I cannot vouch for the accuracy of Peachy Keenan’s report that Hunter Biden, having caused such trouble for the Deep State, has been invited to go paddle-boarding at the Obama’s Martha’s Vineyard estate.
That’s probably just one of those mean things that right-wing, knuckle-dragging Neanderthals like, well, like me would say. But literally true or not, it is, as Algernon Moncrieff observed in other context, perfectly phrased and “quite as true as any observation in civilized life should be” — especially, I might add, any observation that touches upon the Bidens.
The chief thing to keep in mind as you savor the soap opera of Hunter Biden’s faux prosecution is that Hunter’s story is inseparable from the story of dear old dad, “the Big Guy,” Mr. 10 percent, i.e., Joe Biden, president of the United States. Yesterday, Hunter was supposed to plead guilty in a Delaware court to a sweetheart deal.
How sweet? Recognized medical authorities say it should come with a warning to diabetics. It’s so sweet, in fact, that Hunter, though he failed to pay more (way more) than $1 million in income tax, was going to be allowed to plead guilty to a couple of misdemeanor charges, avoid all jail time and — added bonus — have a felony gun charged dropped, swept under the carpet or otherwise “disappeared” just like an enemy of an Argentinean junta.
Sweet though it was, Hunter decided that the deal was not quite sweet enough when prosecutors held open the possibility of future liability for the famous once-and-future laptop owner. For her part, District Judge Maryellen Noreika was troubled by the prosecutors’ linking the tax charges to the gun charge: what did they have to do with one another? Was what they were asking her to do even constitutional?
So the plea bargain turned out to be no bargain. Judge Noreika gave the two sides thirty days to “clarify” the matter. Result: the miniseries will proceed for at least another season. The best part came on Tuesday when a lawyer on Hunter’s team rang up the court pretending to be from a GOP congressional committee. “You know that damaging file we sent to the court? Can you please take it down?”
Really? Yes really. Miranda Devine has all the details. Judge Noreika was not amused but it is not yet clear what the outcome or upshot of that “insane” (I quote a former federal prosecutor) behavior will be.
Meanwhile, Hunter’s best buddy and former business partner Devon Archer was scheduled to testify before before the House Oversight Committee on Monday, but it looks as though that may be postponed, too.
That’s a pity, because Archer was going to tell the world about the many times he witnessed Joe Biden participating, by phone or in person, in meetings with Hunter and foreign business partners and potential investors. But wait, didn’t testy old Joe repeatedly assert that he had nothing to do with Hunter’s business dealings? Did he not say over and over again that he never, not once, spoke to Hunter about his business dealings? Why, yes he did.
That’s all old news by now. We’ve all seen the clip of Joe Biden bragging about he how he successfully threatened to withhold a $1 billion loan if the Ukrainians did not fire a prosecutor who was poking around in Burisma, the energy company that was paying Hunter an $83,000 per month consulting fee for… what was that for again?
I think that, as usual, Peter Schweitzer has it exactly right. What we are witnessing with this network of complicated, interlocking lines of corruption, influence peddling, tax evasion, and shell companies is the beginning of the end of Joe Biden’s political career. It won’t happen neatly or all at once. Rather, it will unfold with the drip-drip-drip of hearings and inquiries, many of them preceded by the word “impeachment.” The public is waking up, which means that it is turning against the Big Guy. The entertainment committee never sleeps.
