei=19
*compared to Biden’s war in Ukraine, all other forms of Biden’s demented, insidious and vapid psychopathy shrinks to insignificance. .. imo.
Jonathan: Your column is another prime example of deflection–keep your followers focused on the alleged “Biden family corruption scandal” and away from DJT’s legal troubles, his deranged threats against prosecutors and judges–and especially the looming indictment of DJT and others involved in trying to overturn the election down in Georgia. No one on this blog should be deceived as to what is going on here.
Now, if Joe Biden’s net worth is only worth $8 million how does that back up your claim that he received millions in bribes? In comparison, VP Kamala Harris’ net worth is $28 million. Seems Joe Biden has little to show for all his years in public office–especially if, as you claim, there was ” $20 million going to a president’s family”. I’m not a math wizard but your allegations just make no sense!
Speaking of Jamie Comer’s investigation there is an interesting article in the Daily Beast (9/9/23) about Comer’s curious absence from Devon Archer’s deposition. If Comer thought Archer would be the “smoking gun” you would think he would want to attend and ask Qs. At first Comer’s office confirmed he did no participate because he was busy in “constituent meetings”. But in a Fox interview Comer contradicted that claim and said he participated by phone. That was a lie. A GOP source, according to the Beast story, said “There’s just no way he f******called in”. Dan Goldman , the lone Dem in the interview, says Comer “was neither present nor on the phone for the Devon Archer interview”. Woops!
So why would Comer lie about such a trivial matter? This episode only further underscores Comer’s lack of credibility and why some GOP members think Comer was the wrong man for the job as Chair of the House Oversight Committee. If Comer would lie about his absence at Archer’s interview how are we to believe him on his claims the Joe Biden was taking bribes? So far Comer has been unable prove any of his claims about the Biden family. His 10,000 pound “Biden family scandal” elephant is going to disappear just like Houdini’s!
“Now, if Joe Biden’s net worth is only worth $8 million how does that back up your claim that he received millions in bribes?”
OMG Dennis, really?
Aha! Professor Turley……IF Biden took bribes as you suggest he did, why does his net worth not show that he is worth at least $30 meeeellion dollars? Hmmm?
“Now, if Joe Biden’s net worth is only worth $8 million how does that back up your claim that he received millions in bribes? “
Poor, poor Dennis. His math is not good enough to match the numbers together. He is naive enough, or something worse, not to be able to figure out how a man associated with so much corruption only has a bank balance of $8M. It is clear to most people with moderate intelligence but to Dennis the ability to put the dots together eludes him.
Dennis: thank you. If you click on the link above refering to “bank records”–it’s a piece from the New York Post, which says: “Committee chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said Hunter Biden, now 53, APPEARED TO deliver Russian, Kazakhstani and Ukrainian businesspeople access to his father, then Barack Obama’s vice president — noting that each of the post-Soviet associates allegedly attended at least one of two dinners at Washington’s Café Milano with the Bidens.” (capitalization added for emphasis).
More of Turley’s paid advocacy that PROVES exactly nothing other than a willingness to advocate for Republicans as a deflectoin away from Trump and his crimes.
Proof
Crackpot
Still think texas makes electricity using crude oil??
Gigi: Thank you for pointing out the reference to the NYP article. That’s the Murdock tabloid that JT often goes to to try and reinforce his political arguments. No New Yorker with any sense will go to the NYP for actual FACTS. It deals in salacious headlines but if you read an entire article you will see qualifiers like “allegations” or “suggesting” that makes it clear they have no actual facts or evidence. The NYP is part of Murdock’s right-wing propaganda campaign and, sadly, JT has joined it.
Biden net worth just 8 million? And you fell for it.
Thats only what the Democrats want you to know. How many shell companies, trusts etc. does Joe & Jill have access to, or a trusted family member. Lots of digging to be done still. BUt sure that info is in the hands of the DOJ) or friends, from whom he can draw on secreted funds?
Dennis – The assertion of the Committee is that $20m was paid to the Biden family from foreign sources via legal entities controlled by or partially owned by them. These payments are supposedly documented by bank records. An explanatory chart is included in the NYP story to which JT links. Are you really suggesting that there are no bank records supporting the chart? Are we supposed to worry by a verbal inconsistency by Rep. Comer when we are faced with proof of the gross corruption of the President of the United States and his family?
https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Third-Bank-Records-Memorandum_Redacted.pdf
ROFL