Joe Knew What Was Up
There are three possibilities: Joe Biden was benefiting directly from First Son Hunter’s influence-peddling. Or he wasn’t — but nonetheless acted as if none of the longstanding rules around ethical conduct, appearances and improprieties applied to the Biden family. Or both.
That’s the real takeaway from Monday’s blockbuster closed-door testimony before the House Oversight Committee by Hunter’s ex-business partner Devon Archer, who confirmed that Biden took part in a whole slew of Hunter’s business meetings.
Not the happy spin from the media and Democrats that Joe was simply going along with Hunter’s delusions of grandeur.
Again and again, Hunter invited Biden onto calls — at least 20 times over 10 years! — and into meetings with rich and powerful men and women he wanted to impress, to sell “the brand,” per Archer, and strike business deals with them. All with the clear expectation that Dad was in Hunter’s corner, just a quick phone call away.
This was not Hunter and Joe engaged in “casual conversation” and “niceties about the weather,” as Biden propagandist Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) incredibly claims, insulting Americans’ intelligence. Or even Hunter selling only the “illusion of access” to Joe; his father was right there, on the phone and in the flesh. That’s not an illusion!
But let’s say for argument’s sake what Goldman says it right. And never mind that he and other Biden-first loyalists — Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) — have lost all credibility after being caught in lie after lie about what happened behind closed doors. Even then, shouldn’t Joe’s ethical alarm bells have been ringing?
The rest of Team Obama’s lights certainly flashed red when Hunter joined the board of Ukrainian energy firm Burisma at a reported $83,333 a month.
Joe knew exactly how all this looks. He just didn’t care. He let Hunter do it over and over and over. Besides, Goldman’s lame hand-waving does nothing to address the mountains of evidence suggesting Joe was due a slice of Hunter’s China payola. Or allegations that a Ukrainian business exec paid Joe and Hunter bribes of $5 million each.
Fact is, Joe Biden’s the ultimate swamp creature. The idea that he helped his screw-up son play bigshot and did nothing more than chitchat is simply absurd on its face. For Goldman and his media lapdogs to spew this and think the public will buy it shows how little they think of the public. And how necessary Comer & Co.’s investigation is.