Naomi joins the Biden family business

Naomi Biden, Hunter Biden’s eldest daughter, is now the latest Biden to come under scrutiny for doing business with foreign nations.

According to an investigation by the New York Post’s Jon Levine, the president’s granddaughter lawyered on behalf of Peru’s government while living with her grandpa at the White House.

The twenty-nine-year-old joined Arnold & Porter in January 2021, right around when Joe Biden was moving into the presidential residence. Eight months after joining, her name appeared in a filing that showed that she was representing the South American country’s government in a case regarding the operation of an oil refinery in the Peruvian Amazon, where the company demanded close to $600 million in damages.

Biden’s specific role in the case is unclear and the case has not concluded. But the story is an unhelpful one at a time when her family is taking heat over its dealings with Chinese and Ukrainian firms.

We know that A&P specializes in litigating for foreign entities — and that their offices are walking distance from the White House. We know that A&P does not have a public page for the president’s granddaughter, which other attorneys in the firm have. We know that she accompanied her dad on his infamous trips to meet with Ukrainian energy company Burisma’s board. We know that her dad told Burisma’s chief financial officer, Vadym Pozharsky, that “maybe we can find her a job now that she’s graduating college.” Now is not the time to look away.

–Juan P. Villasmil

On our radar

LAW AND ORDER! Former president Donald Trump appeared in court today for opening statements in fraud proceedings being brought by New York AG Leticia James against the Trump Organization. During a lunch break, Trump billed it a “disgraceful trial.”

FEATHERWEIGHT Republican candidate Nikki Haley tweeted a picture yesterday of a birdcage, labeled “From: Trump campaign,” that she claims was left outside her hotel room after Trump had called her “birdbrain.”

GAETZ OF HELL Florida congressman Matt Gaetz is set to launch an effort to unseat House Speaker Kevin McCarthy this week. “We have a lot of folks in Congress who I think would be very capable to serve as speaker. We need to rebuild trust,” Gaetz told the press.

Meet California’s new senator… who lives in Maryland

California governor Gavin Newsom selected his replacement for the late Senator Dianne Feinstein. His pick is Laphonza Butler, the chairwoman of the massive Democratic fundraising organization EMILY’S List. Butler is a California native, but curiously is currently listed as living in Silver Spring, Maryland, where she voted in the last election.

Questions over her residency aside, the bigger story here is Newsom securing a powerful ally in a woman who has direct access to a long list of wealthy Democratic donors and supreme influence among left-wing organizers.

–Amber Athey

Cenk yourself before you wreck yourself

The usually shy and retiring Cenk Uygur was making noise last week about the possibility of him running for president in 2024. The Young Turks mogul said he was “considering” a run against Joe Biden on Breaking Points with Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti. “Have I reached out to staff? I have,” he told the hosts. Uygur is trepidatious about jumping in after his failed run for Congress in 2019, when old blog posts he wrote were resurfaced, in which he referred to women as “poorly designed creatures” and offered his rules for dating, including “if I haven’t felt your tits by [the third date], things are not about to last much longer.” Cockburn is intrigued by the possibility of an alternative to Biden — but is Uygur even eligible? The blogger was born in Istanbul…

–Cockburn

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