We'll get to the sweetheart plea deal below, but first, let's walk through what President Joe Biden has said in regards to this scandal over the years. He repeatedly denied having any discussions about, or knowledge of, the overseas business dealings conducted by his son and brother. Toward the end of this video, you'll see a quick montage of three clips featuring then-candidate Biden issuing blanket denials on this front back in 2019. He asserts that he "never discussed, with my son, or my brother, or anyone else anything having to do with their businesses, period." When asked how many times he spoke to Hunter Biden about his overseas business dealings, Biden shot back that he's "never" done so before berating Fox's Peter Doocy for not asking the "right questions" (delighting many in the Democrat-aligned media). He was subsequently asked by a journalist if he stood by the claim that he'd not once discussed his son's international business endeavors. He repeated the categorical denial, saying, "yes, I stand by that statement:"
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This week, Fox's Jacqui Heinrich followed up, in light of even more emerging evidence pointing in the opposite direction. Biden doubled down:
The White House is reverting back to Biden's 2020 strategy of blanket, non-specific denials, then refusing to address any further questions. Here's how Wall Street Journal columnist Bill McGurn describes what's being tried:
Team Biden has responded by going back to the script that worked so well in 2020, talking about how the president loves his son and attributing anything embarrassing to Hunter’s crack-cocaine addiction. “It’s a bunch of malarkey,” the president said earlier this month to a question about bribery. On Monday he tersely answered “no” when asked if the new evidence proves he hadn’t been truthful about his knowledge of Hunter’s business deals...At the White House, meanwhile, it was déjà vu all over again. John Kirby, the National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, refused to answer whether the WhatsApp message undermined the president’s repeated claims of ignorance about Hunter’s foreign business dealings. Mr. Kirby declared, “I am not going to address this issue from this podium”—and walked off. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre picked up the ball, making clear that if reporters asked “anything related to—to Hunter, I’m just not going to respond to it from here.”
This isn't remotely good enough. I'll remind you of the public statements and sworn testimony of Tony Bobulinski, a close Biden business associate, who has stated under oath (in interviews with the FBI) and on the record that Biden is lying:
"I'm making this statement to set the record straight about the involvement of the Biden family, Vice President Biden, his brother Jim Biden, and his son Hunter Biden, in dealings with the Chinese. I've heard Joe Biden say that he's never discussed business with Hunter. That is false. I have firsthand knowledge about this because I directly dealt with the Biden family, including Joe Biden."
More:
[Bobulinski] recalled a conversation with Jim Biden about the family's ties to CEFE, when he asked, "'How are you guys getting away with this? Aren't you concerned?'" to which Bobulinski claimed Jim Biden laughed. "Plausible deniability," Bobulinski said he remembered Jim Biden responding. "He said it directly to me in a cabana at the Peninsula Hotel." ... Bobulinski also claimed during the interview that Biden's denial of knowing about his son's business affairs with the Chinese energy firm was a "blatant lie." Bobulinski described a scene during the interview in which Joe Biden arrived for a conference held partially at the Beverly Hilton Hotel and how Jim Biden and Hunter Biden introduced him to the former vice president. "I didn't request to meet with Joe [Biden]," he told Carlson. "They requested that I meet with Joe [Biden]. They were putting their entire family legacy on the line. They knew exactly what they were doing."
One might be inclined to dismiss Bobulinski's claims, framing him as an attention-seeker, a partisan, or a liar. But has a single thing Bobulinski has said been disproven, by anyone, ever? If there were substantive rebuttals and refutations of his claims, why haven't we seen them? On the other side of the ledger, there are records showing numerous members of the Biden family received payments of overseas cash, circuitously routed through shell corporations, totaling in the millions of dollars. There appears to have been a written agreement for a cut of the money to be held for 'the Big Guy,' also known as Joe Biden, per multiple sources familiar with the family's dealings. There's also the matter of then-Vice President Biden allowing his son to accompany him on Air Force Two to China, where he conducted "business," referred to as a "social visit." We also have records of Hunter using the Biden name -- plus direct access to his father, including meetings -- to drum up similar "business" from places like Ukraine.
And now we also have the credible, 'receipts'-providing IRS whistleblowers' testimony alleging that Hunter Biden demanded payment from a Chinese national in a WhatsApp text message, telling the man that his father was sitting right next to him and expected action. Within days, more than $5 million flowed to accounts associated with the president's son. The whistleblowers also describe Hunter arranging at least one in-person 'drop by' from his father during a business meeting with overseas associates. Add all of this up, and that's a significant body of evidence. Biden and his protectors offer what in response? "Malarky" and no comment. Unacceptable. It looks very likely, if not proven, that the president has been lying about his knowledge of family members' international business machinations for years. Such false denials would typically attract strong interest froman adversarial, truth-to-power, accountability-minded press corps, no? Or is that only for certain politicians, especially of a certain political tribe? I will give CBS News some credit for this relatively tough report that aired last night:
IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley, a lead investigator in the Hunter Biden case, said he felt the president's son received preferential treatment, and claims he was blocked from pursuing leads that could have led to the president. The DOJ and Biden’s attorney deny special treatment pic.twitter.com/SuBeg1k8Ij
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) June 27, 2023
At least this is some mainstream acknowledgement of the whistleblower, who is treated seriously in this package. Meanwhile, former federal prosecutor Brett Tolman, who was US Attorney for Utah, has followed the Hunter Biden investigation and plea deal very closely. In assessing the disposition of the matter, he told National Review this week that "everything about this case is wrong." I interviewed Tolman on the radio yesterday and he explained what he meant by that in greater detail. I also asked him, based on everything he knows about the facts, how these same actions would have been charged on his watch if the defendant were named Hunter Smith, living in Salt Lake City. His answer:
TOLMAN: So we we would have been able to charge the tax tax violations as a felony. That would have been a no brainer and simple. And we would have also been able to charge money laundering, which is just the movement of money. And we would have also been able to charge conspiracy if there were others that were involved in moving the money or or the like. But we would not have we would not have the strength much to also be able to bring charges that are far more serious relative to the drugs than the guns. Think about this. If in fact, he has the gun and it’s out like the pictures show and he has given cocaine to some of the escorts he hired or the friends or others, then you have you have potential mandatory minimum in play that would get him at least five years in federal prison. You also have documented on the on the laptop the pictures and images. And reportedly some of the girls are underage. If that’s the case, there’s a mandatory minimum for production of child pornography.
BENSON: So without if that’s confirmed, we don’t know that, though, right? We don’t know that.
TOLMAN: We don’t we do know there are pictures of him in the courts and there are allegations that they are some are underage. But let’s just say you have the gun and the the what we do know is true and what he’s pleading to -- and we have the tax [charges] -- you would be looking at well over a decade in federal prison just on those charges.
I'll leave you with my response to the utterly embarrassing spin we've seen from some leftists in the media over recent days:
On the hacktastic, embarrassingly feeble ‘this is just about a father loving his son’ spin in defense of the Bidens: pic.twitter.com/pFKRE0uY5Z
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) June 27, 2023
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