Why Anyone Hired Hunter
New e-mails on Hunter Biden make it obvious yet again that his career has always been about selling influence with his dad, now-President Biden. These e-mails don’t come from Hunter’s infamous laptop, yet most of the media will still ignore them in their determination to just not look at the mass of corruption that has surrounded our current president his entire career.
Published by Insider last week, the messages concern Hunter’s pitch to Sheikh Mohammed al-Rahbani to help him with billions in Libyan funds frozen by the US government: For sale is an in with then-Veep Joe Biden, as well as then-Secretary of State John Kerry (the stepdad of Hunter’s partner Chris Heinz) and Chinese insiders Hunter had grown close to by selling the same access to them.
In a 2015 e-mail, Democratic donor Sam Jauhari tells al-Rahbani the pros and cons of paying Hunter a $2 million retainer for his services.
“His positives are he is Chairman of UN World Food Program, son of #2 [the veep] who has Libya file, access to State, Treasury, business partner SofS [Secretary of State] J. [John] Forbes K [Kerry] son and since he travels with dad he is connected everywhere in Europe and Asia where M. Q. [Muammar Qaddafi] and LIA [Libya Investment Authority] had money frozen. He said he has access to highest level in PRC [China], he can help there.”
The “negatives” include Hunter being an “alcoholic, drug addict” who “constantly needs money . . . and many more headaches.”
In other words, he’s a guy no one would hire except for his influence as Joe’s son.
Another e-mail about hiring Hunter went to both men in early 2016 from DC lawyer John Sandweg: “I spoke with HB’s team yesterday. They are interested in the project, but emphasized that for them to get involved, the team (lobbyists, lawyers and PR) would need to be a small group of folks they have a tight relationship with.”
And: “They do not want a large group involved and they only want people with whom they have a close relationship with due to the sensitivities surrounding their involvement.”
That is, Hunter’s people knew his influence-peddling would look rancid if details got out.
All merely reconfirms the facts laid out in the laptop e-mails: Hunter Biden is a wreck who does well simply by milking his ability to influence his dad, a game he learned decades ago from his Uncle Jim, Joe’s lobbyistfixer brother.
And the president’s son is still at it: His current “art auction” is a naked bid for sixfigure payoffs from those hoping to buy his dad’s goodwill — and the Biden White House is reduced to putting a fig-leaf on it with dubious “ethics rules.”
The only real question is how much President Biden has personally benefitted from all this — and exactly what decisions he’s made to benefit Hunter’s clients.