The Issue That Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden Share Regarding Donors
Source: AP Photo/Matt Slocum
So, who gives to Joe Biden’s policy institute? The truth is we don’t know, and we won’t for a while. We may not know at all. The Biden Institute said they’re not disclosing anything when the former vice president assumes the presidency on January 20. This sounds eerily familiar with a certain former first lady and secretary of state who tried to run in 2016. You know that slush fund, I mean the charitable foundation that bears her name. Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden share a common issue regarding transparency over their networks (via Free Beacon):
The Biden Institute, a policy research center founded by Joe Biden at the University of Delaware, has no plans to disclose its donors after the president-elect takes office, Politico reported on Monday.
Legal experts and watchdog groups said the lack of transparency could create an ethical dilemma for Biden, particularly if he keeps his name on the institute and it continues to fundraise while he’s in the White House.
"They should at the very least disclose their donors, and I think the Biden family should at the very least take their name off if they’re going to continue to raise money," former George W. Bush administration chief ethics lawyer Richard Painter told Politico.
The Biden Institute, which had many of Biden’s incoming administration staffers on its payroll, is part of a network of foundations and policy centers that he established after his vice presidency.
The institute is currently in the middle of a large fundraising push to raise $20 million that is expected to continue well into Biden’s presidency.
Oh, Richard Painter, the former Bush ethics lawyer and favorite anti-Trump GOP guest on the liberal media circuit, is back. Actually, I think he’s a Democrat now but who are you kidding man? Biden’s won the election. The media throughout 2020 didn’t ask him real questions. When they did, he ignored them. He’s going to drag his feet for as long as possible in the hopes that the media moves on, which they probably will because that’s what they do. They protect Democratic presidencies, especially one as frail as this one.
In 2016, the Clinton Foundation was under immense scrutiny for its position on donor disclosure, but Hillary was still running. She already had the reputation of being secretive, playing politics all the time, and thinking she lived by a separate set of rules. She was unlikable. And as it is with Biden, there are ethical concerns, especially when super-rich folks dump money into your foundation which leads to some event benefitting the parties who offered the cash.
Columbia is a prime example. Hillary was against the Columbia Free Trade Agreement until Frank Giustra of Pacific Rubiales, an oil company, cut some checks to the Clinton Foundation. In fact, it was later discovered that over 1,100 foreign donations. There’s a reason why many saw the foundation as a favor bank for the wealthy and well-connected. Drop some money and call in the favor later. That’s the Clinton way. Will that be the same with Joe Biden? As we saw with Hunter Biden’s emails during the 2020 election, Joe isn’t squeaky clean. He’s involved in the access deals his son makes with government officials. He even appears to have intervened to protect those interests beneficial to only his family at the expense of American foreign policy initiatives. You saw that when he asked for a Ukrainian prosecutor to be fired, withholding aid money unless that occurred. It did. The prosecutor was looking into Burisma, an energy company, on corruption charges. His son Hunter was there making $50,000/month as a board member starting in 2014 but was reportedly there selling access to top Obama officials. With regards to China, that deal was hashed out from the VP’s office. It fell through in 2017, but Tony Bobulinski corroborated the account, turned over all documents and devices relating to that pitch to CEFC China Energy, and was interviewed by the FBI. To no one’s shock, CEFC has ties to the nation’s authoritarian government. Get paid first and then ask questions later appears to be the Biden family ethos. It’s not so different from the Clinton model.
Bill Barr finally quit after telling Donald Trump his claims of election fraud dreamed up by 'clownish' legal team were 'bulls**t'
- Axios reported on the fallout between President Donald Trump and Attorney General Bill Barr, who resigned from the top DOJ post before Christmas
- During a December 1 White House meeting, Barr called Trump's allegations of widespread voter fraud 'bulls**t'
- The attorney general also called the legal team Trump was assembling 'clownish'
- Barr made these comments to the president in December after the relationship had been fraying for months
- Trump and Barr's fallout began when Barr pushed back on the president's desire to send troop to cities like Portland to break up Black Lives Matter protests
- Barr described their conversations like the movie 'Groundhog Day,' as the same argument happened over and over again
Former Attorney General Bill Barr told President Donald Trump in December that his widespread voter fraud claims were 'bulls**t' and the legal team he was assembling was 'clownish.'
Axios reported Monday on the fallout between Trump and Barr, who resigned from his perch at the Justice Department on December 23.
The relationship began to fray over the summer when the president wanted to use military force against Black Lives Matter demonstrators in cities like Portland, an inclination Barr pushed back on.
Barr, according to Axios' reporting, thought Trump's ideas were too aggressive and likened their conversations to the movie 'Groundhog Day,' as the same arguments happened over and over again.
Trump would throw tantrums when Barr questioned what he would do with troops in major U.S. cities.
Attorney General Bill Barr told President Donald Trump that his widespread election fraud claims were 'bulls**t' and said Trump's team of lawyers were 'clownish'
Who could he mean? Bill Barr delivered the 'clownish verdict' after Rudy Giuliani's public meltdown as the 'elite strike force' legal team was revealed. The other two were Sidney Powell, shortly afterwards removed from the team, and Jenna Ellis, who had no election litigation experience. They lost more than 60 cases which they brought and recorded one minor win
Also on board: Sidney Powell was part of Trump's legal team briefly and remained deeply involved in trying to overturn the election result, along with Lin Wood (right) who was later to demand Mike Pence's execution
Barr pointed out that the troops could be stranded in Portland and other cities indefinitely.
'No one supports me,' Trump yelled at one point. 'No one gives me any f***ing support.'
Axios said that Barr acted like a 'heat shield' between the president and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley and Defense Secretary Mark Esper.
Milley and Esper, like Barr, believed deploying troops to Portland was a bad idea.
After a summer of fighting, Barr tried to avoid Trump through the fall.
And the attorney general was largely successful because the president was on the campaign trail so much.
But after the November 3 election, Trump needed Barr to push his election fraud narrative.
Barr had asked the DOJ to speed up federal investigations of election fraud allegations, but that wasn't enough for Trump - as the evidence investigators sought didn't exist.
On November 29, Trump called Barr's DOJ 'missing in action' on Fox News Channel.
The messaging infuriated Barr, Axios reported.
In turn, Barr gave an interview to an Associated Press reporter, Michael Balsamo, where he said publicly there was no widespread election fraud.
Barr knew the story could go live as he was going into a White House meeting on December 1.
And Trump did confront him over the AP headline: 'Disputing Trump, Barrs says no widespread election fraud.'
'Why would you say such a thing? You must hate Trump. There's no other reason for it. You must hate Trump,' the president responded, speaking in the third person, Axios reported.
Send in the troops: Donald Trump repeatedly demanded that Bill Barr allow the military to deploy to Portland as the two men's relationship went into a tailspin
Barr responded that, 'these things aren't panning out.'
'The stuff that these people are filling your ear with just isn't true,' he said, according to Axios.
Barr explained that the DOJ had looked into these fraud allegations that Trump's lawyers like Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell were peddling.
'It's just bulls**t,' Barr said.
'I'm a pretty informed legal observer and I can't fucking figure out what the theory is here,' Barr continued. 'It's just scattershot. It's all over the hill and gone.'
Trump responded with a, 'maybe.'
Barr quit before Christmas because he didn't want his private disagreements coming into public view, Axios said.
On December 14, Barr met with Trump and argued that it was best for him to step aside.
No comments:
Post a Comment