No, there really doesn't seem to be a there, there— at least not one involving Hunter Biden's father, President Joe Biden, engaging in anything that seems illegal or unethical.
Did Joe Biden know Hunter benefited from having a father high in government? Of course. Did he do what he could to demonstrate his son's close relationship with his father? You bet. Did Hunter get to ride on Air Force Two? More than once, I would bet. Any career politician understands that some of the goodwill that accrues to him also probably accrues to his immediate family. The reverse is also true. Nothing tarnishes an entire family's name like a political scandal.
Republicans have been fanning the flames for years, inferring that Joe Biden received payments from Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company, on whose board his troubled son Hunter served, or from other business interests Hunter has pursued. However, no one has ever produced evidence that such payments existed, and it has proven delusional to believe that Joe Biden ever pocketed anything of value from Hunter's business dealings. Indeed, no evidence has ever surfaced that he did, only allegations and innuendo from Republicans like Jim Jordan and James Comer, who have crafted the practice of innuendo into an art form.
The Republicans on the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, led by Chairman James Comer (R-KY), have been searching high and low for evidence of an improper, let alone an illegal, payment of any kind from Burisma to Joe Biden. But, after months, if not years, of searching, not so much as a single Ukrainian hryvnia (or its equivalent in dollars) has been found to have made its way to Joe Biden. It wouldn't be easy for a high-profile public official to hide elicit payments unless he kept the money in a sock drawer or his pocket, and who would do that? After all, Delaware isn't New Jersey.
Like the dog that caught the car, the Republicans don't know what to do with their hunt for chicanery when their dog just won't hunt. Bogus high-profile allegations can be embarrassing and counterproductive, especially in an election year. But the accusers should be embarrassed this election year, not the accused. They have spent countless manhours, at the public's expense, trying to find something embarrassing, if not incriminating, to hang on President Biden. Instead, Chairman Comer simply issues press releases highlighting whatever evidence-free allegations are made during his Committee's hearings.
No one has found, nor is anyone apt to find, that Joe Biden accepted illegal payments from Burisma or anyone else. Not that there haven't been greedy and stupid politicians who have pocketed, or tried to pocket, cash or other gifts for political favors, but Joe Biden isn't of the Spiro Agnew or Robert Menendez school of politics. Joe Biden has always been in politics for the long game, which is why he is in the White House. Former Maryland Governor Spiro Agnew was a short-game politician who made it to the Vice Presidency under Nixon. He was caught taking cash bribes in envelopes in the Vice-President's office.
Republican certitude that Joe Biden must have pocketed something from Burisma was dashed when their prospective star witness, Devon Archer, testified under oath last year that Joe Biden had no dealings and no relationship with Burisma.
Joe Biden served in the Senate for 35 years before being elected vice president in 2008. He was known for stealing a phrase or two from other politicians but never for taking an improper dime from anyone. The suggestion that he took anything from Burisma was always rather ridiculous. Then again, his son, Hunter, being elected or appointed to the Burisma Board of Directors was also rather absurd. Hunter had nothing to offer Burisma other than a prestigious name. Then again, many corporate boards are populated with directors whose names are better known than their accomplishments.
Hunter Biden's life has not been a bed of roses, and it has been punctuated more by pain than by privilege. He and his late brother Beau survived a deadly automobile accident when they were toddlers. The accident took the lives of their Mother, Neilia, and their one-year-old sister, Naomi. Two-year-old Hunter sustained a fractured skull but survived, as did his brother Beau, who was later lost to brain cancer at age 46.
It is reasonable to assume that when people did business with Hunter Biden, they believed or understood they were partnering with someone who had easy access to one of the most prominent politicians in the world—someone who could open doors and make things happen. It is also reasonable to assume that Hunter did little to disabuse anyone of that notion. Whether Hunter told anyone or inferred to anyone that the then Vice President was a silent partner in his business dealings is unknown. However, that certainly seems to be what former Hunter Biden partner Tony Bobulinski believed.
Bobulinski has testified and, presumably, believes that Joe Biden benefited from Hunter's business dealings by getting a cut of whatever money Hunter's ventures received. However, what Tony Bobulinski understood or believed had no bearing on whether or not such a scheme existed and certainly had no bearing on whether or not Joe Biden knew of such representations if such representations were ever actually made. Bobulinski has alleged that such representations were made but offers no evidence of such an arrangement nor proof that he was told such an arrangement existed between Hunter and his father.
Hunter Biden also benefitted handsomely, representing a large and often troubled Chinese energy company, CEFC. This was after Joe Biden was vice president and before he became President. Realistically, there is little or nothing that Hunter Biden can offer these companies other than his name and the aura of influence that suggests. That may be a bit crass, but it isn't illegal.
It strains credulity to believe that Joe Biden would have a kickback arrangement with anyone, let alone with a son as burdened with addiction issues and other issues as his son Hunter.
Many Republicans seem to have bought into the Hunter and Joe Biden kickback scheme, even though no objective evidence of such a scheme appears to exist. Or, perhaps, they would just like to even the score with an impeachment proceeding against President Biden to cancel out the impeachments of their standard bearer. The case against Biden, however, seems weak to nonexistent, whereas the Trump impeachments were based on unimpeachable evidence of two instances of horrible presidential behavior. In one instance, the former President tried stealing the Georgia vote. In the other instance he tried to steal the vote in the Capitol of the United States.
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Joe Biden has assisted Hunter numerous times to encourage foreigners to send money. Joe has received atm least two questionable "load repayments" One from a granddaugter and one from his sister-in-law. Joe must also be aware that Hunter is quilty of assisting foreigners with a FARA license. Joe is clearly an accomplice. I guarantee you that if these issues applied to the Trump family there would be an impeachment trial. You are insulting my intellkigence to say that there is no there there.
This is a great column - long overdue - and it should be widely distributed. I am not a Joe Biden supporter but it has nothing to do with impropriety. It’s all about his administration’s failures in immigration, inflation, and international affairs.
As far as his son Hunter is concerned I believe he is incompetent and that his long term behaviors have hurt his father - but chasing him is very poor use of our resources and should be dismissed. If not, Republicans are committing the same foolishness Democrats did on Trump and his family.
Joe Biden has assisted Hunter numerous times to encourage foreigners to send money. Joe has received atm least two questionable "load repayments" One from a granddaugter and one from his sister-in-law. Joe must also be aware that Hunter is quilty of assisting foreigners with a FARA license. Joe is clearly an accomplice. I guarantee you that if these issues applied to the Trump family there would be an impeachment trial. You are insulting my intellkigence to say that there is no there there.
This is a great column - long overdue - and it should be widely distributed. I am not a Joe Biden supporter but it has nothing to do with impropriety. It’s all about his administration’s failures in immigration, inflation, and international affairs.
As far as his son Hunter is concerned I believe he is incompetent and that his long term behaviors have hurt his father - but chasing him is very poor use of our resources and should be dismissed. If not, Republicans are committing the same foolishness Democrats did on Trump and his family.