Saturday, August 5, 2023

ELON MUSK - THE DEMOCRAT PARTY IS CONTROLLED BY TRIAL LAWYERS - DUH!!!

  




“Protect and enrich.” This is a perfect encapsulation of the Clinton Foundation  (TWO GAMER LAWYERS) (WHAT ABOUT THE CHINA BIDEN PENN CENTER?)  and the Obama (TWO GAMER LAWYERS) book and television deals. Then there is the Biden family (FOUR GAMER LAWYERS - JOE, HUNTER, JAMES, FRANK) corruption, followed closely behind by similar abuses of power and office by the Warren (GAMER LAWYER) and Sanders families, as Peter Schweizer described in his recent book “Profiles in Corruption.” These names just scratch the surface of government corruption (ADD GAMER LAWYER KAMALA HARRIS AND HER LAWYER HUSBAND AND THE BANKSTERS’ RENT BOY, LAWYER CHUCK SCHUMER AND GEORGE SOROS’ RENT BOY GAMER LAWER TONY BLINKEN, GEORGE SOROS RENT BOY,AS WELL AS CON MAN ADAM SHIFF) AND HIS CORRUPTNESS BOB MENENDEZ STILL EVADING PRISON.

    BRIAN C JOONDEPH

 

Now, we are overstuffed with lawyers with that lawfare everywhere, disrupting our republic, not to mention, although less apocalyptic, endless television advertising from law firms encouraging us to sue somebody, justifiably or not, in an amazingly litigious society.


 

Are Too Many Lawyers Destroying America?

Media tents and television satellite trucks sit parked outside of the E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. District Court House in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 1, 2023. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

 

By Roger L. SimonCommentary

According to the World Population Review, the United States leads the world in the number of lawyers, with 1.26 million. Other studies put the number at more than 1.35 million.

The USA certainly doesn’t lead the world in population, coming in a distant third to India and China, both of which are close to 1.5 billion persons. We are at a relatively paltry 333 million, slightly ahead of Indonesia and Pakistan.

But lawyers, we’ve got! (For ironic comparison, almost three times the number of plumbers.)

Is this a good or a bad thing?

You would think for a country that trumpets, even defines itself by, the “rule of law,” it would be a good thing.

Not so fast.

Lately, considering what we have seen from the government and its nonstop political weaponization of what we once thought of as the law, it’s clear we now have too much of a formerly good thing: lawyers.

It’s like a beehive that’s reached critical mass, becoming so over-extended that the confused bees are stinging everything in sight.

They all have to have something to do, don’t they? Unfortunately, as we are now seeing, much of it is malign.

We all have a right to be disturbed by what’s become of the legal profession, as we were reminded by the statements from a congressman emerging from Devon Archer’s congressional testimony on July 31.

We were told with a straight face that Mr. Archer’s testimony that then-Vice President Joe Biden was on 20+ phone calls with his son Hunter and foreign businessmen “for the brand” was actually because Joe is a “family guy” who just had to talk to his boy as much as possible.

And then we have Donald Trump’s Aug. 1 indictment from the special counsel that reads like a brief advocating for an end to the freedom of speech.

When did this all start?

How did this happen?

How did it come to pass that our legal profession became so populous, too much of it on the seamy side, to that extent that “First kill the lawyers,” became one of Shakespeare’s most quoted phrases, even though it was a line from a character and in no way meant to express the Bard’s views?

Concurrently, why have we become a society dominated by what’s called “lawfare?” It’s non-stop.

(Apologies here to the fine lawyers I have known and worked with. They obviously exist.)

Although it began ages ago, I suspect much of the current surge was initiated when I attended college. That was the Vietnam War era and not many of us, protestors or not, wanted to serve. (I include myself in that regrettable decision.) Graduate school, because it provided a military exemption, became more popular than ever.

For those who had a passion—medicine, academic scholarship, scientific research, the arts, whatever—this made for a relatively simple choice.

The law, it was my observation, often became the default position for those that didn’t. Of course, a significant number had a passion for law and government as well, but others, many actually, went into it because it “kept their options open.” They could go into business, practice law, or even do something entirely different.

It was a form of “kicking the can down the road” with, importantly, the potential for serious financial remuneration at the end of it.

Now, we are overstuffed with lawyers with that lawfare everywhere, disrupting our republic, not to mention, although less apocalyptic, endless television advertising from law firms encouraging us to sue somebody, justifiably or not, in an amazingly litigious society.

I don’t find it surprising that a significant part of the voting public now seems to be steering away from leadership by lawyers.

On the Republican side, we obviously have the presidency of businessman Donald J. Trump and now the rapid rise of entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

In the Senate, no one has distinguished himself more during the so-called pandemic than Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), a medical doctor, in his many confrontations with Dr. Anthony Fauci.

This isn’t a new story. Some of our greatest presidents, from George Washington to Harry Truman, weren’t lawyers.

In fact, unlike medicine, the law isn’t that difficult for the intelligent layman to understand. You don’t have to have taken organic chemistry. It’s not surprising that only four states (California, Virginia, Vermont, and Washington) allow you to take the bar exam without having attended law school. For the others, it’s basically a closed shop.

Can you imagine how many lawyers there would be if anyone could take a four-week bar review course and become an attorney?

Some have made the choice not to do it.

Wikipedia has this to say about the man who is generally acknowledged as the mind behind our constitutional republic.:

“[James] Madison saw himself as a law student but not a lawyer; he did not apprentice himself to a lawyer and never joined the bar. Following the Revolutionary War, Madison spent time in Montpelier in Virginia studying ancient democracies of the world in preparation for the Constitutional Convention.”

Time well spent, I’d say.

But none of my argument that we are infested with lawyers to our detriment is to say that if I were in trouble—if the FBI were at my door, for example—I wouldn’t be “lawyered up” in an instant.

The old saw still very much applies: “A man who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client.” Especially now.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

 

White House asks Cabinet agencies to ‘aggressively execute’ return to in-person work - BUT NOT 7 MILLION ILLEGALS MAYORKAS HAS NAVIGATED OVER THE BORDER AND INTO OUR JOBS

  CUT AND PASTE YOUTUBE LINKS

Robert Kennedy Jr: Power, Corruption, Freedom, & The Chronic Disease Epidemic Within America

  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI9Kg2naNfs

  

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Addresses Border Crisis and Releases ‘Midnight at the Border'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXlun2EYFvk

 

 

White House asks Cabinet agencies to ‘aggressively execute’ return to in-person work

Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

The White House is directing Cabinet agencies to bring federal workers back into the office more frequently in the coming months, according to an internal email obtained by CNN.

The email, sent to Cabinet secretaries by White House chief of staff Jeff Zients, cites the end of the Covid-19 public health emergency and the benefit of increased productivity from in-person work.

“This is a priority of the President – and I am looking to each of you to aggressively execute this shift in September and October,” the email reads.

The directive was first reported by Axios.

Ahead of the expiration of the public health emergency on May 11, the Biden administration issued guidance saying that the federal workforce needed to “substantially” increase in-person work. The White House Office of Management and Budget’s April guidance called on each department – which set their own work requirements for employees – to design and implement its own plans to promote more in-office work but stopped short of calling for any specific requirement.

House Republicans have taken aim at federal teleworking policy, passing the SHOW UP Act that would force agencies to reinstate pre-pandemic work policies.

Zients’ directive – which cites the White House’s in-person posture for the last two years – is the strongest indicator yet that the administration believes in-office attendance is critical for agencies to carry out its agenda, with a critical election around the corner.

Zients pointed to messages already delivered by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and USAID Administrator Samantha Power to their workforces underscoring the importance of in-person work.

CNN’s Betsy Klein and Kaanita Iyer contributed to this reporting.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com

IS JOE BIDEN BEDDING WITH RED CHINA GOOD FOR AMERICA? OR JUST GOOD FOR BRIBES SUCKER HUNTER? - Dem Rep. Krishnamoorthi on Alleged Leak of Secrets to China: DOD Has to Do More to Protect Secrets

 

Washington Post Gives Joe Biden ‘Four Pinocchios’ for Saying Hunter Never Made Money in China

Getty Images stock photo/studioKL, Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images, Breitbart News edit
Getty Images stock photo/studioKL, Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images, Breitbart News edit

The Washington Post‘s fact-checker, Glenn Kessler, gave President Joe Biden four Pinocchios for lying about his son Hunter Biden not making money in China.

Kessler documented two instances where Biden denied his son had made money in China.

In an October 22, 2020 presidential debate, Biden told moderator Kristen Welker: “My son has not made money in terms of this thing about, what are you talking about, China. I have not had … the only guy who made money from China is this guy [Donald Trump]. He’s the only one. Nobody else has made money from China.”

In a September 29, 2020, debate, Trump told Biden, “Once you became vice president [Hunter Biden] made a fortune in Ukraine, in China, in Moscow and various other places,” to which Biden responded, “That’s not true.”

Kessler wrote:

But now, nearly three years later, Biden’s assertions have been directly rebutted by Hunter himself. In court testimony last week, the younger Biden acknowledged that he in fact had been paid substantial sums in China — the first official confirmation that this was the case.

He added, “What is clear is that Hunter Biden did receive ‘a dollar from China.'”

Kessler noted that Hunter’s admission came “shortly before” lawmakers were due to interview his former business partner, Devon Archer.

Kessler also reviewed what he said were the “facts” about Hunter’s past business dealings in China.

He noted that Hunter flew on his father’s Air Force aircraft when the then-vice president was on an official trip to China in 2013, and that by Hunter’s own admission, he used the trip to connect with a Chinese business partner, and even introduced the partner to his father.

FI:LE – In this Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2013 file photo, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, left, waves as he walks out of Air Force Two with his granddaughter Finnegan Biden and son Hunter Biden at the airport in Beijing, China. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, Pool)

Kessler noted that 12 days after he was in China, Hunter joined the board of a just-formed investment advisory firm known as BHR (Bohai, Harvest and Rosemont), whose partners included Chinese entities, including the partner he introduced to his father.

The goal was to raise $1.5 billion, although they fell short of that, Kessler said. He wrote that Hunter later acquired a 10 percent interest in the entity overseeing the fund, but his lawyers claimed he divested of it after his father was elected president.

Kessler noted that after Biden left public office, Hunter in 2017 inked a deal with Chinese energy conglomerate CEFC China Energy, and that documents found on his laptop showed that over the course of 14 months, CEFC and its executives paid $4.8 million to entities controlled by Hunter Biden and Joe Biden’s brother, James.

Kessler also noted that a former Hunter business partner, Tony Bobulinski, said an email found on Hunter’s laptop about a proposed partnership agreement involving CEFC that said 10 percent would be “held by H for the big guy,” was a reference to Joe Biden.

“What wasn’t clear until now was how much money Hunter Biden personally received from these deals,” Kessler wrote.

Kessler wrote that last week, under questioning from U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika, Hunter acknowledged he earned nearly $2.4 million in 2017 and $2.2 million in 2018, ” most of which came from Chinese or Ukrainian interests.”

Under questioning, he acknowledged that in 2017 he earned just under a million dollars from a company he formed (Hudson West) with a CEO of a Chinese business conglomerate, and then latter he earned an additional $644,000 from CEFC later that year.

He also acknowledged he earned $500,000 in directors fees from Ukrainian natural gas and oil company Burisma, as well as $70,000 from Romanian business interests.

Hunter acknowledged that on March 22, 2018, he received a “million dollar payment” for legal fees for Patrick Ho, a CEFC official who was later charged in connection with a scheme to bribe African leaders.

Kessler also noted that both Democrats and Republicans acknowledged that Devon Archer testified behind closed doors that Hunter had put his father on speaker phone with business associates about “20 times over the course of a decade” — despite Biden saying he had “never spoken to” his son about his business dealings.

Devon Archer, Hunter Biden’s former business partner, arrives on Capitol Hill to give closed-door testimony to the House Oversight Committee in the Republican-led investigations into President Joe Biden’s son, in Washington, Monday, July 31, 2023. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Democrats and the White House claimed those instances did not amount to a “substantive” conversation.

A Biden aide told Kessler that at the time Biden made his false claims he was “addressing a barrage of false attacks by Donald Trump.”

Kessler conceded that Biden may have been sloppy in his phrasing, but concluded, “The fact remains that Biden, during the debate, denied his son had made money in China. In court last week, his son has said he earned hundreds of thousands of dollars from Chinese business deals.”

Follow Breitbart News’s Kristina Wong on TwitterTruth Social, or on Facebook. 

Dem Rep. Krishnamoorthi on Alleged Leak of Secrets to China: DOD Has to Do More to Protect Secrets 

On Friday’s broadcast of “CNN News Central,” Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) reacted to two Navy sailors being charged for sharing secret information with China by stating that “low-level folks in the military have access to too much classified or protected or sensitive information,” and the Department of Defense needs to do more to safeguard American secrets.

Krishnamoorthi stated that while he has a high degree of confidence that the U.S. can defend its interests in the Pacific, China is trying to get information about American operations in the Pacific, and it is “absolutely trying to get more of this information, and then, on the flip side, we have to do more to protect that information. And, quite frankly, I think it continues a pattern where I am concerned that low-level folks in the military have access to too much classified or protected or sensitive information, and that’s a separate issue that we have to tackle as well.”

He added, “I think they’re doing everything they can to target members of our military. They have 110,000 people in their equivalent of our CIA, which is called the Ministry of State Security, the MSS. And these people, around the world, are trying to go after targets, trying to recruit people like these individuals who were indicted recently. It’s a good thing that we uncovered this particular plot. But, going forward, obviously, we have to continue to be vigilant, because these folks, the CCP, are hell-bent on getting an information advantage on us.”

Co-host Boris Sanchez then asked, “Do you think the Pentagon is adequately protecting its secrets?”

Krishnamoorthi answered, “I think it could do more. I think it’s doing a decent job, but it needs to do more. What we know about the CCP is that roughly two-thirds of cyberattacks in the United States, just generally, come from the PRC. And, on top of that, they have recently been found to be planting malware in critical infrastructure related to military bases. I’m talking about power, water, and communications lines. They are, obviously, also trying to go after secrets within the Pentagon and at our federal contractors. And so, to that extent, we have to do a better job of promoting cybersecurity, not only at the Pentagon, but also in the private sector and making sure that those who are subject to attacks or victims of attacks are willing to share the information about it so we can all be protected.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett



THE BIDEN KLEPTOCRACY

American people deserve to know what China was up to with Joe Biden, especially when Beijing had already shelled out millions of dollars to Biden family members — including millions in set-asides for “the big guy.” What else is on that infamous Hunter Biden laptop? The conflicted Biden Justice Department cannot be trusted to engage in any meaningful oversight on this issue. We need a special counsel now.   

                                     TOM FITTON - JUDICIAL WATCH


5 People Referenced Joe Biden as the ‘Big Guy’

President Joe Biden following a bilateral meeting with Britain's Prime Minister on July 10, 2023, in London, England. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)
Leon Neal/Getty Images

Overwhelming evidence suggests the “big guy” is a monicker that represents President Joe Biden.

The monicker appears in an FBI informant form, text messages, and emails between Biden business associates. It also reportedly formed a part of the grand jury investigation into Hunter Biden, which IRS whistleblowers claim was politically influenced to protect the Bidens.

0 seconds of 16 secondsVolume 90%

When questioned if he is the identity behind the monicker, Joe Biden snapped: “Why do you ask such a dumb question?”

At least five individuals involved in the family business referenced Joe Biden as the ‘big guy.”

1) Mykola Zlochevsky

An FBI informant form publicly revealed Thursday shows Zlochevsky referred to Joe Biden as the “big guy.” Zlochevsky is the founder of Burisma Holdings. An FBI informant claimed in a FD-1023 form that Zlochevsky bribed Joe and Hunter Biden with $5 million each:

CHS mentioned Zlochevsky might have difficulty explaining suspicious wire transfers that may evidence any (Illicit) payments to the Bidens. Zlochevsky responded he did not send any funds directly to the “Big Guy” (which CHS understood was a reference to Joe Biden).

KIEV, UKRAINE - 2012/03/19: Ukrainian businessman and founder of the Burisma Holdings company, Mykola Zlochevsky during a media conference. On the evening of September 24, 2019, Democratic Speaker of the House from California, Nancy Pelosi announced that six committees of the House of Representatives would undertake a formal impeachment inquiry against President Trump. The impeachment inquiry has been initiated following a whistleblower complaint over allegedly dealings of US President Donald J. Trump with Ukraine. The whistleblower report claimed that President Trump had "pressured" Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky during a July 2019 phone call to launch investigations into the actions of former vice president and 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden and involvement of his son Hunter Biden in the Burisma Holdings Company. In 2014 Hunter Biden , the son of then-US vice president Joe Biden was appointed to the board of Burisma Holdings, as Wikipedia webpage reported. (Photo by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Ukrainian businessman and founder of the Burisma Holdings company, Mykola Zlochevsky during a media conference. (Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

2) Gary Shapley

IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley said the leadership of the DOJ’s criminal investigation of Hunter Biden for alleged tax and gun violations prevented subordinates from investigating the “big guy.”

The whistleblower told Republicans:

Among other things, we wanted to question Walker about an email that said: “Ten held by H for the big guy.” We had obvious questions like who was H, who the big guy was, and why this percentage was to be held separately with the association hidden. But AUSA Wolf interjected and said she did not want to ask about the big guy and stated she did not want to ask questions about “dad.” When multiple people in the room spoke up and objected that we had to ask, she responded, there’s no specific criminality to that line of questioning.

Whistleblowers - IRS Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley, left, and Joseph Ziegler, an IRS Agent with the criminal investigations division, are sworn in at a House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing with IRS whistleblowers, Wednesday, July 19, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

IRS Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley, left, and Joseph Ziegler, an IRS Agent with the criminal investigations division, are sworn in at a House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing with IRS whistleblowers on July 19, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

3) James Gilliar

Hunter Biden’s business partner, James Gilliardubbed Joe Biden ‘the big guy’ in a 2017 email. Gilliar used the monicker for Joe Biden in his May 13, 2017, email to whistleblower Tony Bobulinski, who confirmed “the big guy” was a reference to Joe Biden. The 2017 email revealed a business deal between Bobulinski, the Biden family, and high-ranking members of the Chinese Communist Party would include 10 percent “held by H for the big guy?”

Gilliar also called Joe Biden the “big guy” a second time on October 14, 2020, in an exchange with a panicked unnamed person, the New York Post reported:

Gilliar was asked if “Hunter and/or Joe or Joe’s campaign [would] try to make it ‘Oh, we were never involved’ … and try to basically make us collateral damage?”

“I don’t see how that would work for them…,” Gilliar responded in the 6:07 p.m. message reviewed by The Post.

“I think in the scenario that he wins they would just leave sleeping dogs lie,” Gilliar added. “If they lose, honestly, I don’t think that the Big Guy really cares about that because he’ll be too busy focusing on all the other s–t he is doing.”

4) Geoff Roger

An executive at wealth management company Glenmede Trust Company, Geoff Roger, used the monicker in an email to Hunter Biden about then-Vice President Joe Biden’s appearance at a dinner at Whitehall Neck Sportsman Club, a private club in Delaware in 2013.

Rogers wrote to the president’s son, “Hunt see below… I was not there but heard all about it. The big guy made them happy.”

5) Hunter Biden

Hunter Biden used the “big guy” monicker in a 2014 email to Chuck Harple, a trade union lobbyist, with whom Hunter Biden hoped to set a meeting between the head of the North American Building Trades Union and Joe Biden. The email came after not receiving a response after using an official channel.

I’ll work on it — but is there any issue I should know about before I go around everyone and straight to him?” Hunter questioned.

“What works best — for you and I — is for you to call [the union president] first. Say you talked to me and that you want to get all the facts before you talk to the big guy,” Harple replied.

Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.

Getting Biden Wrong

By Paul Gottfried

Okay, I get it! From listening to Republican TV and reading Republican publications, I have learned that Joe Biden is a sleazy, mendacious, and demented chief executive. He has weaponized the entire Justice Department and the IRS against his real and suspected political opponents, thrown open our southern border to drug cartels, and reduced our armed forces and international posture to shambles. Moreover, Joe has a gangster son with whom he has engaged in illegal business ventures; and it’s entirely possible that the cocaine recently found in the West Wing of the White House came from son Hunter, who is a drug addict as well as many other bad things. 

 Biden seems to be far and away the most incompetent, unprincipled, and verbally incoherent president of my lifetime, going back to the 1950s. It would be hard to think of any president who has disgraced his office to the same degree or who has unleashed more problems on this country. 


The Media Throw Hunter Biden Under the Bus To Save the 'Big Guy'

Devon Archer (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
August 1, 2023

After years of ignoring, downplaying, and defending Hunter Biden’s scandals, the mainstream media appear ready to throw in the towel. It looks like the first son may have to take the fall to protect his dad, President Joe Biden.

How long till the media come for Devon Archer, Hunter Biden's former best friend and business partner, who testified on Monday that Joe Biden spoke to his son's business partners on speakerphone "over 20 times"?

Then: When news broke in June that Hunter Biden had been given a sweetheart plea deal to wrap up a wide-ranging investigation by the Joe Biden's Justice Department, the media rushed to declare the case closed. Coverage often treated Hunter Biden as a victim of drug addiction and ruthless partisan politics, as the Washington Free Beacon previously reported.

If anything, the charges against Hunter Biden are too harsh, per NBC News experts:

The federal gun charge, which makes it unlawful for a drug addict to possess a weapon, is a rarely used statute that is facing legal challenges and has recently been used as a catch-all charge against white supremacists.

Like the gun charge, the tax charges are rarely brought against first-time offenders and even more rarely result in jail time, Andrew Weissmann, a former FBI general counsel and NBC News contributor, tweeted Tuesday. "This is if anything harsh, not lenient," he wrote. ...

If you think about it, Biden is really a victim of his own brave honesty, CNN suggested:

It is a fascinating thing, though, certainly for Hunter Biden and the candidness of him talking about his substance abuse problems is what ended up causing some issues for him.

Looking ahead, the network predicted a national dialogue about Biden's "personal agonies and struggles with addiction":

Debate over the exact terms of the deal will likely play out until a federal judge finalizes the terms. As will the question of whether Hunter Biden’s conduct caused unnecessary political problems for his father or whether his family circumstances meant that his personal agonies and struggles with addiction played out on a far more public level than would have been the case for many people. ...

Meanwhile, MSNBC wanted to know: "How does Hunter Biden feel?"

"I think Hunter feels happy to move on with his life and his recovery," Biden's lawyer informed viewers. ...

There's just one problem, per ABC News: "It is clear Republicans are not going to drop [their investigations of Biden's corruption] despite the fact that there is nothing in this agreement to substantiate their concerns."

Reported CNN: "Hunter Biden ... is set to play a starring role in the 2024 election as Joe Biden’s political enemies seek to weaponize his son’s legal struggles—those that are real and those that are hyped by conservative media."

On MSNBC, former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D., Mo.) vented: "I don’t know what America [Republicans] live in. And I don’t know how they sleep at night. What do these jerks in the House want Joe Biden to do, throw [Hunter Biden] out, refuse to speak to him, say he doesn’t love him publicly?"

Now: After a series of developments in recent days credibly implicated Joe Biden in his son's scandals, the media pulled a motte and bailey and ditched Hunter Biden to defend the president, aka "the big guy."

To review the news: Archer told the House Oversight Committee under oath on Monday that Joe Biden talked to his son's foreign business partners all the time—rather than "never" as the White House had repeatedly claimed. Last week, a judge refused to "rubber stamp" the plea deal that would have given Hunter Biden sweeping immunity. Before that, two IRS whistleblowers testified that the Justice Department protected Biden from being charged with felonies in the case.

According to the New York TimesCNN, and others, the noteworthy part of Archer's testimony was that he said Biden sold the "illusion" of access to his father. In other words, Biden supposedly tricked his clients into paying him millions of dollars over many years for influence that Joe Biden never delivered as vice president.

On MSNBC, Hunter Biden's business dealings were suddenly agreed to be "obviously unseemly and problematic" "profiteering."

But it was equally obvious, as Politico's Jonathan Lemire put it, that Republicans "are trying to create a scandal when there's no evidence that they have one."

Lemire and the Washington Post's Eugene Robinson excused Joe Biden's involvement by noting that he was grieving during Hunter Biden's influence peddling.

"We know how important family is to the president," said Robinson. "So, do you hang up on your son?"

Meanwhile, the Times reported that Joe Biden's interactions with his son's business partners are old news anyway.

Flashback: The media's standards for proof of presidential wrongdoing haven't always been so demanding.

Published under: Devon Archer Hunter Biden Joe Biden Media Bias