Former Vice President Joe Biden threatened Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) for launching an investigation into his activities with Ukraine while in the Obama White House, stating the Republican will “regret” the move his “whole life.”
On Thursday, Graham sent a
letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo requesting documents to aid in determining whether Biden pushed for the firing of Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin to squash a sweeping probe into Burisma Holdings, the Ukrainian energy giant where his son, Hunter Biden, served as a board member. The younger Biden was compensated generously, making up to
$83,000 a month for several years while on the Burisma’s board.
“Lindsey is about to go down in a way that I think he’s going to regret his whole life,” Biden told CNN host Don Lemon in a Friday interview in South Carolina. “I say Lindsey, I just — I’m just embarrassed by what you’re doing, for you. I mean, my Lord.”
“They have him under their thumb right now. They know he knows that if he comes out against Trump, he’s got a real tough road for reelection, number one,” the former vice president continued about the South Carolina senator.
Biden then said he is “angered” by the probe because of his long friendship with Graham dating back to their time together in the Senate and suggested President Trump may have pressured him to launch the probe.
“He knows me; he knows my son; he knows there’s nothing to this,” he vented. “Trump is now essentially holding power over him that even the Ukrainians wouldn’t yield to. The Ukrainians would not yield to, quote, ‘investigate Biden’ — there’s nothing to investigate about Biden or his son.”
The senator requested all documents and communications related to Joe Biden’s phone calls with Poroshenko on Feb. 11, 18 and 19, and March 22, 2016, citing media reports that they discussed previous demands to dismiss Shokin for alleged corruption before he was removed from office on March 29, 2016.
Graham also requested documents and communications between Joe Biden and his office and Poroshenko and his office between Feb. 2, 2016, when Burisma founder Mykola Zlochevsky’s home was raided and Shokin’s dismissal.
Graham is also seeking all documents and communications related to a meeting between Devon Archer, a business partner of Hunter Biden, and then-Secretary of State John Kerry on March 2, 2016.
Graham’s request comes after two weeks of public testimony on the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, which centers around a “whistleblower” complaint that Trump withheld military aid from Ukraine in an attempt to pressure newly elected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Burisma and the Bidens.
The UPI contributed to this report.
Federal
Lawsuit: Joe Biden’s Brother Accused of Defrauding Rural Healthcare Company
Christina Jamison/NBC
NewsWire
5 Aug 2019670
7:02
Former Vice President Joe Biden’s younger brother, James, is being
accused of defrauding a Tennessee rural healthcare company.
A
lawsuit filed in federal court late last month alleges James Biden, who has a
history of murky financial
dealings, and his associates deceived and defrauded two Tennessee
businessmen.
Michael Frey and his business
partner, Dr. Mohannad Azzam, brought the suit claiming James Biden and his
associates promised and failed to line up investors for their rural healthcare
enterprise. Instead, the suit alleges, James Biden urged the two men to borrow
$10 million from a hedge fund manager involved in the deal and then proceeded
to pass their idea off as his own to a conglomerate of Turkish investors.
“The
lawsuit takes direct aim at Biden, painting him as a con artist who uses his
ties to his brother — now a Democratic candidate for president — to lure his
victims,” the Knoxville News Sentinel reported .
According to documents filed with
the U.S. District Court, Frey and his wife developed a business model to take
over rural hospitals and retrofit them to not only offer traditional hospital
care, but also drug addiction and mental health treatment. After incorporating
the enterprise as Diverse Medical Management, they brought on Azzam, “who
contracted with nursing homes to provide medical care for seniors.”
The business model was lucrative
enough that by 2017, Frey and Azzam were actively pitching it to investors and
hospitals across the country. One investor particularly taken with the idea was
Americore Health, an operator of rural hospitals.
At
the behest of Americore CEO, Grant White , Frey and
Azzam were urgd to pitch their business plan to rural hospitals in Kentucky. It
was at one such meeting where the two men met James Biden, who identified
himself as a “principal” at Americore.
Not long after their initial
encounter, James Biden introduced the men to Michael Lewitt, a hedge fund
manager and well-known “credit strategist.” Around this time, Americore made
plans to buy Diverse Medical for the sum $7 million.
Despite the deal, Americore quickly
fell behind on its scheduled payments to Frey and Azzam. It was then that James
Biden and Lewitt, as detailed in the lawsuit, hatched a plan to oust White
and sell Americore along with Diverse Medical to a third company called the
Platinum Group.
Biden or Lewitt’s role within the
Platinum Group is unclear. The organization, which is little-known and has no
social media presence, is likely a holding company specifically set up for the
purchase of Americore.
Frey and Azzam appear to have been
uncomfortable with turn the deal took, especially the notion of removing White.
The men, though, went along with the plan after being told a payout was
“imminent.”
“They repeatedly assured (Frey) that
investment capital originating from and flowing through foreign entities was
not only certain, but was imminent,” documents filed by Frey and Azzam’s
attorney state.
James Biden is alleged to have put
the men at ease by playing up his political connections. The lawsuit
reads:
Biden promised (Frey’s) Intensive
Outpatient Model would play an integral role in health care policy at the
highest levels of the United States government.
Since the deal had evolved to
include the purchase of Americore, Frey and Azzam were encouraged to take a $10
million loan — part of which would came from Lewitt’s hedge fund — to expand
their business. Frey and Azzam claim the loan was taken with the understanding
it would be repaid by money brought in from new investors.
Throughout the entire process, the
suit states, James Biden was promising investment capital was forthcoming. As
more time elapsed and new investors failed to materialize, Frey and Azzam
became suspicious they were being set up. Those feelings only intensified when
James Biden inadvertently sent Frey a text message about their company meant
for someone else in November 2018.
“We can wrap a/c into Frey’s entity
further diluting them both in the process? After we take control of both.
Just a thought,” the purported text from James Biden reads, as included in the
lawsuit. “We must have complete control, too many moving pieces. Jim.”
When asked to explain, James Biden
demurred and requested more information on Diverse Medical and the range of
healthcare services offered. Even though they provided the information, Azzam
and Frey’s suspicions were only further heightened.
The final breakdown in the
relationship occurred when the men learned that Biden and Lewitt had left them
out of the picture when selling the deal in Turkey. Although, Azzam and Frey
knew their business model was being pitched to the “Qatar Investment
Authority in Turkey,” they were unaware the documents presented to investors by
James Biden and Lewitt were scrubbed clean of the Tennessee businessmen. The
lawsuit says:
On January 23, Platinum Group … and
Biden submitted a White Paper … outlining ‘Platinum Group Diverse Medical
Management (PGDMM)’s business model. What the investors were not told, however,
was that this white paper was drafted by (Frey and Azzam) and sent to Biden …
Platinum Group simply replaced all references to Plaintiffs with PGDMM, a
non-existent entity.
When Frey and Azzam attempted to
reassert control over their business, the lawsuit alleges that Lewitt demanded
repayment of the money his hedge fund loaned them.
It is unclear if the lawsuit will
progress or if James Biden and Lewitt will choose to settle given the
high-profile nature of the allegations and the impact they may pose to Joe
Biden’s presidential campaign.
This
is not the first time that James Biden’s business dealings have raised
eyebrows. As Breitbart News reported on Friday, the younger-Biden
received “unusually generous” bank loans to open a night club during the 1970s
while his brother sat on the Senate Banking Committee. The ample terms under
which the loans were issued drew attention and concerns about influence peddling
given James Biden’s lack of business experience and paltry net worth.
The
former vice president’s younger brother is not member of the Biden clan to come
under fire for leveraging political connections to secure lucrative business
deals recently. In Secret Empires: How the American Political Class Hides
Corruption and Enriches Family and Friends , Peter
Schweizer, a senior contributor at Breitbart News, revealed that in 2013
“Hunter Biden’s firm signed a billion-dollar deal with a subsidiary of the
Chinese government’s Bank of China just 10 days after Joe and Hunter Biden flew
to China aboard Air Force Two.”
Schweizer
also detailed how
Hunter Biden secured a seat on the board of Bohai Harvest RST (BHR), which
invested in a Chinese company that was indicted for engaging in a “nuclear
power conspiracy against the United States.”
“When
you have the motive of greed and when you don’t worry too much about ethics,
it’s very easy to come up with creative ways to enrich yourself, and one of
those is what we call ‘American princelings,” Schweizer told Breitbart News Tonight
'Middle class Joe' Biden
cashed in to the tune of $15 million after leaving vice presidency
Joe
Biden has released his tax returns as part of the Democrats' campaign to force
the release of President Trump's tax returns. Access to those
returns, with hundreds, probably thousands of pages each year, would enable
them to niggle-to-death every detail. It's an obvious trap intended
to distract and mire a president who has accomplished an astounding list of
achievements, starting with reversing the "new normal" of stagnation
that Obama assured us would require a "magic wand" to reverse.
But
it turns out that Biden has made himself and his wife, "Doctor Jill
Biden" (with a doctorate in education), into multimillionaires in just
over two years. Even NPR sees the problem for his image:
Former Vice President Joe Biden has referred to
himself as "middle class Joe" throughout his political career, and
used to regularly joke about being the "poorest person on Congress."
Those terms no longer apply.
Biden and his wife, Jill, have together earned
more than $15 million since Biden left office. That's according to tax returns
and other financial disclosure forms released by Biden's campaign on Tuesday.
The bulk of the Bidens' earnings come from book sales and paid speaking
engagements — two routine sources of income for former high-ranking public
officials.
I
don't know about you, but I prefer my rich politicians to have made their
money before
I
still don't think Biden will be the nominee. But if he does cop the
Dems' crown, the phoniness of his claims to be an ordinary guy will be
self-evident.
Of
Biden can be said what originally was said of the early missionaries who came
to Hawaii and bought up land: "They came to do good, and did very well,
indeed."
‘Middle
Class Joe’ Is Actually Multi-Millionaire Joe
Joseph Prezioso/AFP/Getty Images
9 Jul 2019911
4:39
Former Vice
President Joe Biden, who often pitches himself as “Middle Class Joe” on the campaign
trail, is a multi-millionaire, according to his most recent tax returns.
On Tuesday, Biden’s presidential
campaign released three years
worth of tax filings showing the Democrat frontrunner and his wife, Dr. Jill
Biden, earned more than $15.6 million since leaving the White House. The
majority of the couple’s income came from a book deal — estimated to be worth
$8 million — and lucrative speaking engagements.
In 2017, Biden’s first year out of
elective office since 1973, the couple earned more than $11 million . This was exponentially more than the $396,552 both reported making in 2016. The following year, the
couple’s annual income decreased slightly to $4. 58 million .
Biden’s political standing appears
to be the reason for the couple’s new found wealth. The returns show that Biden
earned $9.49 million in 2017 through CelticCapri Corp., a shell company named after
the couple’s Secret Service code names.
CelticCapri, which was incorporated in Delaware only days after Biden left office, serves as
the main vehicle for the former vice president’s public engagements. In 2018,
Biden was paid $2.73 million through the company for appearances and speeches
all across the country. In total, over the two year period, Biden made 49 speeches
with some generating honorariums upwards of $249,000.
Not to be outdone, Jill Biden also cashed in on her public
persona. The former second lady delivered 18 speeches between 2017 and 2018,
earning on average $36,000 per event. Giacoppa Corp., the former second lady’s
shell company named after her family’s original last name, reported paying her
more than $557,00 in 2017 and $506,000 in 2018 for such engagements.
Rounding out the couple’s income was Biden’s pension from the
U.S. Senate and the vice presidency which generated $241,00 in 2017 and more
than $190,000 in 2018. Biden also earned a six figure salary from the
University of Pennsylvania. The former vice president leads the
university’s Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington, D.C., a
position that paid more than $371,000 in 2017 and more than $405,000 in 2018.
The couple’s income for both 2017
and 2018 put them squarely within the top one one percent of economic
earners, a threshold set at $480,930 by the IRS. In fact, the
former vice president’s income was the largest of any of his fellow 2020
Democrats.
Biden’s ascension into the economic elite comes relatively
late in life. For the majority of his political career, Biden was one of
the poorest members of Congress. The couple’s income barely edged above
$300,000 until Biden’s first year in the vice president’s office, when he
became eligible to to receive social security and his governmental pension.
Despite waiting so long to break
into the one percent, the Bidens appear to have comfortably transitioned into
their new lifestyle. Last month, it was disclosed the couple now resides in a
11,750 square foot Georgian-style mansion overlooking the Potomac River in
McLean, Virginia. Biden rents the house, which once belonged to the
late-Secretary of State Alexander Haig, even though he owns two properties
within driving distance in his home state of Delaware. One of those is a
recently purchased $2.7 million vacation house on the Atlantic Ocean.
Some signs of the couple’s prior
lifestyle, however, appear to have remained in tact. The Washington Post reported on Tuesday, Biden’s charitable giving has only
slightly increased. According to the most recent tax returns released,
Biden gave 1.4 percent of his income to charity in 2016. The following
year, when the couple reported making 11 million, they donated just around
9.2 percent to charity. The percentage fell significantly in 2018 to six
percent, even though the couple earned more than $4.58 million.
Since signaling his intention to run for president, Biden has
sought to regain some of the working-class appeal that was exhibited in his
early career.
“I know I’m called Middle-Class Joe.
It’s not meant to be a compliment. It means I’m not sophisticated. But I know
what made this country what it is: ordinary people doing extraordinary things,”
the former vice president said last
year.
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