The New York Post reported on Wednesday that The Big Guy’s bag man “rejected an invitation from House Republicans to appear for a public hearing next week alongside former business associates.” This was what he called a “carnival sideshow,” and Hunter and his team weren’t finished.
His attorney, Abbe Lowell, “blasted Republicans’ efforts to bring his client before a public hearing after he had sat for a nearly seven-hour deposition last month.” Lowell wrote, “Your latest step — this March 6 invitation — is not a serious oversight proceeding." It is your attempt to resuscitate your Conference’s moribund inquiry with a made-for-right-wing-media, circus act.”
Yeah, a circus act. Step right up! See the man who, according to a Sept. 2020 report by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and Senate Committee on Finance, was “paid millions of dollars from a corrupt Ukrainian oligarch” for his presence on the board of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian natural gas company.
What training did Hunter have in the natural gas business? Why, none? None at all. What expertise did the young master bring to his lucrative new job? Once again, none. None whatsoever. In fact, the report even states that “the Obama administration knew that Hunter Biden’s position on Burisma’s board was problematic and did interfere in the efficient execution of policy with respect to Ukraine.” You might even call it a “carnival sideshow.”
What’s more, “in early 2015 the former Acting Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, George Kent, raised concerns to officials in Vice President Joe Biden’s office about the perception of a conflict of interest with respect to Hunter Biden’s role on Burisma’s board. Kent’s concerns went unaddressed, and in September 2016, he emphasized in an email to his colleagues, that the presence of Hunter Biden on the Burisma board was very awkward for all U.S. officials pushing an anticorruption agenda in Ukraine.’” It was more than just awkward. It was inexcusable, and it was clear evidence of corruption.
In the teeth of all that and much more, Hunter and his legal team have the colossal nerve, the Bidenesque chutzpah, to affect a wounded tone of moral rectitude and victimhood. Lowell scolded the committee by asserting that “your idea of congressional fact-finding" is, amazingly, to have Mr. Biden appear with the discredited ‘witnesses’ you continue to promote.”
Hunter and his legal henchman also “insisted late last year that he appear for a public hearing instead of a private deposition, citing concerns that GOP lawmakers would distort his interview. The two sides ultimately agreed to a sit-down testimony first, followed by a public hearing.”
All this is designed to give the impression that all of Hunter’s business dealings have been completely on the up-and-up and that Old Joe wasn’t involved in any way whatsoever. The idea is to smear the committee’s entire investigation as a partisan witch hunt, and of course, the establishment media is always ready to amplify this spin. The Post even claimed that “while lawmakers have unearthed ethically questionable behavior by the president’s son and other family members, Republicans have yet to produce evidence of misconduct by Joe Biden while in public office.”
Related: I Thought Biden’s Lies Couldn’t Shock Me Anymore. I Was Wrong.
From a strictly legalistic standpoint, that may be true. However, the very fact that Hunter Biden got the Burisma job at all is evidence in itself of influence peddling. House Republicans, given the fact that they’re among the foremost members of the Stupid Party, may not be able to unearth any smoking gun that absolutely proves that Hunter and The Big Guy were engaged in any corrupt dealings, but it’s blazingly obvious that the whole thing was an attempt to gain access and influence over the White House. Or are we just supposed to believe that Burisma executives happened upon Hunter Biden and said to each other, “Never mind the crack and hookers, and forget about his total lack of knowledge in the field: that boy has potential! Let’s give him an entry-level million-dollar salary!”
Hunter Biden is trying to play the American people for fools, and he has good reason to think we are since, after all, his empty husk of a father is in the Oval Office. But House Republicans should call a halt to this carnival sideshow immediately and use all legal means to compel Hunter to cooperate with their investigation.