JOE BIDEN - RED CHINA'S RENT BOY - Peter Schweizer’s ‘Red-Handed’ Hits #1 on New York Times Bestseller List

 

Peter Schweizer’s ‘Red-Handed’ Hits #1 on New York Times Bestseller List

Photo: Nicole Myhre

REBECCA MANSOUR

2 Feb 20220

5:40

Peter Schweizer’s blockbuster new book Red-Handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win hit number one on the New York Times bestseller list, one week after its release by HarperCollins.

This is the third consecutive New York Times #1 bestseller for Schweizer, following his 2020 book Profile in Corruption and 2019’s Secret Empires. Red-Handed has also premiered at number one on USA Today’s bestseller list and has topped the charts at Amazon.

Schweizer, whose past books have sparked an FBI investigation and exposed congressional insider trading that spearheaded groundbreaking legislation, has called the revelations in Red-Handed the “scariest” of his quarter-century career investigating corruption.

As the book’s subtitle states, Red-Handed exposes the vast complicity of American elites – from politicians to diplomats to business, tech, and entertainment tycoons – who have enriched themselves by advancing the interests of China’s communist regime.

Schweizer, who is the president of the nonpartisan Government Accountability Institute (GAI) and a Breitbart News senior contributor, spent over a year conducting the research for Red-Handed with his team of forensic investigators at GAI, combing through a trove of financial and corporate records. The book contains 1,093 endnotes and 81 pages of source material with no off-the-record sources, making it easier for federal law enforcement and U.S. intelligence services to track down the book’s bombshell revelations.

Indeed, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) have already called for Attorney General Merrick Garland to appoint a Special Counsel to investigate the revelations in Red-Handed concerning President Joe Biden’s family members’ business dealings with individuals with direct ties to the highest levels of China’s spy apparatus. The New York Post’s editorial board echoed these calls with an op-ed on Wednesday headlined, “Appoint a special counsel on Hunter Biden—now.”

Red-Handed’s revelations thus far include:

• How the Biden family scored $31 million from five deals in China, all with individuals with direct ties to the Chinese spy apparatus
• How a Chinese global energy company linked to a Chinese intelligence operation sent close to $6 million to Hunter Biden in 2017
• How American elites — including the Silicon Valley Masters of the Universe — purposefully aid the communist regime of China
• How donations from Communist China to the University of Pennsylvania almost tripled after the university established a “Biden Center” in 2017 and gave former Vice President Joe Biden a professorship
• How Hunter Biden planned to share his family’s office space in Washington, DC, with a Chinese intelligence-linked firm that employed a man Hunter described as “the f**king spy chief of China”
• How Hunter Biden’s business deals were helpful to the Belt and Road Initiative, which is China’s colonialist scheme for buying influence across the Third World and luring poor nations into taking loans from Chinese banks they can never repay
• How 23 former U.S. senators and congressmen have lobbied for Chinese military or intelligence-linked companies after leaving office
• How members of the Bush family cashed in on friendship with the Chinese official involved in the Tiananmen Square massacre
• How the husband of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), who chaired the Senate Intelligence Committee, was the part owner of a Chinese firm that allegedly sold computers with spyware chips to the U.S. military
• How House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) softened her previous criticism of the Chinese Communist Party as her husband and son scored big business deals in China
• How Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has followed in his father Pierre’s footsteps both in assuming the high office and using it to further the interests of the Chinese Communist Party

Schweizer’s track record investigating both Republicans and Democrats is well-established, winning him a unique mix of bipartisan praise for his investigative work from both the left and the right. After the release of Schweizer’s bestselling Clinton Cash, liberal columnist Eleanor Clift called Schweizer “an equal-opportunity investigator, snaring Republicans as well as Democrats.” Clift added: “It’s a mistake for the Clinton campaign to write off conservative author Peter Schweizer as a right-wing hack. It won’t work, and it’s not true.” Similarly, Harvard Law School Professor Lawrence Lessing wrote that “on any fair reading, the pattern of behavior that Schweizer has charged is corruption.”

Schweizer is also the author of Throw Them All Out, which, according to left-leaning Slate, was “the book that started the STOCK Act stampede.” The bipartisan STOCK Act (Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge) banned insider trading by members of Congress and was signed into law by President Barack Obama on April 4, 2012. The legislation received overwhelming support from both parties. One of the main figures featured in Schweizer’s Throw Them All Out, then-chairman of the House Financial Services Committee Spencer Bachus (R-AL), announced he would not seek reelection after the book’s reporting. CBS’s 60 Minutes did an investigative report on Schweizer’s revelations that won them the Joan Shorenstein Barone Award for excellence in Washington-based journalism.

JOE BIDEN - WE ARE THE PARTY OF BANKSTERS FOR BAILOUTS AND BILLIONAIRES FOR OPEN BORDERS - Huge Bonuses Send Wall Street Pay Soaring with Biggest Payouts in a Decade

 

Bidenflation: Huge Bonuses Send Wall Street Pay Soaring with Biggest Payouts in a Decade

Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for New York Times

WENDELL HUSEBØ

2 Feb 20220

5:02

Damn it feels good to be a banker.

Wall Street firms are paying huge bonuses as the economy emerges from the pandemic, with compensation packages growing to levels not seen in a decade.

Many of the top executives have received pay packages solidly in the eight figures.

J.P. Morgan chief Jamie Dimon saw his 2021 compensation jump to $34.5 million. He was bested by James Gorman at Morgan Stanley, whose seven percent raise boosted pay to $35 million. Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon’s compensation went from $27 million in 2019 to $35 million for 2021 (he received just $17 million in 2020 after the bank paid enormous fines).

Those are the biggest compensation packages for Wall Street CEOs since Goldman’s Lloyd Blankfein was paid $41 million in 2008.

And the big bonuses are not just confined to the c-suite. The Wall Street banks are paying up for their traders and investment bankers as well. Goldman Sachs said it paid an average of 23 percent more per employee for the past year. And top dealmakers at firms such as Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, and Goldman are getting 30 percent, 40 percent, and even 50 percent more, according to Bloomberg News.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the five biggest investment banks paid out $142 billion in compensation for 2021, $18 billion more than in 2020. That’s a fourteen percent rise, double the rate of inflation.

Bloomberg reports:

After years of restraint, bank leaders are once again projecting a “whatever it takes” approach to compensation, vowing they won’t be outbid for top performers, lest they lose an edge in a hot market for trading and deals. That has their employees in Manhattan uncorking $2,000 bottles of wine at the fastest pace in years, buying bigger homes in fashionable TriBeCa, and snapping up yachts.

It’s a long-awaited moment for a generation of rising executives who’ve spent years missing out on the riches reaped by those before them.

In the immediate aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, many expected Wall Street pay to fall back down to earth. Instead, total compensation jumped 18 percent in 2009 and another 5.7 percent in 2010. While some of the more lavish pay packages for top executives did fall — Blankfein’s pay fell to just $14.1 million in 2010 — total compensation continued to rise.

“That time, it triggered a swift rebuke from lawmakers. They accused bankers of rewarding themselves after taxpayer-funded bailouts that saved the industry from oblivion and helped markets rebound, as the rest of the economy struggled,” Bloomberg reported.

But as President Biden assumed office and pumped trillions of dollars of cash into the United States’ financial system, those on Wall Street become eager to cash in and demanded their firms pay up, and lavish paydays are back. It helped that last year’s stock market surge has been very good for shares of Wall Street firms. Goldman shares rose by around 36 percent in 2021. Morgan Stanley shares jumped 43 percent. J.P. Morgan shares climbed by around 24 percent.

But the Federal Reserve-provided easy money that helped fuel the stock market boom has also ignited inflation that has been punishing for the American workers.

In 2021, the average wage for the American worker shrank by 2.4 percent after adjusting for inflation, according to the Labor Department. Consumer prices rose seven percent for the year, with gasoline prices nearly doubling. The price of used cars rose by 37.3 percent and new car prices jumped nearly 12 percent. Prices of meat, eggs, and poultry were up 12.5 percent. Average monthly rents listed in the U.S. jumped more than 14 percent year over year in December, climbing to $1,877, according to data from Redfin.

Ironically, even those huge CEO bonuses may not be enough to overcome inflation. Goldman chief Solomon’s compensation was just six percent above 2019. Gorman’s was seven percent above last year. Dimon, although he received slightly less than his rivals, got a bigger lift, seeing his compensation rise 9.5 percent.

In January, consumer sentiment tanked to the lowest level in a decade. Seventy-five percent of Americans said Biden’s economy was “not so good” or “poor,” according to an ABC News/Ipsos poll released Sunday. No poll data on Wall Street executives’ opinions of the economy were available.

Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter and Gettr @WendellHusebø

ADP Says Private Sector Jobs Fell By 301,000 in January

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

JOHN CARNEY

2 Feb 20220

2:11

Omicron has taken a much bigger bite 0ut of the labor market than expected, data from payroll processing firm ADP indicated Wednesday.

The number of workers on private payrolls fell by 301,000  in January, falling far short of expectations for growth of 225,000 jobs.

This was the first decline in payrolls reported by ADP since 2020.

The leisure and hospitality sector shed 154,000 jobs. Trade, transportation, and utilities dropped 62,000 workers. Other services saw payrolls decline by 23,000. Health and education jobs fell by 15,000. Information technology jobs fell by 8,000 and financial services sank by 9,000.

Manufacturers cut 21,000 positions. Construction declined by 10,000. Mining and natural resources added 4,000.

All told, the services sector’s payrolls fell by 274,000 and the goods-producing sector’s payrolls dropped by 27,000.

The Department of Labor will report the official count for January jobs on Friday. It is expected to show that jobs grew by around 170,000 but that may be an underestimate of the impact of omicron.

The ADP jobs report traditionally was seen as a preview of the government employment statistics typically released two days later. Through much of the pandemic, however, the ADP report was a highly unreliable predictor of the official employment figures, although its defenders say it was not bad compared with other forecasts. In December, for example, the ADP report showed private employers adding 800,000 jobs and the official statistics showed 211,000 private-sector jobs and 199,000 total jobs added. On Wednesday, ADP revised down its estimate for December to 776,000.

Poll: Majority Say Biden Will Be Remembered as ‘One of the Worst Presidents’ in American History

SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty

HANNAH BLEAU

2 Feb 20220

2:28

Most voters say President Joe Biden will be remember as “one of the worst presidents” in U.S. history, a Rasmussen Reports survey released Wednesday revealed.

The survey asked respondents, “Will President Joe Biden be  remembered as one of the best presidents or one of the worst presidents in  American history?”

A majority, 54 percent, said he will be remembered as one of the worst presidents, followed by a quarter who said his presidency is “about average” and 15 percent who said he will be remembered as “one of the best presidents.” Biden could not even garner a majority of Democrats to deem him “one of the best presidents,” as a plurality in that group, 39 percent, said his presidency is “about average.”

Over a quarter of Democrats say he is “one of the worst presidents,” followed by 27 percent who said he will be remembered as “one of the best.” Independents side with a majority of Republicans (74 percent), as 62 percent agree he will be remembered as “one of the worst presidents.” 

A screen reads “Joe Biden is a total failure” during a “Save America” rally with former U.S. President Donald Trump in Conroe, Texas on January 29, 2022. (MARK FELIX/AFP /AFP via Getty Images)

It coincides with Biden’s latest job approval rating, which currently stands at 39 percent, while 59 percent disapprove. According to Rasmussen Reports, Biden’s 39 percent approval rating is ten points lower than the 49 percent Trump saw at the same point in his presidency, on February 2, 2018.

Similarly, a Wednesday Morning Consult/Politico poll also showed just 39 percent approving of Biden. Of those, 17 percent approve “strongly.”

As Breitbart News reported:

Respondents also gave Biden poor marks for handling the Chinese virus. Seventeen percent said Biden’s management of the pandemic was excellent, and 40 percent said he had handled it poorly.

In November, 21 percent said Biden management of the coronavirus was excellent. Forty percent said it was handled poorly.

Democrats were also less trusted to improve the economy. Thirty-seven percent of voters trust Democrats to end 40 year-high inflation, while 47 percent of voters trusted Republicans to fix the economy.

The Rasmussen Reports survey, taken January 30-31, 2022, among 1,000 likely voters, has a margin of error of +/- 3 percent.

House Republicans Seek to Bankrupt Corporate-Funded NGOs Aiding Biden’s ‘Mass Invasion’

Anna Moneymaker/John Moore/Getty Images

JOHN BINDER

2 Feb 20220

2:52

House Republicans, led by Rep. Lance Gooden (R-TX), have issued a plan that seeks to bankrupt non-governmental organizations (NGOs) — often funded by corporations — who facilitate illegal immigration into the United States.

On Wednesday, Gooden filed the “Stop Federal Funding for Human Trafficking and Smuggling Act” that would ban federal contracts and grants from going to NGOs unless they can prove that they are not involved in human trafficking and illegal alien smuggling.

Should an NGO be found to have trafficked or smuggled border crossers and illegal aliens into the U.S. interior, the federal government would be required to revoke their 501(c)3 tax-exempt status.

“The Biden Administration is working with non-profits, U.S. corporations, and international agencies to operate an illegal immigration network that spans from South America to every community in the United States,” Gooden said in a statement.

“Taxpayer dollars should not be subsidizing a mass invasion of our country and it is time to put a stop to this corrupt operation,” he continued.

The legislation comes as a network of corporate-funded NGOs and private contractors working with President Joe Biden’s administration funnel hundreds of thousands of border crossers and illegal aliens into the U.S. interior via commercial and charter flights and bus services.

Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) president Dan Stein said a number of NGOs “have profited off of exploiting our immigration laws for too long” and that it was “long past time to hold them accountable.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has issued an executive order to prevent state licenses from going to NGOs and private contractors who facilitate illegal immigration to the state. In addition, DeSantis has laid out six legislative proposals to blacklist companies working with the Biden administration to resettle illegal aliens across Florida.

Former Rep. Lou Barletta (R-PA), running for governor in Pennsylvania, has vowed to take similar action to ensure that NGOs and private contractors are not doing business with the state while aiding in illegal immigration.

Most recently, video footage showed private contractor MVM, Inc. helping fly and bus border crossers and illegal aliens to New York suburbs. As Breitbart News noted, top MVM, Inc. executives — who scored a $136 million federal contract from Biden — have donated tens of thousands of dollars to Democrats including Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Bob Menendez (D-NJ).

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here. 

Rep. Biggs: Congress Must Defund Biden’s Taxpayer-Funded ‘Legal Services’ for Illegal Aliens

John Moore/Getty Images

JOHN BINDER

2 Feb 20220

4:02

Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) is warning congressional appropriators that they must defund President Joe Biden’s taxpayer-funded “legal services” for illegal aliens.

Last month, as Breitbart News reported, details circulated of Biden’s expanded legal services for border crossers and illegal aliens — an effort to help them remain in the United States by evading deportation.

Known as Legal Access at the Border (LAB), the program would spend millions in American taxpayer dollars to contract with private legal firms that would then provide border crossers and illegal aliens with a range of services after they arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border in California, Texas, and Arizona.

“American taxpayers should not be paying for illegal aliens to be given free legal aid services,” Biggs said. “This action would only further incentivize immigrants to cross our borders illegally.”

In a letter to House appropriators — including Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Kay Granger (R-TX), Matt Cartwright (D-PA), Robert Aderholt (R-AL), Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA), and Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN) — Biggs and 24 House Republicans urged them to ensure that no taxpayer money is spent on legal services for border crossers and illegal aliens.

“Taxpayer dollars should not be spent to help illegal aliens exploit loopholes in immigration law and remain in the United States. We request that you strongly oppose funding for programs to provide legal aid to illegal aliens in all future appropriations bills,” the Republicans write:

The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR)’s recently announced Legal Access at the Border program is simply the latest initiative by the Biden administration that will encourage illegal immigration. Instead of spending money on this program, Congress should prioritize appropriations for apprehending, prosecuting, and removing illegal aliens from the United States as well as addressing the existing caseload of over 1.6 million pending immigration cases. [Emphasis added]

… it appears the program is intended to help illegal aliens exploit loopholes in immigration laws to allow aliens to remain in the United States. This could include encouraging them to file potentially meritless — or worse, fraudulent — asylum claims. [Emphasis added]

LAB, the Republicans write, is a maneuver by the Biden administration “to circumvent the statutory prohibition on the use of taxpayer funds for attorneys for [illegal] aliens” who are in deportation proceedings.

Biggs told Breitbart News in a statement that the Biden administration “has committed impeachable offenses” with its so-called “sanctuary country” orders that prevent federal immigration officials from arresting.

“Instead of spending taxpayer dollars to provide legal aid to illegal aliens, Biden should prioritize enforcing our nation’s laws, securing our border, and addressing the backlog of more than 1.6 million cases pending before the immigration courts,” Biggs said.

Biden’s goal envisions “European-style reception centers” where border crossers and illegal aliens are immediately met with medical services, legal advice, and educational programs.

Already, illegal aliens are being provided with taxpayer-funded attorneys in major American cities to fight their deportations from the U.S.

Last month, Breitbart News exclusively reported how an Immigration and Reform Law Institute (IRLI) investigation revealed that taxpayers in 22 cities with deportation defense programs will be charged at least $5.2 million to provide illegal aliens with free lawyers in Fiscal Year 2022.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here. 

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Mostly Venezuelan Migrant Families Continue Crossing West Texas Border

Bob Price / Breitbart Texas

0 seconds of 1 minute, 47 secondsVolume 90%

BOB PRICE

2 Feb 20220

3:26

EAGLE PASS, Texas — Migrant groups continue to cross the border in what is now the busiest sector in the nation. Approximately 50 crossed during a period of about two hours on Tuesday.

Following a tour of the border with members of the Texas National Guard operating under Operation Lone Star, Breitbart Texas observed small groups crossing from Piedras Negras into Eagle Pass. The groups consisted mostly of Venezuelans. Some were very young children.

Texas National Guardsmen assist Border Patrol with a migrant family who illegally crossed the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass, Texas. (Bob Price/Breitbart Texas)

As Breitbart Texas arrived at the area where Border Patrol agents launch river patrol boats, two Border Patrol vans loaded with migrants left the area. Other agents and service members of the Texas National Guard remained to apprehend and process other migrants.

A short time later, two more small groups of migrants crossed the border in plain view of Breitbart’s camera and Border Patrol agents. The first group of what appeared to be single adult males told agents they were from El Salvador.

A migrant couple crosses the Rio Grande from Piedras Negras to Eagle Pass. (Bob Price/Breitbart Texas)

Within minutes, another group crossed — this time a man and a woman from Honduras. The agents processed the group and loaded them onto a truck for transport to the Eagle Pass Border Patrol Station, leaving no one manning the crossing point.

A few hundred yards upstream, Breitbart observed Border Patrol agents and a security detail of Texas National Guardsmen with two migrant family groups. One included a girl under the age of five and a boy who appeared to be between eight and ten years old.

Texas National Guard soldiers detain two migrant family groups until Border Patrol agents arrive to process them. (Bob Price/Breitbart Texas)

Another single adult migrant crossed at the original crossing point at the boat ramp. The migrant first attempted to surrender to Breitbart, but two National Guard soldiers arrived and took the migrant into custody.

Texas National Guardsmen apprehend a migrant after he illegally crossed the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, Texas, under Operation Lone Star. (Bob Price/Breitbart Texas)

Breitbart video captured human a human smuggling vehicle on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande delivering another migrant family to the riverbank. The family immediately entered the water and followed another group who began crossing moments before their arrival.

A migrant family is dropped off near the Rio Grande riverbank in Piedras Negras shortly before they crossed into Texas. (Bob Price/Breitbart Texas)

By the time two hours passed, Border Patrol agents and National Guardsmen took approximately 50 migrants into custody.

A few hours later, Breitbart spoke with some of the soldiers. One described the afternoon as a “slow day.” The soldier has been working the border mission since November 2021 and said he witnessed busy days where hundreds crossed.

A group of Texas National Guardsmen stand watch at a security checkpoint in Eagle Pass, Texas. (Bob Price/Breitbart Texas)

Del Rio took the lead in January as the busiest of the nine southwest border sectors. Agents apprehended an estimated 31,000 migrants during January, according to a source operating under the umbrella of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. This was down slightly from January when Del Rio agents apprehended about 33,000 migrants.

Rio Grande Valley Sector agents, normally the busiest in the nation, apprehended slightly less than the Del Rio Sector in January. These agents apprehended just over 30,000 migrants.

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.

 Randy Clark contributed to this report.