The American political news cycle has been dominated by the Supreme Court confirmation hearings with Judge Amy Coney Barrett, and justifiably so. Her confirmation will not only be historical, but it will also close a political loop that, based on timing, will resolve multiple paramount national and internationally important questions.
Even with our concentration centered on the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings with Barrett, the world continues to rotate, and life continues to deal its wins and losses in the lives of every American, and politics in Washington continues to have twists and turns on multiple fronts with multiple folks.
We have a presidential election just 20-days away!
Yes, a probable Supreme Court Justice nomination is part of that, but just part. Another critical part of American political life today are the qualifications, personal political issues, and even personal circumstances within the lives of each candidate running for office. It’s safe to say that both former Vice President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump fall into these considerations.
One can comfortably maintain that Donald Trump has lived in a fishbowl for the past few years. Every detail of his life in politics (and in his personal life) have been transparent for all to observe if interested. Joe Biden, on the other hand, has been living in something of a vacuum — until his bid for the presidency. He has since lived in a similar fishbowl. Both men’s lives have been and are today being scrutinized regarding circumstances that will impact a possible presidency.
Biden’s life circumstances, especially those of his eight years as the Vice President during the Obama Administration, have been viewed differently. Many events tied directly into the Russian Collusion probe of the Trump Campaign at the end of the Obama Administration have exposed significant allegations of financial wrongdoing by Joe Biden’s son Hunter.
Though Joe Biden has repeatedly and adamantly denied any involvement in his son’s business in any way, Hunter himself, and now declassified intelligence agency documents, are showing the former Vice President’s declarations of “no-knowledge” are not accurate. It appears at this point that Joe Biden could well have been involved in corruption.
Let’s take a look at what is now in the open regarding this alleged Biden corruption.
Biden v. Trump: The First Debate
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden flatly denied in his first debate with Donald Trump that his lawyer son took huge sums of money from corrupt oligarchs and Chinese communists during his vice presidency, but Treasury Department reports show that Hunter Biden did receive the money.
President Trump chose to make an issue of Hunter Biden’s cash haul from Russia, Ukraine, and China with the implication that unsavory figures were trying to buy Vice President Biden and the Obama administration.
“When somebody gets 3½ million dollars from the mayor of Moscow,” Mr. Trump said.
“That’s is not true. That report is false,” Mr. Biden said.
A Senate Republican report by the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee says Mr. Trump is right. However, it was not Moscow’s mayor, but his wife, whom the U.S. suspects of corruption in attaining billionaire status.
Hunter Biden received a single wire transfer of $3.5 million from Elena Baturina. The Senate report said she became a billionaire through illegal construction contracts awarded by her husband, since deceased.
This is based on Treasury Department reports received by committee Chairman Ron Johnson, Wisconsin Republican, and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican.
The Senate narrative is not specific, but the types of transaction records match the description of confidential suspicious activity reports that the Treasury issues when it suspects illegal activity.
The Senate report says, “On Feb. 14, 2014, Baturina wired $3.5 million to a Rosemont Seneca Thornton LLC (Rosemont Seneca Thornton) bank account for a ‘Consultancy Agreement.’ Rosemont Seneca Thornton is an investment firm co-founded by Hunter Biden that was incorporated on May 28, 2013 in Wilmington, Del.”
Russia invaded Crimea in Ukraine the month Ms. Baturina sent the money.
“Why did he get it?” Mr. Trump asked.
“That report was written for political reasons,” Mr. Biden said.
Mr. Trump asserted, “Once you became vice president, he made a fortune in Ukraine, in China, in Moscow and various other places.”
Mr. Biden responded, “That is not true.”
According to the senators’ Treasury records, it is true.
In April 2014, President Obama made Mr. Biden the point man in Ukraine, after the Russian invasion, to persuade leaders to rid the country of rampant corruption.
The next month, Hunter Biden showed up on the board of directors of the energy company Burisma Holdings, which the State Department considers corrupt, as it does its oligarch owner, Mykola Zlochevsky. Hunter Biden’s business partner, Devon Archer, already had secured a spot.
Over the years, Burisma paid the two more than $4 million. Treasury records show that 48 wire transfers from May 2014 to February 2016 totaled $3.4 million. The money went to Rosemont Seneca Bohai, a shell company run by Mr. Archer in partnership with a Chinese investment fund.
In 2014 and 2015, Burisma sent $700,000 directly to Hunter Biden. After Mr. Archer was arrested on fraud charges, Burisma sent Hunter Biden another $752,000.
On China, Vice President Biden promoted closer ties to the communist regime on many fronts. He traveled to China in 2013 on Air Force Two and took along Hunter, who met with Chinese businessmen.
“China ate your lunch, Joe,” Mr. Trump said Tuesday night. “And no wonder your son goes in and he takes out billions of dollars. He takes out billions of dollars to manage. He makes millions of dollars.”
Mr. Biden said, “None of that is true.”
The Bidens have adamantly denied reports that Hunter Biden’s investment firm received a $1 billion infusion.
But the Senate report documents extensive ties between Hunter Biden and various Chinese entities that produced millions of dollars in wire transfers.
In one example, China’s CEFC Infrastructure Investment wired $5 million to HudsonWest LLC, a New York company jointly owned by Hunter Biden and Chinese interests. HudsonWest then sent $4.7 million to Hunter Biden’s law firm. The next year, another $1 million was delivered.
Hunter Biden sent 20 wire transfers totaling $1.3 million to Vice President Biden’s brother James for consulting services. Treasury flagged the transfers as potentially criminal, the Senate report said.
When the bank contacted James Biden’s wife, Sara, to learn details, she refused to cooperate, the Senate report said.
“Hunter Biden has extensive connections to Chinese businesses and Chinese foreign nationals that are linked to the Communist government,” the Senate report said. “Those contacts bore financial fruit when his father was vice president and after he left office.”
The Senate report also said Hunter Biden sent money to Ukrainian and Russian women. The Treasury reports said the transactions are linked to “what appears to be an Eastern European prostitution or human trafficking ring.”
Mr. Johnson, the Senate homeland security panel chairman, wrote in a FoxNews.com column Tuesday that liberal news media have ignored his report showing disturbing ties between the Biden family and corrupt people.
The Republican Senate report summarized its Hunter Biden findings based on Treasury reports:
“The Treasury records acquired by the Chairmen show potential criminal activity relating to transactions among and between Hunter Biden, his family, and his associates with Ukrainian, Russian, Kazakh and Chinese nationals. In particular, these documents show that Hunter Biden received millions of dollars from foreign sources as a result of business relationships that he built during the period when his father was vice president of the United States and after.”
The report added:
“In addition to providing new and descriptive details about the nature, origin and extent of payments from Burisma Holdings to Hunter Biden, the documents acquired by the Committees also shed light on a much broader array of questionable financial transactions involving Hunter Biden, other members of the Biden family, and their associations with foreign nationals. These foreign nationals have questionable backgrounds that have been identified as being consistent with a range of criminal activities, including but not limited to organized prostitution and/or human trafficking, money laundering, fraud, and embezzlement.”
Summary
Intelligent people can disagree at this point regarding any direct ties between the unethical, if not illegal, Hunter Biden financial transactions with Russians and Ukrainians and his father. But it is impossible for one to believe Joe had no knowledge at all about these business deals in Europe and China. How can we say that? It is uncontroverted that Hunter Biden would have ever obtained access to the people necessary for any of these financial events to occur were he NOT the son of a sitting U.S. Vice President. In fact, when asked in an interview if Hunter felt he would have ever had access to those responsible for these deals if he was NOT the son of Joe Biden, Hunter replied, “Probably not.”
What does that mean?
At best, it means that Joe Biden certainly opened doors to his son with foreign dignitaries and that those opened doors resulted in tens of millions of dollars in income for Hunter Biden and others. At worst, Joe Biden was personally involved in making or allowing these transactions to take place on his watch, and personally benefitted in some way from these associations.
That coupled with Joe Biden’s past “sketchy” involvement in other areas that while not on the face been illegal, seem today to have been bordering on “political impropriety.”
Does that in any way disqualify Joe to serve as President? That is a decision that must be made by voters in this election. It is doubtful more information will surface before November 3rd, so voters have all the information on this issue with which to determine their votes.
Remember this: once a cat is out of the bag, it’s really tough to get that cat BACK into the bag. What has been released by the Intelligence Community that has been declassified looks to be just the tip of a pile of more bad acts.
How will this impact this election? Who can say. It is certain that this will weigh heavy on the minds of millions of voters. Has Joe’s involvement in this story disqualified him to become President? That remains to be seen.
Between your reading this and your voting for President, we encourage you to dig as deep as necessary to find facts on this matter sufficient to give you comfort no matter for whom you vote to live in the White House for the next four years.
Both candidates should understand the need for that and both should support each voter doing so.
Find the truth! Remember: “Facts Matter.”
