In 2019, candidate Joe Biden stated emphatically that “I have never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings.” Biden also said, “I have never discussed, with my son or my brother or with anyone else, anything having to do with their businesses. Period…And what I will do is the same thing we did in our (Obama) administration. There will be an absolute wall between personal and private [business interests] and the government. There wasn’t any hint of scandal at all when we were there. And I’m going to propose the same kind of strict, strict rules. That’s why I never talked with my son or my brother or anyone else — even distant family — about their business interests. Period.”
These words could be interpreted as being technically true – in those 20 phone calls and even the dinner with a representative from Burisma, the then Vice President did not need to be involved in any discussion of business. As Archer testified, his presence alone, and Hunter’s ability to get him on the phone so easily, proved that Hunter had his father’s ear.
In the words of Lilo Galente, “(a) smart boss finds the sweet spot between being remote enough from street level associates/soldiers who do the dirty work so that he’s not easily caught up in law enforcement investigations and being close enough to the hoodlums so that they know that he knows what they’re doing or not doing…(t)he boss takes a healthy piece of all of the activities, businesses, or rackets in which the organization is involved. Usually the boss has enough experience to know what most people are doing and how much money they should be earning.”
All this comparison between the behavior of Biden and the average crime boss is facetious at best without evidence of actual criminal or unethical activity. So far, the bulk of the hard evidence points toward a pattern of tax evasion and other criminal conduct by the President’s son – enough to merit the appointment of a Special Counsel to conduct an investigation of Hunter Biden’s business affairs. What evidence is there of a pattern of criminal and or unethical behavior by the President, and other members of his family?
In May of 2023 (as the New York Times was claiming that there was “no proof of misconduct”), the House Oversight Committee released a Memorandum detailing some of their findings. “The Committee has subpoenaed four different banks and received thousands of records in response,” according to the Memo. “The Committee’s bank subpoenas were tailored to specific individuals and companies that engaged in business activities with Biden family members and their business associates.”
The Committee reports that “(w)hen President Biden ran as a presidential candidate, he assured the American people his family received no money from China. President Biden recently claimed the Committee’s bank records regarding his family’s receipt of funds from China are ‘not true.’” Yet, “Biden family members and business associates created a web of over 20 companies—most were limited liability companies formed during Joe Biden’s vice presidency…Bank records show the Biden family, their business associates, and their companies received over $10 million from foreign nationals’ companies. The Committee has identified payments to Biden family members from foreign companies while Joe Biden served as Vice President and after he left public office…Chinese nationals and companies with significant ties to Chinese intelligence and the Chinese Communist Party hid the source of the funds by layering domestic limited liability companies.”
Further, “(t)o date, President Biden has continued to deny that his family received money from China—despite bank records proving otherwise. In 2017 alone, bank records show President Biden’s family and their related companies received millions of dollars from Chinese foreign nationals’ companies…(b)ecause President Biden is not required to file financial disclosures for immediate family members (other than a spouse or dependents), this gaping legislative hole has allowed President Biden to make misleading statements about the source of his family’s income, act willfully blind about their finances notwithstanding potential conflicts of interest, and use federal government resources and personnel—including White House spokespersons—to conceal influence peddling.”
The established facts are these; while Joe Biden was Vice President, Hunter Biden engaged in a series of meetings with Chinese, and other foreign nationals. He reportedly “made millions” from these activities. Hunter showed his foreign contacts that he had ready access to his father by calling him during meetings with these overseas associates. The rest of the Biden family then received “millions of dollars” from foreign nationals, including the Chinese, money which was spread between 20 different “shell” companies.
Much of the media will not believe that this “web” of payments does not constitute influence peddling by Joe Biden himself. They would rather view the then Vice President as just an innocent bystander to his son’s activities. But the Oversight Committee thinks differently.
“The amount of money involved in these financial transactions is significant. The wires and money transfers range from approximately $5,000 to at least $3 million,” the Committee states. “Many of the relevant wire transfers involve Owasco PC, a professional corporation formed in Washington, D.C. Hunter Biden was the owner of Owasco PC…(t)he transactions in Romania and China show related but separate issues identified by the Committee that raise serious questions about financial disclosures and risks to national security…(t)he Committee is releasing a selection of bank records that shows the Biden family’s receipt of money from a foreign company reportedly controlled by Gabriel Popoviciu, the subject of a criminal probe and prosecution for corruption in Romania…(t)hen Vice President Biden delivered speeches and met with Romanian leaders in 2014 and 2015 regarding corruption in the country…(t)he Committee is concerned about the Biden family’s pattern of courting business in regions of the world in which the then Vice President had an outsize role and influenced U.S. policy.”
Let us take the position that these are mere allegations. But are these allegations, involving the current President of the United States, serious enough to require a full investigation, and the appointment of a Special Counsel?
If you ask Attorney General Merrick Garland, he has already appointed a Special Counsel, and his name is David Weiss. “Mr. Weiss, in his capacity as U.S. Attorney and along with federal law enforcement partners, began investigating allegations of certain criminal conduct by, among others, Robert Hunter Biden,” Garland stated when he appointed Weiss as Special Counsel on August 11, 2023. “As Special Counsel, he will continue to have the authority and responsibility that he has previously exercised to oversee the investigation and decide where, when, and whether to file charges.” (Emphasis added.)
It is argued that the “among others” referenced above includes the President himself. but significantly, no where is it stated that David Weiss is involved in any investigation beyond that of Hunter Biden’s activities.
In fact, as reported by Newsweek, “(t)he GOP-led House Oversight Committee wrote on X that Garland’s move is part of a cover up aimed to discredit the ‘Committee’s mounting evidence of President Joe Biden’s role in his family’s schemes selling ‘the brand’ for millions of dollars to foreign nationals.'”
Is this assertion true? Judge for yourself. As we stated in August, “rather than select someone from outside the Justice Department, Attorney General Merrick Garland chose the current US Attorney for Delaware, David Weiss, to serve as his Special Counsel – the same David Weiss who has conducted an investigation into Hunter Biden for five years, failed to bring felony charges against Hunter Biden in a timely manner, failed to bring a routine felony gun charge against the President’s son, offered Hunter a plea to two misdemeanors and a diversion program, and then watched that agreement blow up under questioning by a federal judge.”
It is therefore safe to conclude that even if David Weiss is conducting an investigation of Joe Biden and the rest of his family for the unethical and potentially criminal activities outlined by the House Oversight Committee, we can expect the same incompetent and “slow-walked” investigation we have witnessed Weiss conduct regarding the President’s son.
Let us be honest here – given the evidence uncovered by the House Oversight Committee, the American people deserve better than David Weiss to look into these serious allegations.
Judge John Wilson served on the bench in NYC