I recently wrote a column about five facts that justified the start of an impeachment inquiry. While I have stressed that I do not believe that there is currently sufficient evidence for an actual impeachment, I am mystified by the claim that there is not ample evidence to warrant an inquiry into possible impeachable offenses. Notably, CNN just reactivated its fact-checking team for a review of the basis for the inquiry. In so doing, the network made an iron-clad argument in support of the decision by Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
CNN presented this claim:
Claim: Biden family and associates got $20 million through shell companies
“Bank records show that nearly $20 million in payments were directed to the Biden family members and associates through various shell companies,” McCarthy said.
Facts First: This is true about Joe Biden’s family and associates, but there is no public evidence to date that the president personally received any money.
That is a fair fact check but it is also the very reason that Speaker McCarthy initiated the inquiry. We do not know where this money went, why it was sent through this labyrinth of accounts, or what it was intended to buy. That is why this is an impeachment inquiry.
The media and a number of Democrats recently admitted, belatedly, that Hunter Biden was involved in a corrupt influence peddling operation. This was made clear by Hunter associate Devon Archer who said that they were selling the “Biden brand” and that brand was Joe Biden. Clearly, these corrupt foreign figures in China, Ukraine, and Russia (including some who were charged with corruption in their own countries) thought that they were getting something other than Hunter for their money. After all, one of these figures reportedly referred to Hunter as dumber than his dog. However, pundits and politicians now insist that it was merely the “illusion” of access. In other words, these notoriously corrupt figures were chumps fleeced by Hunter and Biden associates.
However, how do we know it was an “illusion”? You have a trusted FBI informant relaying the claim of a Ukrainian that he gave Biden a “bribe,” but was told not to pay him directly. As I previously discussed, only a moron would pay Joe Biden directly for such influence or access.
CNN repeatedly returns to this fact in each of the checked claims. Again, that is precisely why we have an inquiry. Bribery is a stated basis for impeachment in the Constitution. Even CNN accepts that, if Biden received such benefits, it would be a serious offense.
It is also worth noting, as I have raised previously, that the requirement of an envelope filled with money or a deposit slip into the checking account of Joe and Jill Biden is a bit ridiculous as a condition. If millions went to Biden children and grandchildren, it is still a benefit for the President.
Joe Biden is currently worth more than $8 million. At his age, he will never spend the wealth that he has. Most people in his position are focused on ways to leave financial legacies for their family and minimize estate and death taxes. It is absurd to suggest that millions going to Joe Biden’s family would not constitute a benefit to him.
Finally, the inquiry is looking into whether some of these funds did make their way into Joe Biden’s accounts. There are indications that both Hunter and Joe received money out of some of these accounts and used shared credit cards. For example, there are indications that Hunter used his Dad’s credit card to pay for prostitutes.
That again is precisely the point of the impeachment inquiry. The House will now have to demand the personal bank and financial records of both Hunter Biden and Joe Biden. Thus far, the House Committees have been focused on following the money through bank transfers.
That is why the CNN fact check is a full-throated call for an impeachment inquiry. The nexus between this massive amount of money and President Biden is precisely what the House will now try to establish.
Politics in America have gone full tribal — you stand by your man no matter what the other side claims he’s done, and you make up fake news stories because journalism is all about tribal partisanship. I don’t know if there’s a chance of ever coming back from this abyss.
Good point. I have made that reasoning here. I have told the libtards here that they could have their wealth redistribution and their abortion on demand and their men in womens sports and their drag queen story hour and still not act like petulant children and just admit Joe is a crook. They just stamped their feet and covered their eyes.
Gio, the latest proof that Democrats will stand by their candidate now matter what the offense is shown by Dems pretending that the lady running in VA should still be supported even though she was on a porn site taking money for video of her having sex with her husband and even selling tickets to watch her perform bodily functions. They are actually standing behind her (pun intended) and saying they support her because she supports women’s issues.
Remember that Democrats say they are fighting for the soul of our nation as they demand that men enter lady’s locker rooms, defeat women and girls in sports, perform surgeries on young boys and girls and now basically prostitute themselves for “tokens”.
Says the side still supporting Trump who is facing 90 felony counts, for stuff he actually did.
Sammy is impressed by numbers even when he doesn’t know what they mean. Hundreds of times sammy has proven himself an inadequate person on the blog and still doesn’t realize it. Likely inadequacy characterizes his life.
Those numbers are proof the Democrats do not understand the rule of law and have weaponized government. Americans who hold true to American ideas would never do what these Democrats have done.
When it comes to defending “Joe Biden” the Dems en masse have become Baghdad Bob. Anonymous’s comments here prove that.
Wait, you think it’s contorted reasoning to say that if money flows to your kids, it’s a benefit to you? Wow, I’m guessing you don’t have kids.
Or if you do, then you’re more callous than a hardened criminal. Regardless, I would think even someone with no kids could understand the simple reasoning that, for people who do have kids, they benefit when their kids benefit.
The reasoning is un-contorted when you have Hunter complaining he had to “give dad half”.
But we’ll just ignore that little tidbit, because the guy who’s expertise was worth tens of millions was just a drug addict.
“But what about Jared, now do i look like a tool”?—-saved u the effort.
“The reasoning is un-contorted when you have Hunter complaining he had to “give dad half”.
How is that illegal? Joe Biden wasn’t VP the entire time Hunter Biden was making these deals. A lot of Joe’s critics conveniently leave out the fact that he was not VP when most of these deals occurred and also ignore the fact that many of these deals fell thru before they were realized.
Being a drug addict doesn’t mean he wasn’t good at making deals. Using his family name to gain an advantage is not illegal. Trump proved that to great effect when his own kids did it.
Turley is using Joe’s family as a poor excuse to justify the inquiry. Trump’s family which were part of his administration did the same thing. Turley just ignored it.
If a politician does a “favor” for a crime boss, and the crime boss pays the politician’s wife, it’s still bribery. If the crime boss pays the politician’s crackhead son on account of the favor, it’s still bribery.
Jeff Childers, the Coffee & Covid blog
Joe Biden needed to enrich the Biden family so that his son would have enough money for illicit drugs and prostitutes. What a legacy.
No evidence? You disqualified yourself right there. Enjoy your day.
P.S. If you ever have a skeptical thought in your brain about Democrats (which is unlikely), you might ask yourself how “Joe Biden” got so rich off a government salary – and we’re talking tens of millions of dollars here – and why he needed to set up a maze of 20 offshore shell companies, and why he would brag about getting a prosecutor in Ukraine fired, or why Hunter’s business partner would divulge the indirect way in which Hunter was selling influence when Joe happened to call in to just ask about the weather. But nothing that looks bad for Democrats even enters your brain, it just washes off like water off a duck’s back. I am wasting my time here and will not continue to do so, so go ahead and have the last word.
Is CNN turning on Biden?
The WaPo ran an op-ed the other day calling for him not to run.
More than a few polls show Democrats do not want Biden to run, some as high as 80%.
Then there is his most recent gaffe,
“We’ve seen record lows in unemployment, particularly — and I’ve focused on this my whole career — particularly for African Americans and Hispanic workers and veterans, you know, the workers without high-school diplomas,” Biden said.
Hey, everyone! I dont have a high-school diploma! Sure am glad Joe Biden is there in the WH to tell me that!
FJB.
So thats where that idiot got the talking point about african and hispanic unemployment…from Lyin’ Biden himself. Too dumb to know he was being gaslit.
Yea, biden worked hard to incarcerate those people with his crime bill in the senate. They dont count those people as unemployed.
“there are indications that Hunter used his Dad’s credit card to pay for prostitutes”. Then did Dad get the airline points? and what type of prostitutes takes a credit card? That should be an separate investigation or maybe the prostitutes were members of Congress and then that explains it.
Where does the prostitute swipe the credit card?
Besides the intent of trying to spin the story, why do these media people believe that an inquiry is the same as saying that all the facts are in and that they are the jury?
An inquiry is what the prosecutor does before handing down an indictment. It is NOT a statement of facts; it is the start of the investigation process. This is the stage where Congress is.
The next step would be an assessment by the relevant committee of the facts that were found, and whether they amount to a case for impeachment. We have not reached that stage. Yet CNN is already saying that there has been no evidence presented.
Were they acting this way when it came to the Trump indictments?
The media is taking this approach specifically to confuse people. The inquiry aspect is being used by the media so as to confuse it with impeachment itself. Thus all the nonsense about ‘no evidence’, ‘not enough evidence’, ‘no public evidence’, etc. is nothing more than an effort to project the idea that there is a scam afoot.
Just how far Turley is willing to gaslight you, today’s piece is a fine example. After going after CNN for years now, and knowing his Trump base hates CNN, he wants you to believe their infotainment opinion. Hell, even I don’t trust CNN.
Yea, lets all take a trip down memory lane at all the times the “coward crew” has cited CNN in their brilliant comments. How convenient, fish breath.
“gaslight”? How about Turley is just pointing out that Biden’s circumstances are so perilous that even CNN does not dare to keep shared breathing space with Joe? Besides, their statement keeps the backdoor open for plenty of slither and squirm room.
If there is not enough evidence for impeachment there never will be. No just classified documents from senate years being in his possession, Ignoring OATH OF OFFICE, Not defending the CONSTITUTION, weaponizing the three letter agencies against opponent, Treason for selling out the country for his personal gain. and so on
ROTFLMAO!! How do you know this BEFORE there is an investigation??
Dear Prof Turley,
Well, I think we can rule out a ‘snap impeachment’ for Joe Biden. That ship sailed about 50 years ago. In retrospect, Joe Biden has never been right about anything .. . unless it was an accident.
Now, you say Apex congress can demand Joe and Hunter’s bank records. But I say they’re still going to have to pry the records from Special Counsel+USA Weiss’ jealous fingers. According to DoJ Garland, Weiss has always had the sole authority about whether, when and where to bring charges against the Bidens. Forever, and that’s a long time.
So, it’s going to be Apex congress v. Weiss/DoJ, the IRS, the FBI and the OLC. At a minimum.
Iow, Sams @ OLC is right; for all intents and purposes, this Biden impeachment ‘political stunt’ really is going to “shut down the government”.
*cover-ups are almost always worse than the crime. .. and that’s no accident.
Re; “However, pundits and politicians now insist that it was merely the “illusion” of access. In other words, these notoriously corrupt figures were chumps fleeced by Hunter and Biden associates.”
If Joe Biden had an ounce of integrity as a father (which he does not) he would have told Hunter to decouple his personal business entirely from his own role in politics. Which of course as a doddering parasitic political hack, Joe did not. Instead, he facilitated Hunter’s grift.
Note the subtext of what is happening now. For the Dems, Biden as the notional 2024 nominee is only a placeholder. The DNC will set the machinery in motion to cut Joe loose at the Convention if they want by greasing in a prior agreed upon replacement. The Biden impeachment inquiry is another gear in the machinery to send Joe off to the rest home without going through what would be a messy primary process. This is 2016 redux for the DNC when they greased the skids for Hillary.
CNN is truly loyal to the Democratic cause, I’ll give them that at least. But can you imagine the utter hysteria at CNN if a crack-addicted Donald Jr. was riding around on Air Force One with his dad and getting $1.5 Billion for his little investment “boutique” from China ? CNN has taken “willful blindness” to a whole new level, and ESPECIALLY for an outfit that claims to be a “news organization”.
“[T]here is no public evidence to date that the president personally received any money.” (CNN)
CNN needs to fact-check the meaning of “bribery.” “Personally received” is *not* a necessary condition to establish bribery.
The most corrupt President in US History.
Nixon told A lie; Biden has never told the truth.
Biden makes the Clinton’s look like petty thieves!
Don’t read this any way but as a statement of speculation…..but if Joe Biden and his family are allowed to get away with this corruption, there will be hell to pay for it —-
Trump isn’t the problem, Trump is the Diversion. Biden is the Diversion, Hunter is the Diversion, Musk is the Diversion, The Weather is the Diversion, ….
The Shame is that: “The Presidency” has become the “Diversion.” Doesn’t matter who is President.
They have made the Offices of the Executive Branch a guise for diverse purposes.
Yes you are correct in concluding: It is the Mockery-of-Democracy.
It’s all a Diversion to take your attention away from what is actually going on at “The Controls”.
The Controls:
Economic Flows at Local, Nation-State, Geo-State, Global localizations.
Commodity Acquisitions at Local, Nation-State, Geo-State, Global localizations.
Human Migration at Local, Nation-State, Geo-State, Global localizations.
Sustainable Consumption at Local, Nation-State, Geo-State, Global localizations.
Development at Local, Nation-State, Geo-State, Global localizations.
Basically the Diversion is a Cover-Up of the Conditions-and-Controls of the actuality of Life (problems) here on Earth.
Doesn’t matter who is President.
I think you’ve touched on an important point, but the one weakness in your argument is: if the presidency itself is nothing more than a diversion, why would “they” have been so pissed that Trump won in 2016 and have done everything in their power to ensure he couldn’t win in 2020?
Trumps mistake was: “Drain The Swamp”. it was such a broad Statement that it encompassed almost all of the D.C. complex and Covert Geo-Political (Covert Ops) Operations. In layman’s terms, It scared the S_ _ _ t Out of Them. All of the Swamp has this sort of connective-tissue that makes it work together as an Organism. And Trump threatened the Organism, which resulted in the Organism giving a defensive response. Our situation today.
No one [1] person can kill the Organism (i.e. Trump), its just to big (Global), but He presents a Monkey Wrench in the System (db-loss) in regards to the Mission. Etc.Etc,… at Local, Nation-State, Geo-State, Global localizations.
So basically, like Mr. Beale, he meddled with the primal forces of nature.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9XeyBd_IuA
(I post the above about once a quarter month, as it is one of the greatest speeches in movie history, if not the greatest.)
If the Biden’s were transparent, if they opened their account and finances to the investigation, we would not need this inquiry.
If Hunter had picked up his laptop we probably would never know any of this for another 10 years if ever.
If true, imagine how much of this went on at a smaller scale while Joe was Senator…. And other legislators….
Who has given the MSM the green light here? Oh, I wish we could know. In my opinion, it is Obama. These folks feel like they could lose in 2024, so they are feeling the heat. Let’s face it: Biden is senile, and a serious embarrassment to the country. Whisper or scream that to anyone who will listen.
I agree it’s most likely Obama, making an opening for Michelle to step in and replace Crooked Joe.
The notion that foreign entities can give huge piles of money to everyone in the extended Joetard clan and it’s not bribery unless they give it to Joetard himself is ABSURD.
Selling the ‘illusion’ of power is fraud .. . but I don’t think Burisma/Ukraine will demand their money back.
*r@ ‘Joetard’ .. . never underestimate the banality of evil.
There’s a great line in a mobster movie of a gangster being questioned by a colleague as to whether they can trust a corrupt cop who is supposed to warn of a raid. The mobster says, “Yes, when I buys ’em, they stay bought!” Burisma was a trial baloon and it worked. Since then, we have poured billions of dollars into Ukraine and who’s to say whether that is because there’s a genuine U.S. interest in doing this – OR, the guy that was bought stayed bought.
I’m confused, JJC. Biden was bribed by Burisma to keep the Ukrainian government from investigating Burisma’s corruption. Burisma is out of business. You’re saying somehow this is related to continued military aid to Ukraine?
If the WH is indeed clean then they have nothing to fear. Still, the GOP has to walk a tightrope here, trying to get facts and avoid personal attacks. The Independents are watching them.
Please! If the WH were clear they would be fully cooperating. Let’s see how long before they throw Hunter under the bus. For being the smartest guy Joe knows he has done a whole lot of really stupid stuff. I guess you can be stupid and smart at the same time. One thing I know is the people and governments behind them who gave the Bidens millions are not stupid nor gullible.
Read the transcript of Devon Archers testimony regarding Marc Holtzman, then come back here and reply whether you think Hunter was only selling the “illusion” of access.
If he was, that must have been magic bagels they had for breakfast.