Biden to Harris: Disaster 1 to Disaster 2
That “President” Biden is an unmitigated disaster as our chief executive is so painfully apparent to everyone that it hardly seems necessary to point it out. Nonetheless, just briefly consider:
Catastrophic Governance
His policies -- anti-energy, anti-business, anti-military, anti-America First -- have wrecked the economy, driven gas to over $3.00/gallon, given us the absolute worst illegal immigration crisis in our history and bankrupted the country. In a warped way, it’s kind of impressive that he’s done that in only a bit over four months.
Leadership Vacuum
No one believes Biden is calling the shots, He’s totally malleable to behind-the-scenes operatives, acting in a confused, unknowing fog, reading as best he can from the teleprompter, and hiding behind his weird “I’ll get in trouble if I answer any more of your questions” excuse.
Made America Weak Internationally
The ayatollahs from Iran, Russia’s Putin, and Xi Jinping of Communist China are licking their chops at the prospect of having their way with poor ‘ol Joe.
Family Corruption
Has there ever been a “First Family” with anywhere near the decades-long, indisputable record of dishonesty, financial misdealings and outright graft that even approaches that of the Bidens?
Diminished Mental Capacity
For those among this readership who have a compromised older family member, it isn’t merely the grotesquely obvious signs of dementia that mark Biden as severely limited. It’s the more subtle behaviors that betray his overwhelming incapacity. A clear example occurred just recently when the ever-admiring and forever-excusing liberal media caught up with Biden as he was eating an ice cream cone. Breathlessly shouting out, “What flavor?” the media proceeded to float a softball his way, asking if there was any possibility that the Republicans might compromise with him on his infrastructure proposal.
That Biden (pre-coached, no doubt) predictably belittled the Republicans is not the point. The issue for those who have the experience with elders is the manner in which Biden was eating his ice cream cone: the tentative little bites and the way in which he seemed so preoccupied and protective of his treat, in an almost childlike way. It’s tough to put into exact words, but anyone with a badly slipping elder family member or friend recognizes this demeanor. Biden is well past even the vaguest pretense of mental competence.
This brings us to Kamala Harris. For these and other reasons, the Democrats will ditch Biden for Harris when they believe Biden has outlived his usefulness and feel that a Harris presidency can be leveraged for maximum political advantage. But other than transparently boasting that Harris is the country’s first female president, how would a Harris administration benefit the country? It won’t.
In modern times (since, say, 1960 Kennedy vs. Nixon), there has never been a vice-president or vice-presidential candidate more ideologically radical and more singularly unqualified to be president than Kamala Harris. Cabot Lodge, Miller, LBJ, Muskie, Shriver, Dole, Mondale, Ferraro, Bentsen, Kemp, Gore, Lieberman, Edwards, Palin, Ryan, Kaine and Pence all had their strengths and shortcomings, but each one was a serious, experienced politician who was qualified to be president if the need arose.
The mainstream liberal media would be quick to say that GHW Bush’s VP -- Dan Quayle -- was not qualified presidential material. As they are wont to do, the liberal media jumped all over his totally inconsequential “potatoe vs. potato” spelling controversy and lined up against him when he opposed the TV show Murphy Brown’s character’s decision to have an out-of-wedlock child. How dare he have the temerity to question the moral decision that the distinguished and sophisticated liberal icon Candice Bergen would bring to a mass television audience? Conservatives will rightly point out that while Quayle had a penchant for saying inopportune things, he was not the ideological extremist that Harris is, nor was he beholden to the farthest reaches of his party the way Harris is and he certainly was not the inexpert, experiential lightweight that Harris is.
With her constant situationally inappropriate hyenalike cackling, her astonishingly unserious, wild proclamations about matters of critical national import (such as her preposterous assertion that “climate change” is a root cause of illegal immigration), and her bizarre narcissistic need for self-promotion as evidenced by her passing out “Kamala Harris” cookies to reporters, it is clear that Harris is nothing more than a hastily cobbled together collection of progressive checked boxes: Person of Color? Check. Female? Check. Victim of discrimination? Check. Radical ideology? Check.
Yet these boxes remain distressingly unchecked:
- Detailed understanding of economics and taxation
- Job creator
- Successful manager in the “take no prisoners” private sector
- Scientific/technical expertise
- Awareness of American and world history.
- Knowledge of military strategy, hardware and weaponry
To be fair, not all great presidents check every single box. But every passable president checks at least a few of them. Harris comes up totally empty.
Exactly when the Democrats will decide to discard Biden like three-day-old bread remains to be seen. Perhaps it will be after the Democrats have passed all the extreme legislation and executive orders they feel they can get away with. That would make some sense: get as many radical policies in place as possible, have them fall on Biden, then get rid of Biden in order to distance and inoculate Harris from Republican attack for those policies in 2024.
The flaw in this thinking is Harris’s incredible weakness and unsuitability for the job of commander-in-chief. Her leadership tenure would be a total catastrophe for America. She’ll be far more concerned with satisfying woke obligations than acting in the country’s interests as a whole. America under a Harris administration will be more divided and polarized along racial, gender and ideological fault lines than ever before.
The Republicans had better get this entire election integrity/fraud situation resolved by the 2022 midterms. Every thinking person knows that Joe Biden did not legitimately win the 2020 presidential election. His term has been the absolute fiasco for America that people feared it would be. A President Harris will be even worse. If she “wins” in 2024, the negative consequences for the country will likely be permanent and irreversible. That is the very definition of “disaster.”
Joe Biden: Creature from the D.C. Swamp
How to drag the economy down to a watery grave.
If they made a movie about the Biden presidency, based on the past 4 1/2 months, it might be called “The Creature from the D.C. Swamp.”
It opens with a beautiful young woman, tanned and fit, named the Trump Economy, lounging on a boat. Suddenly, the creature emerges from the stygian depths, grabs her, and carries her down to a watery grave.
The swamp creature is the 46th president of the United States. While he wasn’t born in the murky waters surrounding the nation’s capital, he has almost no experience with anything that exists beyond its boundaries.
To the question, doesn’t he understand the inflationary effects of his mega-deficits, how his war on domestic energy production will strangle the economy and endanger national security, and how the taxes he’s pushing will kill jobs and drive business overseas? The answer is: How could he?
Never was a politician less suited to understand economic reality than a man who thinks prosperity comes out of the barrel of a gun in the hand of government.
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. came to Washington, D.C. at age 29 in 1973. He was elected to the Senate less than four years after graduating from law school. Almost half-a-century later, he’s still there. He went from the 4th youngest member of the Senate when he took office to the oldest president in U.S. history,
He has no real-world experience with -- anything. He never ran a business, met a payroll or had to deal with the taxes and regulations he’s spent his life imposing on others.
Is it so surprising then that he thinks government is God? His worldview has been shaped by his murky milieu. Show him a problem (real or imaginary) and he’ll point to government as the solution.
Not only has he never functioned in the market economy, he’s never had to face middle-class challenges, like stretching a buck to cover the mortgage, food, utilities, the kids’ college tuition, etc.
In his world, there are no recessions or economic downturns. The business of government is always booming. In 2008, his last full year in the Senate, Joe’s salary was $169,300 plus perks. As Vice President, he received $230,700.
Joe’s net worth is conservatively estimated at $17 million, not including whatever Hunter is holding for the Big Guy. In 2017, the prez and Dr. Jill bought a 6-bedroom, 5 ½ bath, 4,786-sq. ft. beach house (a shack, really) for $2.74 million. By the time he leaves office, you’ll be lucky if you can afford a cardboard shipping crate in a homeless encampment.
Harry Truman said: “Show me a man who gets rich by being a politician, and I’ll show you a crook.” Give ‘Em Hell Harry, meet Sticky-Fingers Joe.
Biden isn’t an ideologue like Bernie Sanders or Ocasio-Cortez. He is now what he was when he first dived into the swamp in 1973 – a loyal foot soldier of the Democrat Party. What the party’s leadership believes, at any given point in time, he believes. What they want, he wants.
That’s why Obama tapped him as his running mate in 2009 (certainly not for his mental acumen or oratorical skills). The Illinois Senator was then an outsider, having spent less than a year in the swamp. He needed someone on the ticket to reassure the party establishment. Ergo, Joe.
Desperate to defeat Sanders in the 2020 primaries, the leadership coalesced around the candidate voted most likely to do as he was told. While Joe didn’t exactly set the world on fire, from the establishment’s perspective, he was a safe bet. He was also like an old pair of shoes voters were comfortable in. He didn’t frighten or challenge them.
Even his dorky demeanor was endearing – like the elderly uncle we could all laugh at until he begins forgetting the way to the bathroom.
I’m sure he’s convinced himself that he believes all of the demented cliches his speechwriters put in his mouth. He has no independent thought process. As his party has drifted ever leftward, he’s gone with the flow.
But his instincts have always been big government.
The National Taxpayers Union rates members of Congress on every vote on taxes and spending. In his last year in the Senate (2008), the NTU awarded the future president a 2% rating, meaning he voted for more spending and higher taxes 98% of the time. Trust Andrew Cuomo to give your pretty, young daughter a ride home from work before you trust Joe Biden with the economy.
In the last election, the choice was between a man who had spent all but four years of his adult life in the private sector and one who was nestled snugly in the bosom of government for so long that he could hardly imagine anything else.
One candidate started businesses, created jobs, built skyscrapers and changed skylines. The other spent his career sniffing hair and rubber-stamping his party’s positions.
So, when you see the president teetering to the podium to explain how we can spend our way to prosperity, rebuild our infrastructure with more social spending, save the planet by killing our economy, and get people back to work with extended unemployment benefits, bear in mind that he’s been underwater so long that there are bubbles in his brain. To put it another way, he just emerged from the poppy fields that surround the Emerald City.
It’s not that he made a conscious decision to drag the economy down to Davy Jones’ locker. But the swamp is more than his natural habitat. It’s all he knows.
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 requ
Washington Post Fact checker: Joe Biden Just ‘Stopped By’ Hunter Biden Dinner
Washington Post fact checker Glenn Kessler attempted on Monday to dispute a report from the New York Post that then-Vice President Joe Biden appeared at a dinner arranged by his son, Hunter, to meet the latter’s foreign business partners in 2015.
As Breitbart News noted, the Post story provided further confirmation that Hunter Biden had introduced an official from the Ukrainian energy company, Burisma, to his father, despite Joe Biden’s denials of any knowledge of Hunter’s interests.
Breitbart News had originally reported last year that Hunter Biden had introduced Joe Biden to an oligarch from Kazakhstan, Kenes Rakishev, at the Café Milano in Washington, DC. The Post story appeared to confirm the meeting.
But the Post cites a participant in the meeting as claiming that Vice President Biden “only dropped by briefly to meet with one of the guests” and the guest happened to be a Greek Orthodox priest, suggesting all was entirely above board.
Kessler wrote:
A few hours earlier, Joe Biden had made remarks at the White House Greek Independence Day Reception, according to his official schedule. He and Karloutsos are personal friends who have known each other for 40 years. Karloutsos’s wife, Xanthi, is on the board of the Beau Biden Foundation, which fights child abuse. (Beau Biden, who had an aggressive form of brain cancer, died a few weeks after this dinner.)
Joe Biden, a Roman Catholic, also has a long history of working with the Greek Orthodox Church. In 2015, the church awarded him the Patriarch Athenagoras Humanitarian Award. “This may be the greatest honor I’ve ever received in my public life,” he declared.
Leach recalled that the dinner involved about 10 to 12 people in a private room but that Joe Biden “didn’t even sit down. He was not part of the dinner or part of the dinner discussion.” Instead, he just spoke to Karloutsos.
Kessler also claimed that the Ukrainian executive from Burisma, Vadym Pozharskyi, was not on a guest list for the event, and cited participants who said the focus of the meeting was Hunter’s work with the World Food Program.
The author of the Post story, Miranda Devine, took to Twitter to defend her story and accuse Kessler of carrying water for the Biden administration:
Last October, the Post published an op-ed encouraging readers to treat emails emerging from Hunter Biden’s laptop “as if they were a foreign intelligence operation — even if they probably aren’t.” The laptop has never been shown to be such.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new e-book, We Told You So!: The First 100 Days of Joe Biden’s Radical Presidency. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
COUNT THE BRIBES SUCKING LAWYERS AND THEIR LIES.... if you can!
A regime based on fraud and media collusion
The unmasking of Dr. Anthony Fauci is the straw that I think will break the back of the camel of an evil cabal. Everyone in the United States was directly and personally affected by the fraud and cover-up that obscured the origins of COVID-19 in the laboratory of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, imposed unnecessary lockdowns, and denied effective therapies to those infected with the virus. It brought home to Americans the untrustworthiness of the ruling class and its media servants that have covered up numerous frauds in recent years:
- Fast and Furious: Eric Holder's program to arm Mexican drug gangs with American weaponry, it looks like to me.
- Benghazi: Secretary of state Hillary Clinton and President Obama were collecting heavy weapons off the battlefield in
- Libya using the consulate as cover for the CIA station. The weapons were transshipped via Turkey to ISIS in Syria. The hearings done by the DoS review board were a predestined outcome according to my sources.
- Pay to Play by Hillary: As SoS for her signature on items like Uranium One and other shady deals. Donations would then be made to the Clinton Foundation.
- The bathroom server: A private email system done to facilitate the pay-to-play by keeping the backchannel emails at several arms' length to avoid disclosure by FOIA requests.
- Comey's presser: The FBI director indicted Hillary and then said no intent could be shown. These charges do not require intent. The fact that secret classified material was on her server is enough. Ask Kristian Saucier about intent.
- Bill Clinton met on the Phoenix Airport tarmac with A.G. Lynch just before Comey's exoneration of his wife.
- Russiagate never was anything other than a domestic disinformation operation run by the CIA with the FBI doing the grunt work. Comey, Clapper, and Brennan also lied to Congress. Hillary had to have an excuse for why she lost. She was a very poor candidate, and Trump ran circles around her. The CIA was illegally running a domestic spy operation under the guise of a counter-intel operation. This was a reverse target operation to spy on Trump using two minor campaign volunteers. The DoS has their hands dirty, too.
The election was a full-court press using COVID as an excuse to illegally allow mail-in ballots with no identity verification on ballots to be cast.
Where is Hunter Biden's laptop that was put in the memory hole in the FBI, that the FBI is apparently not doing anything about? And there's the issue of Ukraine and China with the big guy, Uncle Joe.
And let's not forget that Eric Swalwell and Hunter Biden were both compromised by Chinese honey traps. How many others are there? A good portion of our government inside the Beltway.
A question now looms over the freedom of Taiwan and Hong Kong. Do we draw the red line with the CCP after their purportedly accidental release of a bioweapon from Wuhan, or do we appease them as we did with the Third Reich? How did that work out for us and the Jews?
Do We the People acquiesce in allowing the ruling cabal to make these decisions for us?
The U.S. and the world are at a tipping point. Do we succumb to a new world of fascism that dictates what we can and can't do and think? Unlike the Nazis of Germany and the fascists of Italy, a new and improved version is on offer: corporatism, without an honest government that provides a level playing field for a free market and protection of the inalienable rights of We the People.
Multinational corporations that have no soul will have more power than our governments. This new world order will exploit the masses and the Earth's natural resources. The much-detested colonialism period will pale in comparison.
But its success depends on the further willingness of the free peoples of the world to accept government by fraud. And when a fraud that affected everyone negatively for over a year is exposed, that willingness starts to evaporate.
JOE BIDEN I'M A LAWYER! WHY SHOULD I HAVE TO EARN AN HONEST LIVING??? I BECAME A POLITICIANS TO AVOID THAT SHIT!
Report: Emails Show Ex-FBI Chief Gave $100,000 to Joe Biden’s Grandkid Trust, Seeking ‘Future Work’
Former FBI director Louis Freeh reportedly gave $100,000 to a trust for President Joe Biden’s grandchildren, seeking “some very good and profitable matters” with Biden, according to emails obtained by the New York Post.
The emails reportedly emanate from Hunter Biden’s water-damaged laptop and apparently show the gifts were made in April 2016, before Hunter Biden received an email from Freeh that he “would be delighted to do future work with you.”
The alleged emails show Freeh wrote on July 8, 2016, “I also spoke to Dad a few weeks ago and would like to explore with him some future work options. I believe that working together on these (and other legal) matters would be of value, fun, and rewarding.”
The emails also show Freeh wrote Hunter on March 12, 2017, saying he saw Hunter’s father, Joe Biden, walking back from church, noting, “I would still like to persuade him to associate with me and FSS—as we have some very good and profitable matters which he could enhance with minimal time.”
The New York Post reports the “initials FSS are an apparent reference to the law firm of Freeh Sporkin & Sullivan, where Freeh, a former federal judge, was a partner at the time.”
One month later, more purported emails show Freeh wrote Hunter again. “As you know, our family foundation made a $100K contribution to Hallie’s children’s trust last year,” said Freeh in reference to “the gift he’d made to the trust for the children of Hunter’s late brother, Beau Biden, who died of brain cancer in 2015, and Beau’s wife, Hallie, with whom Hunter later had an affair.”
The same email shows that Freeh said he made an accounting error via an improper “foundation gift” that would be remedied by “a new $100k gift” upon being reimbursed by the foundation the $100,000.
Hunter Biden reportedly responded the same day, “Thanks so much and of course no burden at all. Speak to you soon.”
The FBI directory provides Freeh’s background:
Director Freeh served as an FBI special agent from 1975 to 1981 in the New York City Field Office and at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. In 1981, he joined the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York as an Assistant United States Attorney. Subsequently, he held positions there as chief of the Organized Crime Unit, Deputy United States Attorney, and Associate United States Attorney.
During this time, Director Freeh was the lead prosecutor in the “Pizza Connection” case, the largest and most complex investigation ever undertaken at the time by the United States government.
Former FBI Director Freeh gave $100k to a trust for VP Biden’s grandkids in 2016 while exploring ‘future work options’
Take it from the New York Times and Washington Post: nothing to see here, move along. Definitely not a bribe.
Emails recovered from Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop reveal that while Joe Biden was vice president, a trust for his grandchildren – the children of his late son Beau Biden – received a hundred thousand dollars from a foundation controlled by former FBI Director Louis Freeh, who was a lawyer for 3 corrupt foreign businessmen, later convicted and imprisoned. In the emails it is revealed that Freeh actually met with the sitting VP in 2016 "to explore with him some future work options," in addition to courting his son Hunter for collaboration.
Both the New York Post and the UK Daily Mail have published excerpts from the letters, though as of this writing, neither the Washington Post nor New York Times appear to have found the gift and emails worth mentioning.
The UKDM writes:
The 71-year-old, who served as FBI director under Bill Clinton and George Bush, ran a consultancy firm with highly controversial clients including a now-jailed Malaysian prime minister who stole billions of dollars from his country, a Romanian real estate tycoon convicted of bribery, and a French-Israeli diamond magnate later convicted of bribery and a $145 million property graft.
Freeh, a former judge, emailed Joe's son Hunter Biden in 2016, revealing he had spoken with the Vice President and proposed that they work together on private ventures once Biden left office.
In July that year, in an email marked 'confidential and privileged', Freeh wrote to Hunter that he 'would be delighted to do future work with you.'
'I also spoke to Dad a few weeks ago and would like to explore with him some future work options,' Freeh said. 'I believe that working together on these (and other legal) matters would be of value, fun and rewarding.'
Freeh brought up the idea again a month later – and mentioned that he was working for the then-Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak, who was in the midst of a scandal over one of the world's biggest financial frauds, and was later sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2020.
'I would like to talk with you and Dad about working together next year,' Freeh wrote to Hunter.
One letter seems to indicate that’s the gift was to be refunded and re-donated so as to be able to qualify for tax-deductible status – meaning taxpayers subsidize the gift that weas made in the context of seeking business arrangements, as the NYP summarizes:
“As you know, our family foundation made a $100K contribution to Hallie’s children’s trust last year,” Freeh wrote on April 24, 2017.
But Freeh said that his accountants “now advise that since the grant did not go to a 501(c) organization, it was not a proper foundation gift” and that he planned to fix the situation by making “a new $100k gift” and having the trust “reimburse the foundation by paying it $100k.”
Clarice Feldman advises me that she can find nothing in the federal government’s policies regarding gifts to its employees that would require disclosure of a gift to grandchildren. Public Citizen’s review of rules for gifts to the president and vice president indicates in point ten:
Gifts to the President and Vice President. Both offices may accept any gift on his own behalf or on behalf of any family member, provided that such acceptance does not violate conflict of interest or anti-bribery laws, or the Constitution of the United States.
Was there any conflict of interest or bribery? I would guess that a quid pro quo would have to be proven to make a charge of bribery stick. AS for conflict of interest, again, I can’t see any specifics that would be involved.
What about gift taxes? Anything over $14,000 a year is subject to federal gift taxes. But did this gift qualify for tax exempt status after it was re-gifted? If not, the gift could have been structured to pay out $14,000 per year and avoid those taxes.
It appears that the relationship that was cemented with this six figure gift flourished, at least to the extent that Freeh joined the board of directors of the Beau Biden Foundation.
The entire situation reminds me of the old saying about DC that the problem about what’s going on is not so much what’s illegal, as what is perfectly legal.
EXCLUSIVE: Hunter Biden was hired by a Romanian real estate tycoon to overturn his bribery conviction through a massive propaganda campaign with help from VP Joe's government connections and former FBI director Louis Freeh
- Romanian real estate tycoon Gabriel Popoviciu was convicted in his home country in 2016 of bribery
- He bribed a university official to buy a 550-acre plot of government-owned land for a drastically reduced price
- Popoviciu hired Hunter Biden that year as part of an influence campaign to persuade anti-corruption prosecutors to cut a deal or drop the case
- DailyMail.com can now reveal the extensive propaganda and persuasion campaign planned for the Romanian criminal
- Hunter brought in political heavyweight Louis Freeh, the former director of the FBI, to use his US law enforcement contacts for Popoviciu's advantage
- Hunter's involvement included meeting with U.S. officials and plotting a media blitz in favor of the foreign tycoon, all while his father was Vice President
- Despite the planned influence and media campaign, Hunter and his colleagues' attempts failed and Popoviciu was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2016
Hunter Biden and a former FBI director were hired by a Romanian tycoon later convicted of bribery - and represented him in meetings with top U.S. officials - emails from Hunter's laptop show.
Romanian real estate tycoon Gabriel Popoviciu was convicted in his home country in 2016 of bribing a university official to buy a 550-acre plot of government-owned land for a drastically reduced price.
Popoviciu hired Hunter earlier that year as part of an influence campaign to persuade anti-corruption prosecutors to cut a deal or drop the case.
The hiring was revealed in 2019, but DailyMail.com can now reveal the extensive propaganda and persuasion campaign planned by Hunter for the Romanian criminal, all while Hunter's father was Vice President.
Emails on Hunter's abandoned laptop reveal how Joe Biden's son and his colleagues leveraged their US government connections and plotted a propaganda campaign for the grafting Romanian tycoon.
The arrangement raises more questions about Hunter's dodgy business deals that threatened to compromised his father - the vice president.
Hunter Biden was hired by a Romanian tycoon later convicted of bribery - and represented him in meetings with top U.S. officials – emails from Hunter's laptop show
Romanian real estate tycoon Gabriel Popoviciu was convicted in his home country in 2016 of bribing a university official to buy a 550-acre plot of government-owned land for a drastically reduced price
Emails show Hunter brought in political heavyweight and family friend Louis Freeh, the former director of the FBI, to use his U.S. law enforcement contacts for Popoviciu's advantage, and was offered a referral fee as a result
Under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), anyone advocating for foreign entities to US government officials, or acting as a publicist for a foreign entity in the US, must add themselves to a Department of Justice public register.
Louis Freeh, the former director of the FBI and close family friend of the Bidens
However, an exception applies for attorneys representing a client in a foreign court case, who are not required to register under FARA.
Emails show Hunter's colleagues, partners in law firm Boies Schiller Flexner, Christopher Boies and Michael Gottlieb, seeking to set up meetings with the US Ambassador to Romania, after discussing among themselves whether he would intervene in Popoviciu's case.
Hunter brought in political heavyweight and family friend Louis Freeh, the former director of the FBI, to use his US law enforcement contacts for Popoviciu's advantage, and was offered a referral fee as a result.
Hunter and his colleagues also discussed a media campaign, including to major U.S. publication the Wall Street Journal, to support their client who was later found guilty of bribery.
None of them were required to register
for this work under FARA, due to
various exemptions including those for
lawyers of foreign defendants.
Popoviciu was first mentioned in Hunter's emails in September 2015. At the time Hunter worked at law firm Boies Schiller Flexner.
Firm partner Chris Boies wrote to Hunter and his business partner Devon Archer with the subject line 'Popoviciu', and the message: 'Let's discuss when convenient… One of my partners is best friends with the newly appointed Ambassador to Romania.'
The property tycoon didn't appear again in Hunter's inbox until May 2016, when he was on the brink of a bribery conviction in a Romanian court.
Hunter and his colleagues scrambled into action, with then-Boies Schiller attorney Michael Gottlieb even seeking the help of then-US Ambassador to Romania Hans Klemm in a last-ditch effort to stop the corruption conviction.
'I have reached out to Klemm and asked him to help us broker the meeting [with Romanian anti-corruption prosecutors],' Gottlieb wrote to Hunter on May 17, 2016.
'We should put together a persuasive deck with all the procedural and substantive defects in the indictment / case against Gabs, and we should also probably put together the start of what would be a press strategy. And we'll want to line up the big names to bring over.'
A legal source involved in the discussions told DailyMail.com that they never went through with the planned action.
'All of the ideas discussed in this email, including the preparation of a deck and press plan, were never implemented or executed,' the source, who was a member of Popoviciu's legal team, said.
'All of this was being discussed as part of a potential strategy, which depended entirely on scheduling a meeting with the Romanian Government on the case. But that meeting was never scheduled, and never happened, because the Romanian Government declined.'
Hunter and his colleagues scrambled into action, with then-Boies Schiller attorney Michael Gottlieb even seeking the help of then-US Ambassador to Romania Hans Klemm in a last-ditch effort to stop the corruption conviction. 'I have reached out to Klemm and asked him to help us broker the meeting [with Romanian anti-corruption prosecutors],' Gottlieb wrote to Hunter on May 17, 2016
Hunter and his colleagues also discussed a media campaign, including to major US publication the Wall Street Journal, to support their client, who was later convicted of bribery
The following week Gottlieb wrote an email to Hunter saying that he had spoken to the US ambassador – but was reluctant to describe his conversation in an email. 'Hans called me to discuss a development that is best relayed over phone. Can we connect either tonight or first thing tomorrow? Bottom line is that we should proceed with requesting the meeting,' he wrote
Gottlieb complained to his colleagues about a Politico article praising Romanian prosecutors for cracking down on corruption.
'This kind of article is likely to make our efforts with the USEMB [the US embassy] an uphill battle, and why I expect HK [Klemm] has had little interest in taking any kind of public position,' Gottlieb wrote.
Hunter weighed in, suggesting they enlist the help of Biden family friend and former FBI director Louis Freeh.
'Agreed Michael. Is now the time to begin to assemble a more high profile team that can speak to the injustice here,' Hunter wrote. 'Who do we have at the firm that can speak with authority about anti-corruption. Mike I was going to reach out to Judge Freeh and if you can think of others of that stature I think now is the time to read them into the situation and see if they are willing to help. Ambassador Gittenstein mentioned names like former US Atty Patrick Fitzgerald.'
The following week Gottlieb wrote an email to Hunter saying that he had spoken to the US ambassador – but was reluctant to describe his conversation in an email.
'Hans called me to discuss a development that is best relayed over phone. Can we connect either tonight or first thing tomorrow? Bottom line is that we should proceed with requesting the meeting,' he wrote.
In a March 24, 2016 email titled 'Re Meet with H. Klemm', Hunter wrote to Gottlieb: 'Where are we meeting?'
A source involved in the meeting told DailyMail.com that Hunter did join Gottlieb and the U.S. ambassador in at least one meeting.
The source on Popoviciu's legal team told DailyMail.com that 'at no point did we ever ask the U.S. Ambassador (or anyone else at the Embassy) to make any statement about the case, or to intervene in any way.'
The lawyer said the U.S. team explained to Popoviciu's foreign representatives 'the reality that the U.S. Embassy, and U.S. Ambassador, would not intervene with the Romanian Government regarding a pending anti-corruption prosecution.'
'The legal team was always attentive to limiting any ''ask'' to the U.S. Embassy to be the making of an introduction to the relevant Romanian Government officials, or the provision of advice about Romanian law or protocol,' the lawyer said.
Boies Schiller Flexner declined to comment. Gottlieb, who has since left the firm, also declined to comment.
The overtures to American diplomats ultimately failed to prevent Popoviciu's conviction. But on June 18 Hunter emailed Freeh for help, saying he had become 'very close to the client personally' and claiming the tycoon was 'being very badly treated by a suspect Romanian justice system.'
Days later the ex-FBI director had signed a retainer with Popoviciu and described in an email a plan to 'intervene with the special Romanian anti-corruption prosecutor' and even launch a propaganda campaign in the US.
'They were talking about us doing a report and then 'going to the WSJ.' I said this would most likely just inflame the prosecutor and make things worse for the client,' Freeh wrote.
'We suggested doing a 'report' (perhaps being retained by a business partner or investor (client owns a $.5B real estate development in Bucharest), and then using that report to establish a dialogue with the prosecutor-resulting in some possible deal or remediated outcome.'
Emails show Hunter's fellow partners in law firm Boies Schiller Flexner, Christopher Boies (right) and Michael Gottlieb (left), seeking to set up meetings with the U.S. Ambassador to Romania, after discussing among themselves whether he would intervene in Popoviciu's case
Freeh did not respond to requests for comment, and it is unclear whether anyone on his team spoke to the Wall Street Journal about the case. No favorable articles about Popoviciu appeared in the paper during that time.
But the former FBI director did quickly bring his extensive law enforcement contacts to bear to help the tycoon.
Flaunting his international connections, he wrote to Hunter on June 21: 'I will see my good friend, Ron Noble [the former secretary general of international police organization Interpol], in NY on Thursday and most likely he knows this DNA [Romanian anti-corruption office] chief prosecutor, Laura Codruta Kobesi, very well.
'Let me talk to him and see what the possibilities may be to meet with her and to initiate a dialogue which would remediate the situation. I want to make sure I can add some value to this equation before proceeding.'
Freeh then began to approach US government officials about the case.
He emailed Hunter on July 8 that he had spoken with the head of the FBI's criminal division about the case – and offered to pay Hunter a referral fee for involving him.
'I wanted to thank you again for referring Gabriel to us and we have finalized an attorney letter of engagement with him,' Freeh wrote to the then-Vice President's son on July 8, 2016, two weeks after Popoviciu was sentenced to nine years in prison. 'I will meet him in Paris Sunday and then we'll deploy to Bucharest and get to work.
'FYI, I have had conversations with the head of the FBI's Criminal Division and there is a sincere Bureau interest in meeting and debriefing Gabriel on other matters he may be willing to discuss. FBIHQ will relay its interest to the Legat [legal attaché] in Bucharest, with whom we'll meet next week.
'There is the 'timing' issue about when to make contact with DNA and SRI [Romanian intelligence service], which we'll strategize about with Gabriel next week. We have fortunately been able to enlist for our team a former FBI Legat in Bucharest--she's Romanian-American--who is a fluent speaker with excellent SRI contacts. We may also try to see the Ambassador.'
In the email, Freeh also offered to give a referral payment to Hunter for getting him the job with Popoviciu.
'I would also like to make a small payment to you for this referral-and for your continuing work on this matter,' Freeh wrote. 'This is a standard practice. It's strictly your call as I don't know your relationship with the client. We would just need your bank information in order to make a remittance.'
Despite the extensive planned influence and media campaign, Hunter and his colleagues' attempts failed. On June 23, 2016 Popoviciu was sentenced to nine years in prison.
But when police showed up to his Romanian home, they reportedly found the real estate mogul had fled. He was later arrested in London in August 2017.
Flaunting his international connections two days before the conviction, Freeh wrote to Hunter on June 21: 'I will see my good friend, Ron Noble [the former secretary general of international police organization Interpol], in NY on Thursday and most likely he knows this DNA [Romanian anti-corruption office] chief prosecutor, Laura Codruta Kobesi, very well'
Freeh signed a retainer with Popoviciu and described in an email a plan to 'intervene with the special Romanian anti-corruption prosecutor' and even launch a propaganda campaign in the US
Despite the planned influence and media campaign, Hunter and his colleagues' attempts failed and Popoviciu was sentenced to nine years prison on June 23, 2016
In a press release following the sentencing, Freeh claimed the verdict was 'not supported by either the facts or the law' and that there were 'numerous factual and legal deficiencies in the case against Mr. Popoviciu.'
Freeh did not respond to requests for comment.
In a bizarre twist, the former FBI director then enlisted the help of Donald Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani – who had criticized Hunter for his dealings with allegedly corrupt Eastern Europeans.
After his commission Giuliani wrote a letter to Romanian president Klaus Iohannis criticizing the anticorruption prosecutions and calling for an amnesty for recent convicts – including Popoviciu.
Federal agents raided Giuliani's New York City home and office in April, seizing his electronics, as part of their investigation into whether the former mayor broke FARA rules by lobbying the Trump administration in 2019 on behalf of Ukrainian officials and oligarchs.
The attorney and former New York mayor denies wrongdoing and claimed to Fox News this week that 'they are trying to frame me'.
The Giuliani investigation grew out of a federal investigation of his associates, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, who worked on gathering information about the Bidens during the election.
The two Soviet-born men were charged with federal campaign finance violations.
The two, who pleaded not guilty, were arrested at an airport outside Washington carrying one-way tickets to Europe. That investigation is on-going and faced some delays due to the COVID pandemic.
Giuliani's lawyer Robert Costello blamed the investigation on 'Trump derangement syndrome' and claimed that even though his client had copies of Hunter's laptop hard drive in his apartment, agents ignored them during their search.
'Keep in mind that the agents could not read the physical hard drives without plugging them in, but they took Mr. Giuliani's word that the hard drives were copies of Hunter Biden's hard drive and did not contain anything pertaining to Mr. Giuliani,' Costello said in a statement.
#CancelHunter: GOP Highlights Glaring Hypocrisy of the Left
Prominent personalities on the right are highlighting the glaring hypocrisy of the left and establishment media following the revelations that President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden used the n-word multiple times in exchanges with his white attorney.
The exchanges, found on Hunter’s infamous laptop, show the president’s son repeatedly using the n-word in messages with his white attorney George Mesires. In one such message, he inquired about where to find “unconditional love,” to which Mesires mentioned God, Hunter’s late-brother Beau, and Hunter’s children. Hunter responded, calling Mesires the n-word and dismissed God as “just a fictional character from the imagination of the collective frightened.”
Despite the repeated use of the racial slur, the establishment media has been relatively silent, even though they were positively enchanted by rumors lodged by disgruntled former White House staffer Omarosa Manigault-Newman, who suggested former President Donald Trump used that same word, though she never provided proof.
Surely, many right-wing personalities have surmised, the same grace would not be extended to Republican personalities, such as Trump’s sons. Cancel culture would kick into high gear. Yet, left-wing calls to cancel Hunter are not overwhelming the media landscape.
“Why hasn’t @Yamiche condemned Hunter Biden’s racism?!” Richard Grenell, former Acting Director of the United States National Intelligence, asked of a PBS reporter:
“Is Hunter Biden a white nationalist now or does that term only apply to Republicans?” Georgia gubernatorial candidate Vernon Jones asked:
“Turns out when Joe Biden was telling us what a racist country America is, he had someone very near & dear in mind,” Megyn Kelly remarked:
“Hunter Biden is a bigot. Like his father,” Sebastian Gorka, former deputy assistant to President Trump, said:
“Most of the media is ignoring Hunter Biden using racial slurs in his texts. Can you imagine the media reaction if one of Trump’s kids had been caught doing this?” Outkick’s Clay Travis observed.
“The treatment should be the exact same for both,” he added. “The fact it isn’t is clear & transparent media bias”:
Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT) called the revelations “disgusting and unacceptable” and also noted the stunning silence from CNN and what he described as “countless ‘woke’ celebrities”:
Others piled on, noting the lack of action from the establishment media, which would typically head up a mass cancel campaign if Hunter were associated with one of their GOP political enemies:
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