Below is my column in The Hill on the exposure of the Biden family and its long-standing business of influence peddling. Newly released evidence from the House Committee on Ways and Means reveals over $20 million coming from 23 separate countries on four continents to at least nine Biden family members. Not only are the Biden transfers becoming clear, so is the Biden family tree in this lucrative form of corruption.
Here is the column:
President Joe Biden once famously told a state official that “no one f—s with a Biden.” It was a statement that made more sense a few years ago than it does today.
These days, it seems like everyone is…well, messing with the Bidens. The president’s son, Hunter Biden, is facing federal charges on gun violations under a law that his father has heralded. He is also looking at possible additional charges on taxes.
Joe Biden’s brother James Biden was just subpoenaed alongside his nephew over millions of dollars sent by foreign figures as part of an influence-peddling operation.
Joe Biden is now formally under investigation for possible impeachment with at least four articles of impeachment under consideration.
Finally, a media that has long shielded the Bidens is now starting to acknowledge that Hunter and others were engaged in corrupt influence peddling.
All of this scrutiny is not simply threatening the Biden sense of invincibility. It is also revealing more about the Bidens behind the scenes in an unvarnished and unflattering light.
Prosecutors often build narratives around the conspicuous consumption and the lifestyle demands of targets. Trump’s personal and financial dealings have featured greatly in litigation. The Washington Post’s Ruth Marcus and others have written about how the evidence exposed a “stunning display of Trump’s narcissism.”
The same may be true with Biden. There is a sharp disconnect between the public persona long maintained by the press and what is becoming more apparent to the public now.
Although the image of a “unifier-in-chief” quickly collapsed, the most lasting portrayal is that Joe Biden cares. Unlike Trump, he is portrayed as acting not out of greed, but an overwhelming desire to do good. In a typical article, a contributor to Forbes gushed about “How Empathy Defines Joe Biden.” The article explained that “Biden feels empathetic because that is who he is.”
That is not the image that emerges from the growing evidence about Biden and his family. The Bidens are suffering from legal exposure in actions concerning everything from withholding child support to peddling influence to federal felonies.
The investigations and inquiries often turn on questions of intent for actions taken by Biden family members, including the president himself. The motive is often all too apparent.
Hunter Biden left a long trail of emails and texts seeking millions in exchange for access to his father. He is shown in messages invoking his father’s power, threatening foreign figures to send him money. In one message, he allegedly makes a demand for an immediate transfer of cash from a Chinese businessman by saying that his father is sitting next to him to make sure the payment comes through.
Hunter Biden was burning through a fortune on drugs, prostitutes and high living. There were many eager to have the son of the vice president dependent on their largesse.
While Hunter is often portrayed as a human wreck, salvaged by influence-seekers, his uncles generated their own controversies. James has been a well-known figure among alleged influence peddlers for years in cashing in on access to his brother, Joe. Joe’s younger brother, Frank, has also been long identified as involved in the family influence peddling. Like Hunter, Frank appears to have been in dire financial straits due to his careening lifestyle and lack of any appreciable skills.
Frank’s need for money was not only great but known to his brother. In 1999, at age 43, Frank was involved in a car crash in Cardiff-by-the-Sea near Encinitas, California. He was accused of responsibility for the death of single father Michael Albano and then of evading service and responsibility in lawsuits by Albano’s surviving children. He only recently began paying what he owes.
Having had his driver’s license suspended in Florida, Frank nonetheless rented a Jaguar and had a younger man whom he had met at a Whole Foods driving him. Biden, sitting in the passenger seat, reportedly shifted the car into manual gear and encouraged Jason Turton, 25, to “punch it,” at which point he hit 80 miles per hour in a 35 mph zone.
Turton was later reportedly found to have twice the allowed level of alcohol in his system. Witnesses said everyone in the car was drinking that day and Frank was accused of telling Turton to “keep driving” after killing Albano. Frank would ultimately remain at the scene after Turton ran off by foot.
The police report suggested Frank was uncooperative with police on key points of the investigation.
Frank Biden defaulted in the action brought by Albano’s daughters, but he left California and spent decades evading payments. When attorney John F. Hayter, representing the daughters, garnished Biden’s Wells Fargo bank account in February, he found it virtually empty.
It took 20 years to get him to pay any of the $1 million he owed in damages. He was also reportedly dodging creditors.
The daughters had repeatedly asked Joe Biden to intervene, but nothing occurred for years until he was running for the vice presidency and the media began to pick up on his brother’s evasion of liability.
When Biden was still a senator, Albano’s daughter did finally get a response from Joe Biden’s staff that explained, “As you are aware, however, Frank has no assets with which to satisfy the judgment. The senator regrets that this is where matters stand and that he cannot be more helpful.”
That appeared to change just when Joe was running for the vice presidency. It was also when the Biden influence peddling efforts seemed to take off in earnest.
These cases reveal not just a family committed to corrupt influence peddling, but also strikingly similar patterns of legal and financial evasion. It also shows a family whose members had an insatiable thirst for cash and few skills beyond monetizing government service.
It is a familiar narrative in federal prosecutions. Prosecutors focused on such lifestyle demands in Paul Manafort’s prosecution, including highlighting his famous Ostrich coat.
The same is true in impeachments. When I served as lead counsel in the last judicial impeachment trial, my client, Judge Thomas Porteous, faced allegations of receiving gifts from those seeking to influence him. The House managers focused on Porteous’s lifestyle and gambling expenses to explain his seeking gifts from those with business in his court.
The Bidens had only one family business. They did not make furniture or sell groceries. They sold influence and, as Biden associate Devon Archer explained, Joe was their “brand.”
As these investigations and prosecutions continue, the public may conclude that it is not empathy but avarice that defines the Bidens.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University.
No, just the corrupt ones
Trolls and dimwits arise early it appears.
Upon seeing the contents of Hunter’s Laptop….hearing Devon Archer and others directly involved….and seeing the every growing mountain of evidence…..no one with a grain of commonsense can come to any conclusion beyond the Biden Family as a whole is one big bunch of corrupt and degenerate losers except for their access to a communal trough of money from one source…..peddled access to Joe Biden.
Ralph Chappell,
Well said and spot on.
What a sad and ugly family.
It seems to me that one reason the Biden family has been allowed to grow rich through its nefarious deals is because Congress, particularly the Democrats, always turn a blind eye to the illegal and immoral conduct of its own members. The most common blindness is the enormous wealth that its members have been able to accumulate on a “public servant” salary. Joe Biden is the poster child for this but he is only one of many. Of course, the illegal pursuit of material wealth (insider trading, for example) is among the least of the offenses. Why hasn’t Congress already impeached Biden and others for consciously disregarding their Constitutional and statutory duty to protect our southern border? Is 100,000+ dead Americans from fentanyl not reason enough? Even as I write this, Congress is doing nothing about Rashida Tlaib even though she is engaging in conduct that seems to warrant at least an investigation for treason since she and others in the Squad obviously are “adhering” to and giving “aid and comfort” to Iran and its terrorists proxies in their determined effort to destroy Israel. We also have quickly forgotten that Biden’s $6 billion payment to Iran is the second time Democrats have done this. Remember Obama’s $1.7 billion payment– stacks of non-US currency loaded on pallets in an unmarked plane delivered to Iran in the dark of night? No one can be surprised that Biden is a weak, corrupt President. If we had a Congress that cared enough to demand adherence to American values and American interests we would not be in the mess we are today.
I wondered when we would get around to talking about young Frank Biden. The truth eventually does get out. Actually oozing out at this time. How much longer will the Bidens last?
Actually , it can be illegal. “The honest services fraud statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1346, merely extends the reach of the mail and wire fraud statutes to protect against deprivations of certain “intangible rights” held by members of the public. This theory was historically used to prosecute defendant’s accused of government corruption, characterizing the loss suffered by taxpayers as a deprivation of the honest and faithful services of their government.
Today, the honest services statute has been found to extend well beyond public officials, covering most fiduciary, privileged, and employment relationships. The statute’s text makes clear that a “scheme to defraud” includes a scheme or artifice to deprive another of the intangible right of honest services.
Yes, I know, the McDonnell case narrowed the scope of this law but it’s still broad enough to catch Joe’s withholding of U.S. aid to Ukraine in exchange for the millions paid to Hunter en route to Joe.
“The Trumps also use influence peddling and to a much greater degree.”
Stupid people say stupid things like this. The proof is they can produce no logical or factual evidence yet still remain stupid.
I guess you skipped over reading the paragraph where Turley gratuitously slammed Trump despite Trump having NOTHING to do with Frank Biden’s corrupt and criminal activities. There’s no legitimate literary or legal reason to mention Trump in an article about Frank Biden. Seek counseling.
I’m assuming you know what “gratuitously” means. Maybe you and Turley should look it up.
So what you’re saying is that if Party X gave hunter biden money, then FJB got a portion of that money, then FJB then did something to benefit Party X, that is AOK?
If that is true, how would it be possible for FJB to ever be corrupt as long as he was simply doing tricks for money?
If he’s not in office and not running for office, so 2016-2018/9, what influence did he have to sell?
Yeah, but none of the bidens became consultants or lobbyists. FJB and Dr. FJB made about $10M in a book deal (clearly fraudulent) and speaking engagements (rolley eyes). That income was declared in 2017, meaning it was earned the prior year, I believe.
So you can argue he earned it through legit influence or you can stick to his story, above, but EVERYONE on planet Earth knows that FJB is a corrupt POS. You can whataboutism all you like, but your guy, outside of being a whore, is worthless to humanity, as is his entire family. Democrats and their book deals…lol. The majority of voting democrats haven’t read a book in decades or simply cannot read, but it’s ok because it looks legit to you and you are AOK with the Detroitization of the entire nation because it serves your immediate personal goals – good for you.
But now, at least you can change your excuse (influence peddling) to the official one (best-selling author). Go you.
Don’t forget he raped a woman in the halls of Congress as well
“Hunter Biden was a consultant.”
That’s like calling the doordash driver a Michelin chef.
None of the were lobbyists, because lobbyist is an actual thing with over sight.
hunter was an errand boy, just like the underage hood rats that do the dirty work for the inner city scumbags. Defend him all you like, he is a disgusting human being, which may be the nicest thing you can say about him or his “father-pimp.”
Thats your lie. Zlovchevsky thought Shoken was after him. He asked Hunter to call Joe to help. The rest is all a narrative spun by Bidens lackies.
The most corrupt and despicable president in US History.
Correction: The most corrupt and despicable FAKE president in US History.
Shortly after “Biden” was “elected,” Turley wrote about how JB’s influence peddling was legendary in DC. That didn’t stop Turley from voting for him or weeping tears of joy at the inauguration which was held 13 minutes before it was constitutional to have the ceremony. Now that Turley is belatedly discovering what most of the country knew 4 years ago, he’s shocked, shocked! to learn of influence peddling in the Biden family. Please give us a break. This is what you voted for, now own it. Put that Biden/Harris sign back up in your yard. You did this to us.
Thank you Professor Turley for challenging the absurd myth of the “empathetic” Joe Biden.
Apparently, Michael is ready to send Fredo fishing.
can you do a piece on Soros influencing local elections?
It is obvious Democrats are a suicide CULT
LOL — If Turley ever did a piece about Soros corruption, the piece would have at least one paragraph slamming Trump — just like he did with this article about Frank Biden. The fact that slamming Trump isn’t relevant to the topic, and that Trump has NOTHING to do with Frank Biden’s corruption and even less to do with Soros’ corruption wouldn’t stop Turley (D) from inserting an anti-Trump paragraph into the piece.
H.G. Wells “Outline of History”
Documents Machiavellians’ centralized power destroying their empires!
“At every court there were groups of ministers and secretaries who played a Machiavellian game against their foreign rivals. Foreign policy is the natural employment of courts”
so Bidens get millions from Ukraine…Biden starts war in Ukraine…gives them Billions?
Who doesn’t see this?
This is why we need to SHRINK DC influence.
Joe and his family have left us with a collective Hangover:
“You are a bad person. Like, all the way through to your core.”
Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence.
Thomas Jefferson
“Prosecutors often build narratives around the conspicuous consumption and the lifestyle demands of targets. Trump’s personal and financial dealings have featured greatly in litigation. The Washington Post’s Ruth Marcus and others have written about how the evidence exposed a ‘stunning display of Trump’s narcissism’.”
And there it is AGAIN. Turley (D) can’t address any democrat corruption without using the topic as a vehicle to take a shot at Trump, no matter how silly and irrelevant it is to the topic.
I fully agree but offer a soft plea as to why this is. All attorneys are trained in representing both sides of any story depending upon who their client is. When they represent the worst of us in court, for example, they use their skills to highlight whatever good might be present in the defendant and whenever they represent the best of us, that is, the “people,” they are trained to use their skills to vilify the other side, the malfactors. This presumably preserves objectivity and failthfulness to a mythical god of Justice. The value of writers like Turley in this discussion and any discussion is that they reveal to us unknown facts and while they may shy away from being “conclusory,” they provide a level of information needed for us to make them, instead. As most attorneys, Turley does a balancing act with every thesis so as not to alienate readers with a difference of opinion. It’s like the guy who goes to a psychiatrist and is asked if he has trouble making decisions. The guy – our mythical lawyer in this instance – replies, “Yes and No!”
This isn’t a court case, and Turley’s NOT wearing his lawyer hat for this piece — notice the absence of cited legal authorities.
This is HACK “journalism” violating the most basic rule of good writing — stick to the subject. If Turley had an editor, the paragraph I cited would have been red-penned into the waste basket prior to publication. It’s NOT a question of law — it’s a question of bad writing apparently caused by a mental deficiency that it would take an entire team of psychiatrists and neurosurgeons to properly diagnose.
Anonymous: Stop using cheap and phony sophistry. No one said this is a court case except you by inference. Thus, you set up a phony premise and then dismantle it because it’s not so. Oh, and while you’re at it, knock off the pseudo-psychiatric evaluations; they are as accurate as your other biases.
You’re the one that brought up the topic by trying to excuse Turley’s substandard nonsnse by pointing out that he’s a lawyer:
“All attorneys are trained in representing both sides of any story”
What’s your POINT in dragging Turley being a lawyer into the conversation? Why do you accuse others of sophistry when YOU’RE the one using sophistry, troll?
Anon: Your invectives belie your sincerity. Attorneys are trained in representing the interests of their clients. This requires a certain type of advocacy that depending upon circumstances may be less than truthful. Turley is, as far as we know, a lawyer and trained as one. What is your beef with a lawyer doing what a lawyer is trained to do? Get off your high horse and join the rest of us in being civil, if not brilliant.
Anon: Obviously I touched a sensitive nerve and apologize for that. But I am satisfied that your anger and insults prove the points I made about lawyers and their training. Remember, the title of this blog is “Res ipsa loquitur – The thing itself speaks.” The facts of the Biden case are stubborn things and it is to Turley’s credit that he supplies them in an objective fashion largely devoid of advocacy. I agree with you that this is not easily done by trained attorneys who rotinely represent opposite sides of the same coin. In this regard, Turley is as much of a reporter as an attorney. We are his client for this purpose. Thank you for your views; I’m sure they are well-intended.
And here comes one of Turley’s ad hominem attack trolls to garbage things up by not even attempting to stick to the subject.
Exhibit A as to why this is a disreputable TRASH site.
“Well, we know who this is.” What is the meaning of your statement? Whjo are we and who? What is a troll? Why would you insult me rather than address and deconstruct my initial thesis? I can only conclude that at some level you actually agree with me and are angry at yourself for knowing and doing so, and that insulting me is your only self-serving retort.
Pretty sure he was talking to me, troll. At any rate, for both your benefit and the benefit of the Turley attack troll you’re addressing, I direct your attention to my comment posted above at 9:16am, because it’s directed you, the other troll you’re arguing with, and all of the other trolls infesting this disgraceful website:
“Man, it didn’t take long for Turley’s no-rules comment section to drift off-topic and into the usual ad hominem BS.”
Would one of you two Anonymouses change your handle? It’s difficult to decipher if you’re two people or schizophrenic.
JJC,
Great comment and thank you for the laugh at the end!
Wait until the “influence” (bribery) trail leads to Iran……………
. . . . . . . .and North Korea.
And China
And Ukraine