{"id":11826,"date":"2023-09-29T19:23:52","date_gmt":"2023-09-29T19:23:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=11826"},"modified":"2023-09-29T19:23:52","modified_gmt":"2023-09-29T19:23:52","slug":"filed-under-politics-republicans-thin-corruption-case-against-joe-biden-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=11826","title":{"rendered":"Filed under: Politics Republicans\u2019 thin corruption case against Joe Biden, explained"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\n“Whatever you may think about the impeachments of Donald Trump<\/a> and Bill Clinton, they were at least impeached for things they verifiably did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Joe Biden<\/a> may become the first president to be impeached entirely because of an unproven theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Republicans, and allies of Donald Trump in particular, have spent five years searching for the proof that will vindicate their long-held assertion that Joe Biden was corruptly in cahoots with his son, Hunter \u2014 being paid off by foreign interests and skewing US policy to support them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet while much has emerged about Hunter\u2019s sordid personal life and dubiously ethical behavior<\/a>, Republicans have been unable to hang anything significant on his father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t take it from me. Take it from Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO), who wrote this month<\/a>: \u201cWhat\u2019s missing, despite years of investigation, is the smoking gun that connects Joe Biden to his ne\u2019er-do-well son\u2019s corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, the GOP\u2019s impeachment effort isn\u2019t really about what the evidence shows \u2014 it\u2019s political. What\u2019s really behind this is that the hard right has been demanding aggressive action against Biden, Trump wants payback for his own two impeachments, and Speaker Kevin McCarthy is struggling to hold off threats to his speakership. The evidence is largely beside the point.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“As far as Joe\u2019s relationship with Hunter\u2019s business partners, the investigation has revealed the following: the vice president occasionally spoke to some of Hunter\u2019s business associates at golf outings<\/a> and dinner events<\/a>. Sometimes he called Hunter to say hello during Hunter\u2019s business meetings, and Hunter put him on speakerphone, but Joe wouldn\u2019t talk business<\/a>. Officials in Biden\u2019s office forwarded information about White House events<\/a> to Hunter. Joe once wrote<\/a> a college letter of recommendation for the son of a Chinese executive in business with Hunter.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“did Joe actually make Hunter give him half his salary?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the laptop material, there are many resentful tirades from Hunter about how much he does for his family and how unappreciated he is, often laden with exaggerations and persecution fantasies (usually coming when family members were trying to get him off drugs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 There is evidence of some intermingling of Joe\u2019s finances with Hunter\u2019s. Eric Schwerin, who Hunter had hired to help with his finances in the mid-2000s, also assisted Joe Biden<\/a> with managing his finances when he was vice president. Hunter covered some expenses for Joe, like home repairs<\/a> and cell phone bills<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Hunter claimed in another text that his dad had long used one of his accounts. \u201cMy dad has been using most lines on this account which I\u2019ve though the gracious offerings of Eric [Schwerin] have paid for past 11 years,\u201d he texted in 2018<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there\u2019s no documentation of anything remotely near half Hunter\u2019s (sizable) income, or any sort of set percentage, going to Joe. The covering of expenses that\u2019s been documented seems to have been more informal \u2014 Hunter, the highest-earning Biden, picking up the tab for his dad, or setting some bills on autopay.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“there\u2019s no evidence that the US policy of pushing for Shokin\u2019s ouster was meant to protect Burisma. As many US officials testified back during the Trump impeachment inquiry, the US government had concluded Shokin was corrupt for other well-documented reasons, and wanted him gone.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“if Zlochevsky had secretly agreed to pay Joe<\/em> Biden $5 million while he was vice president, that would be a huge scandal. But did it actually happen?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, there\u2019s not a shred of evidence that it did happen. Of course, Zlochevsky did say it was done so amazingly secretly that it will be impossible to find, which is… convenient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s another problem. The FBI document states that the informant had already briefed the Bureau on one of these talks with Zlochevsky several years ago. Back then, though, the informant didn\u2019t mention any salacious bribe claims. Only years later, well after Trump had publicly been trying to make Biden and Burisma a huge scandal, and that the Justice Department was investigating it,<\/a> did the informant \u201crecollect\u201d these juicy Zlochevsky claims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another issue is that the informant says he barely knew Zlochevsky, so this level of purported candor may seem odd. \u201cCHS explained it is very common for business men in post-Soviet countries to brag or show-off,\u201d the document reads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In any case, all we have here is a claim. No evidence has emerged to prove that claim true.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Hunter messaged back<\/a>, \u201cI am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled.\u201d He continued in a threatening vein: \u201cI will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It reads like a shakedown, and indeed, the Chinese company would send over $5 million<\/a> a few days later. Was Hunter actually speaking on behalf of his father, as he appeared to imply, or again simply throwing his name around without his knowledge? When these messages emerged, an attorney for Hunter said that<\/a> \u201cany verifiable words or actions of my client, in the midst of a horrible addiction, are solely his own and have no connection to anyone in his family.\u201d”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“All of this is extremely messy and shady on Hunter\u2019s part. It\u2019s clear Hunter Biden wanted people to think his father was deeply involved in his dealings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But again, evidence of Joe Biden\u2019s actual involvement is absent.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.vox.com\/politics\/2023\/9\/28\/23870322\/biden-impeachment-hunter-shokin-big-guy-half-salary<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Whatever you may think about the impeachments of Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, they were at least impeached for things they verifiably did.
\nBut Joe Biden may become the first president to be impeached entirely because of an unproven theory.<\/p>\n

Republicans, and allies of Donald Trump in particular, have spent five years searching for the proof that will vindicate their long-held assertion that Joe Biden was corruptly in cahoots with his son, Hunter \u2014 being paid off by foreign interests and skewing US policy to support them.<\/p>\n

Yet while much has emerged about Hunter\u2019s sordid personal life and dubiously ethical behavior, Republicans have been unable to hang anything significant on his father.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t take it from me. Take it from Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO), who wrote this month: \u201cWhat\u2019s missing, despite years of investigation, is the smoking gun that connects Joe Biden to his ne\u2019er-do-well son\u2019s corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, the GOP\u2019s impeachment effort isn\u2019t really about what the evidence shows \u2014 it\u2019s political. What\u2019s really behind this is that the hard right has been demanding aggressive action against Biden, Trump wants payback for his own two impeachments, and Speaker Kevin McCarthy is struggling to hold off threats to his speakership. The evidence is largely beside the point.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“As far as Joe\u2019s relationship with Hunter\u2019s business partners, the investigation has revealed the following: the vice president occasionally spoke to some of Hunter\u2019s business associates at golf outings and dinner events. Sometimes he called Hunter to say hello during Hunter\u2019s business meetings, and Hunter put him on speakerphone, but Joe wouldn\u2019t talk business. Officials in Biden\u2019s office forwarded information about White House events to Hunter. Joe once wrote a college letter of recommendation for the son of a Chinese executive in business with Hunter.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“did Joe actually make Hunter give him half his salary?<\/p>\n

In the laptop material, there are many resentful tirades from Hunter about how much he does for his family and how unappreciated he is, often laden with exaggerations and persecution fantasies (usually coming when family members were trying to get him off drugs).<\/p>\n

There is evidence of some intermingling of Joe\u2019s finances with Hunter\u2019s. Eric Schwerin, who Hunter had hired to help with his finances in the mid-2000s, also assisted Joe Biden with managing his finances when he was vice president. Hunter covered some expenses for Joe, like home repairs and cell phone bills.<\/p>\n

And Hunter claimed in another text that his dad had long used one of his accounts. \u201cMy dad has been using most lines on this account which I\u2019ve though the gracious offerings of Eric [Schwerin] have paid for past 11 years,\u201d he texted in 2018.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s no documentation of anything remotely near half Hunter\u2019s (sizable) income, or any sort of set percentage, going to Joe. The covering of expenses that\u2019s been documented seems to have been more informal \u2014 Hunter, the highest-earning Biden, picking up the tab for his dad, or setting some bills on autopay.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“there\u2019s no evidence that the US policy of pushing for Shokin\u2019s ouster was meant to protect Burisma. As many US officials testified back during the Trump impeachment inquiry, the US government had concluded Shokin was corrupt for other well-documented reasons, and wanted him gone.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“if Zlochevsky had secretly agreed to pay Joe Biden $5 million while he was vice president, that would be a huge scandal. But did it actually happen?<\/p>\n

Currently, there\u2019s not a shred of evidence that it did happen. Of course, Zlochevsky did say it was done so amazingly secretly that it will be impossible to find, which is… convenient.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s another problem. The FBI document states that the informant had already briefed the Bureau on one of these talks with Zlochevsky several years ago. Back then, though, the informant didn\u2019t mention any salacious bribe claims. Only years later, well after Trump had publicly been trying to make Biden and Burisma a huge scandal, and that the Justice Department was investigating it, did the informant \u201crecollect\u201d these juicy Zlochevsky claims.<\/p>\n

Another issue is that the informant says he barely knew Zlochevsky, so this level of purported candor may seem odd. \u201cCHS explained it is very common for business men in post-Soviet countries to brag or show-off,\u201d the document reads.<\/p>\n

In any case, all we have here is a claim. No evidence has emerged to prove that claim true.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“Hunter messaged back, \u201cI am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled.\u201d He continued in a threatening vein: \u201cI will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

It reads like a shakedown, and indeed, the Chinese company would send over $5 million a few days later. Was Hunter actually speaking on behalf of his father, as he appeared to imply, or again simply throwing his name around without his knowledge? When these messages emerged, an attorney for Hunter said that \u201cany verifiable words or actions of my client, in the midst of a horrible addiction, are solely his own and have no connection to anyone in his family.\u201d”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“All of this is extremely messy and shady on Hunter\u2019s part. It\u2019s clear Hunter Biden wanted people to think his father was deeply involved in his dealings.<\/p>\n

But again, evidence of Joe Biden\u2019s actual involvement is absent.”<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.vox.com\/politics\/2023\/9\/28\/23870322\/biden-impeachment-hunter-shokin-big-guy-half-salary<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[375,951,835,294,780,509],"class_list":["post-11826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-share","tag-biden","tag-corruption","tag-hunter-biden","tag-impeachment","tag-joe-biden","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11826"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11826\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11827,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11826\/revisions\/11827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}