It seems like whenever Hunter Biden is in the news, the Biden staff screams, the media screams, “we all scream for ice cream.” On October 19, 2020, the Biden campaign and its protective cocoon of media faced the discovery of Hunter’s presumed laptop with details of his (and his uncle’s) influence peddling while Joe Biden was Vice President. The solution? Joe Biden went for ice cream and the media peppered him with questions about his confectionary choice (Spoiler: he ordered a two-scoop chocolate and vanilla combo) Then they went away.
Now, Hunter is back in the news as new emails surfaced that directly contradict what Joe Biden has said to those every same reporters. Biden and the media seemed to make a beeline for the nearest ice cream shop. It turns out that now Biden now prefers . . . (wait for it). . . chocolate chip.
The only indication that there were still any reporters present was a soft scoop question “Mr. President, what is your message to Republicans who are prepared to block the Jan. 6 commission?” Biden responded “Eat some chocolate chip.” It summed up the state of journalism in America perfectly. The media got their intended scoop. And this time the scoop was actually different!
It is not clear how long the President’s cholesterol or the media’s reputation can tolerate this pattern.
Before the election, the national media and social media companies imposed a virtual blackout on the Hunter Biden story. Even when Biden’s laptop emerged with highly embarrassing and incriminating emails, Democratic politicians and the media pushed a conspiracy theory that the emails might be Russian misinformation, even though the recipients of the emails confirmed their authenticity and American intelligence dismissed the theory. Worse yet, a key business associate of the Bidens, Anthony Bobulinski, confirmed the authenticity of the emails and accused Joe Biden of lying about his involvement. Bobulinski detailed meeting with Joe Biden in a hotel to go over the dealings.
Social media companies like Twitter responded by barring the original New York Post story before the election. The media (which exhaustively investigated any story involving the Trump children) simply ignored the growing evidence that Joe Biden lied repeatedly for months in claiming to have had no knowledge of his son’s business dealings. The media refused to investigate the story even after Hunter himself contradicted his father’s repeated denial.
Soon after Biden was safely elected, the media began to reluctantly acknowledge that the laptop might be authentic while avoiding the obvious questions about millions acquired from influence peddling or Joe Biden’s apparent lying to these reporters.
The laptop revealed that, while receiving millions from the Chinese and other foreign sources, Hunter was an utter mess. He admits that during this period he was a crack addict and alcoholic: “[d]rinking a quart of vodka a day by yourself in a room is absolutely, completely debilitating” as well as “smoking crack around the clock.”
The new emails contain additional information directly contradicting Joe Biden. In addition to earlier pictures from golf trips and references to his involvement or knowledge, the new material refers to an actual dinner arranged in Washington, D.C.
Hunter arranged for then Vice President Biden to have dinner on April 16, 2015 with his Ukrainian, Russian and Kazakhstani business associates. They appropriately chose a private room at Café Milano, a Georgetown restaurant that brags that it is “Where the world’s most powerful people go.” After the dinner, Hunter received an email from Vadym Pozharskyi, an executive with the Ukrainian energy company Burisma, to thank him for introducing him to his father: “Dear Hunter, thank you for inviting me to DC and giving an opportunity to meet your father and spent [sic] some time together. It’s realty [sic] an honor and pleasure.”
Notably, the guest list from Hunter three weeks before included Russian billionaire Yelena Baturina and her husband, and Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov (a notoriously corrupt politician). While one email pitched the dinner as connected to the World Food Program USA, it was a smörgåsbord of influence peddling and purchasing.
Hunter and his uncle in the meantime were reportedly racking in massive amounts. Baturina wired $3.5 million on Feb. 14, 2014, to Rosemont Seneca Thornton LLC, a Delaware-based investment firm co-founded by Hunter and Devon Archer, a former adviser to Secretary of State John Kerry.
Notably, these sources of income for Hunter would largely dry up after his father left office and his value as an influence peddler was lost.
The Chinese files also raise questions over how the Chinese funneled money to the Bidens when Hunter said he was a hopeless crack addict. Hunter worked with Patrick Ho Chi Ping who was a corrupt businessman closely associated with the Chinese government. He was later convicted of bribery in dealings associated with the energy conglomerate CEFC China Energy, the same company that paid Hunter. Hunter’s “renumeration package” included a possible return of $10 million. Hunter reportedly received millions from the company as well as a 2.8-carat diamond from CEFC’s founder and former chairman Ye Jianming.
Some of the emails are from a 29-year-old Chinese-American assistant, JiaQi Bao, who talks about Hunter’s ample expense allowance. On some of his charges, she notes “not sure if the accounting department will let this go.” However, when the company collapsed, she told Hunter to run up charges on the accounts to “keep as much as you can” before the company dissolved.
The record is now rife with individuals associated with foreign governments and intelligence organizations giving millions to Hunter and his uncle as well as luxurious expenses and gifts. Moreover, given the apparent illegal conduct captured in the images, it is reasonable to expect that these foreign governments hoped to have influence that was not just limited to the windfall payments.
That is why everyone is (again) eating ice cream. Call it a comfort food for the politically and journalistically challenged.`
Reprinted with permission from JonathanTurley.org.
