Democratic Donor Who Won Plum Biden Appointment Purchased Hunter Biden's Paintings: Report
Other patrons include Kevin Morris, the Los Angeles attorney who lent Hunter Biden millions to pay child support
The White House once said it would install "reasonable safeguards" to ensure that the sale of Hunter Biden's artwork to ensure buyers would not have any "influence" over the president. A new report challenges the truthfulness of those comments.
Not only do the Bidens know at least two of the individuals who purchased some of Hunter’s paintings, but one of them, Elizabeth Hirsh Naftali, was appointed to a glamorous federal commission not long after buying the first son’s art, Business Insider reports. The other buyer is Kevin Morris, the Los Angeles attorney who has reportedly lent Hunter at least $2 million for his back taxes, child support, and living expenses for his lavish home in Los Angeles. The New York Times reported that Morris, who is open about owning the art, received several paintings as a gift.
President Joe Biden appointed Naftali, a Los Angeles-based real estate investor, to the Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad—a federal agency that oversees the preservation of European historical sites—in July 2022. Her appointment came just nine months after Hunter Biden’s first art show. Naftali has donated at least $13,414 to President Joe Biden’s campaign, and another $29,700 to the Democratic National Committee this year. She previously hosted a fundraiser that included Vice President Kamala Harris in 2022.
The Insider report is certain to raise a litany of ethics questions for the president. Although the timing of Naftali’s purchase is unknown, Hunter has suggested he’s played a hand in appointments to the Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad.
In March 2015, Hunter Biden’s cousin, Missy Owens, inquired about whether her mother could receive a presidential appointment, emails from a copy of his laptop show.
"I didn’t know she wanted to do that me [sic] of these. Eric asked for one of these the day after the election in 2008," Hunter wrote back. "You know better than me what are real and interesting appointments. Let’s go through the list with Steve and see what makes sense. I don’t know how much 2016 and nepotism plays into it."
The "Eric" in that email appears to be Hunter Biden’s longtime business associate Eric Schwerin, who was appointed to the commission in 2015. President Biden has denied any speaking to his son about "his overseas business dealings," although the White House since changed its message to the president "was never in business with his son."
Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki dismissed ethics concerns about Hunter’s art career in July 2021, and said that "any offer out of the normal course would be rejected out of hand."
Hunter Biden has sold at least $1.3 million worth of his artwork, according to documents obtained by Insider. One anonymous buyer bought 11 pieces for nearly $900,000. That buyer’s identity is unknown at this time.
"Hunter Biden is a private citizen who is entitled to have his own career as an artist," White House spokesman Ian Sams told Business Insider. "We are not involved in his art sales, and any buyers of his art are not disclosed to the White House."
Pay to Play? The buyers of Hunter Biden's 'masterpieces' roll out
Well, it happened.
The buyers of Hunter Biden's art "masterpieces," whose prices commanded would pin him for a boy-wonder art genius, have gotten out.
And it's not a pretty picture. Who's buying the Hunters?
According to the Daily Mail:
Hunter Biden's artwork has brought in $1.3 million dollars, and it has been revealed that a top Democratic donor and Biden family friend who President Biden named to a prestigious commission was one of the top purchasers.Despite a promise that all purchasers' identities would be kept a secret, two names have been revealed: Los Angeles-based real estate investor and Democratic donor Elizabeth Hirsch Naftali and Hollywood attorney Kevin Morris.
Wow. So both are closely linked to Democrat politics, with one of them, Naftali, getting herself appointed to a Biden art commission and the other serving as Hunter Biden's lawyer, fixer, and bailout man for Hunter Biden's back taxes. He was last seen in public huffing a bong in Malibu.
It kind of contradicts what the White House said the Hunter painting sales operation would be:
When Hunter Biden first announced he would make a high-dollar foray into the art world, the Biden team promised the identities of those who purchased Hunter's art would remain anonymous. On the campaign trail, Joe Biden promised an 'absolute wall' between his duties as president and his family's business dealings.
The White House said at the time the buyers had been vetted and their identity was only known to the gallery - suggesting Hunter's latest business venture would not become a way to sell White House influence.
The latest revelations from Congress about Biden's involvement in Hunter's business dealings pretty well puts paid to that claim about some kind of wall on Hunter's business dealings, while 60 Minutes's adoring 2021 profile of Hunter as the art world's hot new sensation now looks skeezy.
The art world itself and its major critics have basically called bee ess on the idea of these Hunter paintings being masterpieces.
The names of these buyers should have been revealed right from the beginning. According to the report, Hunter knew who they were and would have been at least theoretically in a position to respond to whatever it was they might have wanted in return for the purchases as a result. And if Hunter knew, you can bet others in the White House knew, too. The only people these buyers were being concealed from were the voters, who might just judge for themselves whether this was a pay-to-play operation.
These are far from the only buyers of Hunter's newfound talent as a creator of art at masterpiece prices, but they are indicative of what seems to be going on.
Where are the leaked out names of actual art collectors on this list, the kind of people who normally pay these kinds of prices for art on its merit to go into their collections that journalists write about and that the public wants to see? So far, we don't see any of those leaked out.
All we see now are just see a couple of politically connected characters who might have reasons other than a quest for the greatest art for their collections for their purchases. Morris's purchase, for instance, could probably go a ways towards repaying Hunter's debt to him for paying his taxes. Money in, money out.
As for the art commission appointment Naftali got, it's unknown whether the appointment was made before or after the purchase, according to the report, but that could still be pay-for-play either way -- either as a means of getting influence, or as a thank you purchase. The story says it was an unpaid appointment, but well, let's just say these commissions wield a lot of power and prestige for things art collectors care about. There's a reason the art world denizens angle to get on them.
It all suggests that the Biden way of doing business is carrying on the way it always carries on. There appears to be an art-selling operation that is targeted towards buyers for influence and the Bidens appear to be benefiting. As if there weren't enough things to investigate, this looks investigate-able, too. It's just so blatant, and carries so much potential for influence-peddling and conflicts of interest that it seems like an open ad for it. At a minimum, it's time to release the names of all the art buyers and find out if they had gotten political benefits a lot bigger than the benefits of Hunter's whiz-kid "talent."
Image: Screen shot from Fox News video, via YouTube
Hunter Biden’s Best Friend Testified Before Grand Jury About the Biden Family, Lawyer Says
Hunter Biden associate Devon Archer has testified before a federal grand jury regarding the Biden family and plans to be interviewed by the House Oversight Committee next week, his attorney said Monday.
Matthew Schwartz, who represents Archer, told the Washington Free Beacon that Archer has met with numerous investigators regarding the Biden family.
"Devon Archer believes strongly in the rule of law and the democratic system, and is prepared to answer the Committee’s questions just as he has already answered similar questions from a federal grand jury, the Department of Justice, and several other government agencies in their investigations concerning the Biden family," Schwartz said.
According to the New York Post, Archer plans to tell the Oversight panel that he was with Hunter Biden on more than two dozen occasions when the embattled first son called his father during meetings with foreign business partners. The Post reported Archer will testify that Hunter Biden called his father on speakerphone during one meeting they had in December 2015 with the owner of Burisma Holdings, the Ukrainian energy company that paid Hunter Biden and Archer more than $80,000 a month.
The report marks a major development in the Biden family saga. The president has repeatedly denied ever speaking with his son about his foreign business ventures. The report also comes after Republicans released an FBI report that shows a confidential source told the FBI in 2020 that Burisma owner Mykola Zlochevsky claims he paid $10 million in bribes to Hunter and Joe Biden for political favors.
Schwartz did not comment on the Post report, but said Archer will testify before the Oversight panel next week.
"There have been many leaks and much speculation about Mr. Archer’s potential statement to the Oversight Committee, but next week, Mr. Archer will get to speak for himself."
Hunter Biden and Archer were partners at the investment firm Rosemont Seneca until Archer’s indictment on federal fraud charges in 2016.
It is unclear whether Archer spoke to the federal grand jury or prosecutors about Hunter Biden’s phone calls to Joe Biden. The U.S. attorney’s office in Delaware reached a plea agreement with Hunter Biden last month on misdemeanor tax charges. He also pleaded guilty to a felony gun charge, but will enter a diversionary program to wipe that charge from his record.
Two IRS whistleblowers have accused the Justice Department of pulling punches in the Hunter Biden investigation. IRS agents Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler testified last week that federal prosecutors who handled the investigation initially sought felony taxes charges against Hunter Biden, including for Hunter Biden’s failure to report income from Burisma. But the IRS investigators said the Justice Department ultimately settled for misdemeanor counts.
Shapley and Ziegler said prosecutors prohibited investigators from asking questions about Joe Biden and other members of his family.
Published under: Burisma , FBI , Feature , Hunter Biden , Joe Biden , Justice Department , Ukraine
Report: Biden's Aides Prepped Him for Reporters' Questions About Shunning His Granddaughter. But Nobody Asked.
President Joe Biden’s staff were reportedly expecting questions from the press about his estranged granddaughter during a recent visit to Helsinki, Finland, according to the Messenger. However, reporters were mum on the topic.
While the president continues to insist that he only has six grandchildren, pressure has been mounting on the president to acknowledge his seventh granddaughter, Navy Joan. Joan was born after Hunter Biden, the president's son, had a sexual encounter with a stripper, Lunden Alexis Roberts. Conservatives, and even some progressives, have criticized Biden for shunning the young girl. In light of these concerns, Biden’s aides prepped questions that help portray the commander in chief as "empathetic and human," the Messenger reported, though the media appear to have let the president off the hook, leaving the topic untouched.
Biden’s relationship with the media has differed from that of his predecessor, Donald Trump. News organizations, for instance, have provided lists of questions to the president in advance of press briefings, which some commentators have called a "cheat sheet." Additionally, CNN’s presidential fact checker, who intensely scrutinized Trump during his tenure, appears to be less eager to hold the new administration accountable, with fact checks of Biden being far more sparse despite there being ample material.
Biden’s lack of warmth toward his granddaughter is reportedly due to the president’s desire to appease his son, who had been involved in a protracted legal battle with the girl’s mother.
Hunter Biden’s philandering isn’t the only thing causing public image problems for his father. Congressional investigations have been dredging up evidence that increasingly points toward the elder Biden having knowledge of his son’s shady foreign business dealings, which the president had previously denied.
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