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Charles Hurt: Proof Hunter Biden’s Scandals Far, Far, Far Worse Than Any of Trump’s
There is Bernie Madoff-level government corruption in Washington. There is Clinton Foundation-level grift in politics. And there is Anthony Weiner-level sleaze wherever the media, government, and politics collide.
And then there is Hunter Biden.
Seriously, what does Hunter Biden have to do to become a scandal around here?
How about cheating on his wife and children to sleep with his dead brother’s widow? Nope. That just spawned waves of pity over the tragic loss of his brother.
President Trump once famously joked that he could go out into the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and “wouldn’t lose any voters.”
While Mr. Trump never actually shot anyone on Fifth Avenue, he was accused of so many worse crimes by the Democrats and the media during his time in office: Russian stooge. Racist. Rapist. Gasser of protesters. Murderous insurrectionist.
All fantasy and Mr. Trump was accused of all of it — often in extensive collusion with U.S. government intelligence services. Not only did Mr. Trump not lose any voters, he gained some 13 million more in the 2020 election.
Which brings us back to Hunter Biden and how curious it is that he is shrouded in this cult-like protection by the media.
Mr. Trump spoke for millions of Americans and secured tremendous accomplishments for them. Hunter Biden, on the other hand, speaks for no one and has never accomplished anything.
Yet, somehow there is this religious hysteria among the media to cover up his misdeeds no matter what he gets caught doing.
Hunter Biden uses incendiary, racist, anti-black and anti-Asian language casually with family and colleagues. It would be enough to destroy a political career or get a child kicked out of school. But Hunter Biden? Hardly a peep.
Hunter Biden gets caught using his father’s powerful position as vice president of the United States to secure lucrative contracts with international concerns — including our global adversaries. No big deal.
Naked pictures, sex tapes, crack pipes, sleeping with hookers, sleeping with crack pipes — it’s all out there. What happens to Hunter Biden? He gets a $2 million book deal.
Now — finally — Hunter Biden claims to have accomplished something. Art.
Using a metal pipe about the size of a glass crack pipe, Hunter Biden blows some kind of mixture of paint and alcohol onto special paper to create colorful blotches. It is the sort of thing you would tape to the fridge door if your kindergarten child created it with finger paints.
But Hunter Biden? It’s a generational wealth windfall.
“For years I wouldn’t call myself an artist,” Hunter Biden told one newspaper earlier this year. “Now I feel comfortable saying it.”
Dutifully, the art world was “floored,” as one New York art dealer put it. That art dealer predicted that Mr. Biden‘s works could fetch as much as $1 million.
That same dealer admitted that the prices Hunter Biden could expect are at least a 1000-percent mark-up because his father is president.
“He‘s the president’s son,” the dealer said. “Everybody would want a piece of that.”
Nice work — if you can get it.
• Charles Hurt is opinion editor of The Washington Times.
Former Obama Ethics Chief: Hunter Biden’s Art Venture Has a ‘Shameful and Grifty Feeling to It’
Walter Shaub, who served as the Office of Government Ethics director under former President Obama, said Hunter Biden’s latest art venture has a “shameful and grifty feeling to it” and believes President Biden should “at a minimum” ask his son “not to go through with this auction” due to the suspicions of potential for pay-for-play corruption.
“The notion of a president’s son capitalizing on that relationship by selling art at obviously inflated prices and keeping the public in the dark about who’s funneling money to him has a shameful and grifty feel to it,” Shaub told Fox News this week.
“Just as hotel charges and real estate purchases created a risk of unknown parties funneling money to the Trump family for potentially unsavory purposes, Hunter Biden’s grotesquely inflated art prices create a similar risk of influence-seekers funneling money to the Biden family,” the former ethics chief continued.
“Anybody who buys it would be guaranteed instant profit. He’s the president’s son. Everybody would want a piece of that. The provenance is impeccable,” Alex Acevedo, owner of the Alexander Gallery in Midtown Manhattan, told the New York Post, noting that Hunter’s pieces would typically have a far lower range of $25,000 to $100,000 if not for his family name.
Adding to that concern is the fact that buyers of Hunter’s art will remain anonymous.
“As with every artist, sales are always confidential to protect the privacy of the collector,” the Townsend Group, an agency representing Bergès, told Fox Business.
“Pricing fine art in his experiences as a Gallerist is based on the demand of the work as well and the intrinsic value of it,” the agency continued. “His feeling is that within each piece – as with every artist, sales are always confidential to protect the privacy of the collector, this is standard practice for transactions in galleries as well as auction houses.”
Shaub, however, believes Bergès “should disclose the identity of the purchasers” to alleviate these concerns of buyers attempting to “gain access to [the] government” — a concern that has followed the Biden family for quite some time, as Hunter engaged in controversial international business dealings as his father served as vice president.
Hunter’s entry into the art world follows years of his endeavors in the world of international finance where he has been criticized for engaging in business ventures with countries at a time when his then-vice president father was negotiating U.S. foreign policy with those countries. One example of this was Hunter’s membership on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian oligarch-owned oil and gas company, which paid him tens of thousands of dollars per month despite his lack of experience in the energy sector or Ukraine in general. At the time, Hunter’s then-vice president father was the point-person negotiating U.S. policy with Ukraine. After leaving office, Joe Biden later bragged about how he threatened to withhold U.S. assistance to Ukraine unless Ukrainian officials fired a prosecutor who had launched a corruption investigation into the company that had hired Hunter.
Hunter also came under criticism for his lucrative business dealings with state-owned entities in China, as Breitbart News senior contributor and Secret Empires author Peter Schweizer has reported in detail.
“In China, [Hunter] travels with his father in December [2013] aboard Air Force Two. While his father is meeting with Chinese officials, Hunter Biden is doing we don’t know what. But the evidence becomes clear because ten days after they return to Washington, his small boutique investment firm, Rosemont Seneca, gets a $1 billion deal,” the Government Accountability Institute (GAI) president explained during a 2019 appearance with Sean Hannity.
The public, Shaub added, “should not have to take it on blind faith that government officials will behave.”
“But I also think it’s ridiculous that Hunter Biden is even going forward with this sale as a first-time artist,” Shaub added. “He can’t possibly think anyone is paying him based on the quality of the art. This smells like an attempt to cash in on a family connection to the White House.”
“At a minimum, the president should be asking his son not to go through with this auction,” the former Obama ethics chief said.
Schweizer held the same suspicions, telling Breitbart News last week that he suspects Hunter’s latest venture could potentially be another form of pay-for-play for the Biden family.
“Hunter Biden was repeatedly hired and given deals by foreign entities that he was clearly not qualified for in the hopes of getting favors from his father,” Schweizer told Breitbart News. “It is not a stretch to believe that foreign entities will pay for or commission his works of art at inflated prices to do the same.”
Notably, Hunter’s gateway into the art world — the New York art scene, specifically — is connected to a lingerie entrepreneur Zoe Kestan, otherwise known as @weed_slut_420 on Instagram, as Artnet reported last year:
For a period in 2018, Biden could be seen stopping by art openings and parties on the Lower East Side, and attended a runway show for the hip downtown fashion brand Lou Dallas. Sources said that many of his art-world connections came through his relationship with Zoe Kestan, the lingerie entrepreneur who is better known by her Instagram handle @weed_slut_420. In addition to modeling her wares on her account, where she has nearly 75,000 followers, Kestan is also an artist whose Polaroid snapshots have appeared in group shows with Bernadette Van-Huy, Danny McDonald, and Sam Pulitzer. She has also appeared on the controversial podcast Red Scare, hosted by art critic Anna Khachiyan and actress Dasha Nekrasova, and modeled in runway shows during London Fashion Week. (Reps for Kestan and Biden didn’t get back to us.)
There’s also some concrete leftover evidence of Hunter’s brief wade into the water of downtown art studios and gallery openings. Sources say that, being circulated around the downtown gallery hub of Dimes Square like samizdat, are images of oil paintings of Hunter Biden—that is, images of paintings of all of Biden with nothing left to the imagination—made by another local artist who has asked dealers to not reveal her identity. We’ve yet to get a hold of the depictions of Hunter in the buff or a lead on that painter’s identity, but rest assured: we will keep you posted.
Money laundering in the art world has been identified as a significant issue, as detailed by a bipartisan Senate investigation last year, which determined that “Secrecy, anonymity, and a lack of regulation create an environment ripe for laundering money and evading sanctions.”
The Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations report added, “Given the intrinsic secrecy of the art industry, it is clear that change is needed in this multi-billion dollar industry.”
Art consultant Martin Galindo is among those suspicious of the price points of Hunter’s work, telling the Post that the pieces will likely do “well in the market because this industry is very much about, what’s a simple way to put this — it’s like clout.”
DOJ Nominee Worked with Hunter Biden at Law Firm Tied To Ukrainian Energy Giant
Hunter Biden laptop emails indicate he attended private dinner with DOJ nominee Hampton Dellinger
Joe Biden’s nominee for a top Justice Department position worked alongside Hunter Biden at a prominent law firm that represented Ukrainian energy giant Burisma Holdings, emails from Hunter Biden’s laptop show.
Hampton Dellinger, who President Biden nominated on Friday to lead the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Policy, worked on the Crisis Management and Government Response team at Boies Schiller Flexner, an international law firm where Biden served as counsel. Emails from Biden’s laptop show he worked closely with lawyers on Boies Schiller Flexner’s crisis management team. He referred Burisma Holdings to the crisis unit as a client in April 2014. Biden’s laptop emails also indicate he attended a private dinner party with Dellinger and several other Boies Schiller Flexner lawyers in March 2014.
The link could pose a potential conflict of interest as the Justice Department is investigating Hunter Biden over his tax affairs and foreign business dealings. Federal prosecutors are also reportedly investigating whether a Democratic consulting firm that worked closely with Biden illegally lobbied for Burisma. While Dellinger would likely not oversee the criminal investigations if confirmed as chief of the Office of Legal Policy, previous leaders of the policy office have moved on to other jobs at the agency that perform criminal oversight.
Dellinger’s work at Boies Schiller Flexner is likely to come up during his Senate confirmation process, says a former chief investigative counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee.
"Senators should want to learn more about Mr. Dellinger’s interactions with Hunter Biden," Jason Foster told the Washington Free Beacon. "Senators are likely to question Mr. Dellinger on what he knew about his firm’s dealings with Biden and Burisma at the time."
Dellinger, who served as deputy attorney general for North Carolina in the 2000s, is the second prominent Biden Justice Department nominee with ties to Hunter Biden. Nicholas McQuaid, who was picked to temporarily lead the Justice Department’s criminal division, worked closely with one of Biden’s criminal defense lawyers, Chris Clark. McQuaid has since recused himself from taking part in any Hunter Biden-related matters.
Emails from Biden’s laptop show Boies Schiller Flexner partner William Isaacson arranged a dinner at his home for members of the Crisis Management and Government Response team in March 2014. Isaacson wrote in one email that Biden, Dellinger, and several others had confirmed their attendance at the party.
Biden asked in an email on March 17, 2014, to seven of his Boies Schiller Flexner colleagues, including Dellinger, whether the dinner party was still on for that night.
The next day, Heather King, a partner at the firm, asked Biden whether he would be available to meet with the Crisis Management and Government Response team.
Biden introduced Burisma Holdings as a possible client for Boies Schiller Flexner the following month.
Biden wrote to Isaacson and Chris Boies, a partner at the firm, on April 15, 2014, that he had recommended to Burisma that the firm retain Boies Schiller Flexner. He said he had been working with Burisma to "think strategically about the current crisis and expansion of their existing domestic operations." He recommended that they have a conference call with members of the Crisis Management and Government Response team.
Hunter Biden has come under intense scrutiny over his work for Burisma. At the time, then-Vice President Joe Biden was leading the Obama administration’s diplomatic efforts in Ukraine. Hunter Biden and his business partner, Devon Archer, received more than $80,000 per month beginning in April 2014 to serve on Burisma’s board of directors.
Biden, who joined Boies Schiller Flexner in 2010 as an adviser, tapped the law firm to provide public relations and business consulting for Burisma. Boies Schiller Flexner partners also helped secure a lobbying firm and private investigative firm to work for Burisma.
It is unclear whether Dellinger did any work on the Burisma account, but an archive of the Boies Schiller Flexner website shows him listed as an attorney with the 12-person Crisis Management and Government Response team as of June 2014. Dellinger left Boies Schiller Flexner last year to form his own private practice.
Dellinger did not respond to a list of questions about Hunter Biden and his work at Boies Schiller Flexner.
If confirmed by the Senate, Dellinger will oversee the office that advises the White House on judicial nominations and serves as primary policy adviser to the attorney general. The position has served as a stepping stone for other Justice Department officials to other areas of the agency. Biden nominated the current acting Office of Legal Policy chief, Christian Schroeder, to serve as the Justice Department’s head of the Office of Legal Counsel.
Rachel Brand, who served under President Trump as associate attorney general, the third most senior position at the Justice Department, served as chief of the Office of Legal Policy during the George W. Bush administration.
Hunter Biden Facilitated Deal for Democratic Consultants Now Under Federal Investigation
Emails show Biden served as conduit between Burisma Holdings and Blue Star Strategies
Emails from Hunter Biden's laptop show he was instrumental in setting up a consulting deal between a Ukrainian energy company and two Democratic consultants under investigation for violating foreign lobbying laws.
Biden and colleagues at the private equity firm Rosemont Seneca helped Burisma Holdings hire Blue Star Strategies, a firm owned by former Clinton administration officials Sally Painter and Karen Tramontano. Biden's emails show he played a bigger role than anyone had known in arranging Blue Star's consulting work for Burisma. Neither Biden nor the Blue Star founders registered their work under the Lobbying Disclosure Act or the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
Biden's work as a middleman could also explain why federal prosecutors began scrutinizing Blue Star's work for Burisma. Republicans have scrutinized Biden over his work for the company, one of Ukraine's largest natural gas producers, as well as with various Chinese companies. Federal prosecutors are also investigating Biden over his tax affairs and foreign business dealings.
Politico reported that federal prosecutors in Delaware investigating Biden's taxes began probing whether Blue Star violated foreign agent laws by failing to disclose its work for Burisma. Both Biden and the Blue Star executives met with U.S. government officials to advocate on Burisma's behalf, according to congressional testimony. Biden also met with Painter in November 2015 to discuss her potential work for Burisma.
Burisma appointed Biden and his partner, Devon Archer, to serve on its board of directors in May 2014. As board members, the pair was tasked with finding investment projects for Burisma in the United States and Europe and boosting the company's reputation. Biden and Archer received more than $80,000 a month to serve on the board.
Burisma hired Blue Star in late 2015 to try to kill bribery investigations into Burisma's owner, Mykola Zlochevsky, a former minister of ecology and natural resources. Zlochevsky was under investigation in the United Kingdom for allegedly paying bribes to secure drilling contracts in Ukraine.
Burisma executive Vadym Pozharskyi emailed Biden and his partners on Nov. 2, 2015, with a list of "deliverables" he hoped Blue Star could provide the Ukrainian company. Pozharskyi said he wanted Blue Star to arrange for U.S. officials to express support for Zlochevsky. He said the "ultimate purpose" of the initiative was to shut down cases against Zlochevsky in Ukraine.
Biden responded on Nov. 5, 2015, telling Pozharskyi that he was confident Painter and Tramontano would deliver on the project and that Burisma should sign a contract with Blue Star.
"You should go ahead and sign. Looking forward to getting started on this," wrote Biden, who served with Painter on the board of the Truman National Security Project, a prominent national security think tank.
Biden and one of his Rosemont Seneca partners, a former Clinton administration official named Eric Schwerin, spoke with Painter on Nov. 11, 2015. Schwerin advised Pozharskyi in an email to execute the agreement with Blue Star. He said that he and Biden planned to meet with Painter the following week to discuss meetings she had already had on Burisma's behalf.
Pozharskyi asked the Biden consortium on Nov. 18, 2015, to forward a consulting contract to Blue Star so that the firm could sign it. He said that a $60,000 retainer would be wired to Blue Star that same day. On Nov. 23, 2015, a Blue Star associate sent an email to Biden, Painter, and Pozharskyi arranging a conference call to discuss "the action plan" for Burisma.
Blue Star would later arrange for Burisma to form a partnership with the Atlantic Council, a prominent foreign policy think tank. Tramontano had served on the council's board of directors. Painter joined the think tank's board in April 2017.
Blue Star Strategies and a lawyer for Biden did not respond to requests for comment.
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