As Hunter Biden Prepares to Sell Political Influence Disguised as "Art" for a Half Million Dollars Per Piece, Miranda Devine Reports Hunter Biden Paid For Some of the Upkeep of Joe Biden's House

Here's what makes this important, as Byron York explains: For years Joe Biden has boasted that he's the "poorest man in Washington, DC," suggesting that he's free of the graft that so many politicians take.

But, in fact, Joe Biden kept himself poor while sending out Hunter to collect the graft on his behalf:

For years, Joe Biden was known as the poorest man in the U.S. Senate. It was a label he himself welcomed, claiming it showed how ethically clean he was. "I entered as one of the poorest men in Congress, left as one of the poorest men in government, in Congress, and as vice president," Biden said during his presidential campaign in 2019. What Devine has discovered suggests that while Biden bragged about his lack of money -- in other words, claiming to be free of the financial corruption common in politics -- he was relying on his influence-peddling son to pay some of his bills.

Speaking of influence peddling, Devine also reported recently that Hunter Biden "used the perks of the vice presidency -- parties, meetings with Joe Biden and flights on Air Force Two -- to pursue business deals with Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim while his father was in office." To illustrate the story, Devine published a 2015 photo of Slim, Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, and other men with whom Hunter Biden was pursuing business, at the vice president's residence in November 2015.

York is also reminded by Miranda Divine that Hunter Biden has claimed that Joe Biden forces him to give up "half of his salary" for the "Big Guy's" upkeep.

Now we know of another email which states that 10% of a deal will be reserved for "The Big Guy," meaning Joe Biden.

Hunter was probably exaggerating about "half" his money. But I imagine the 10% figure is mostly accurate.

Except that sometimes the Big Guy will inveigh upon his corrupt son to pay the expenses of maintaining his home.

While Joe Biden careens around the country eating ice cream and behaving like a kind, but slightly dotty grandpa, it's worth remembering the cynical way he used his son, Hunter, to generate cash for the family.

Hunter, now 51, wanted to be an artist or a writer, but he was assigned by his father the role of family breadwinner through lucrative grace-and-favor jobs and sweetheart deals facilitated by Joe's network of connections in Delaware and, later, throughout the world.

...

"I hope you all can do what I did and pay for everything for this entire family for 30 years," Hunter wrote in a 2019 text message to his daughter, Naomi, that was found on his abandoned laptop.

"It's really hard. But don’t worry, unlike Pop [Joe], I won’t make you give me half your salary."

There's no direct evidence of such a wealth transfer on Hunter’s laptop.

But what we do know is that, while Joe was vice president, Hunter routinely paid at least some of his father's household expenses, including AT&T bills of around $190 a month.

We know from an e-mail on June 5, 2010, with the subject "JRB bills" to Hunter from Eric Schwerin, his business partner at Rosemont Seneca, that he was expected to foot hefty bills to Wilmington contractors for maintenance and upkeep of his father’s palatial lakefront property. Joe’s initials are JRB, for Joseph Robinette Biden.

...

Schwerin's e-mail to Hunter begins: "FYI, there are a few outstanding bills that need to be paid and I am not sure which ones are a priority and which should get paid out of 'my' account and which should be put on hold or paid out of the ‘Wilmington Trust Social Security Check Account.'"

He goes on to explain "there is about $2,000 extra in 'my' account beyond what is used for monthly expenses." It is unknown why Schwerin used quotation marks around "my." But it appears the account is used, at least in part, to pay expenses for Joe.

Yes, and it appears the Poorest Man In Washington was comingling funds with his jet-setting, influence-peddling crackhead son.

...

In another e-mail to Hunter on July 6, 2010, titled "JRB Future memo," about a plan apparently devised for Joe's future wealth management, Schwerin writes: "Does it make sense to see if your Dad has some time in the next couple of weeks while you are in DC to talk about it? Your Dad just called me about his mortgage . . . so it dawned on me to might be a good time [for] some positive news about his future earnings potential."

At this point, Joe had been vice president for barely 18 months of his first term.

This revelation comes as Suddenly Discovered Untrained Artistic Genius Hunter Biden is set to sell his watercolor doodles for half a million dollars a grift, I mean per piece.

And Hunter Biden and the White House says this all passes ethical muster because the paintings will be sold to... anonymous donors. I mean, "anonymous buyers."

And they claim this makes the process non-corrupt because Hunter Biden won't know who he owes million-dollar political influence favors to.

Right, right, right.

As the Washington Post reports:

White House officials are crafting an agreement under which purchases of Hunter Biden’s artwork -- which could be listed at prices as high as $500,000 -- will be kept confidential from even the artist himself.

I mean, yeah, that's an absolutely foolproof system to avoid Hunter Biden knowing who he owes.

I mean, unless the anonymous donors just tell him that they contributed to The Big Guy Retirement Fund.

But apart from that one tiny flaw -- perfect!

Remember, this is the White House supposedly run by the moderate, centrist Democrat relentlessly promoted by NeverTrump as conservative-leaning and virtuous.

The Great Restorer of Muh Normzzz!

The Noble Re-Installer of Truth!

The Great Bringer-Backer of Decency!

Your NeverTrump/National Review/Conservative, Inc. endorsed "president," everyone! Blessing his son taking huge sums of graft from foreign paymasters -- but then saying they'll "keep the process clean" by keeping the foreign paymasters anonymous!

Last month I wrote about Hunter’s upcoming art sale at Berges' gallery. At the time, Walter Shaub, the former Office of Government Ethics director in the Obama administration, was the only ethics expert speaking out against such an obvious grift. Shaub called the sales shameful with a "gritty feeling to it." At least someone was being honest, right? The Washington Post reports today that Georges Berges will set the prices for the work. He will shield the names of the bidders and purchasers. Berges will also reject any offer he deems suspicious. This is the deal the White House is alleged to have struck with Berges and Hunter via the document. Do we have any faith that Berges will show good judgement in what is and isn't "suspicious"?

Well, according to the Sun, this particular dealer is a criminal and has spent time in jail:

In 2016, Berges was accused of defrauding investor Ingrid Arneberg by $500,000. Berges countersued Arneberg and the two settled in 2018.

Years earlier in 1998, the Post reported Berges was charged with assault with a deadly weapon and making "terrorist threats," which were later dismissed.

He received 36 months probation in served 90 days in jail, according to the Santa Cruz Superior Court.

But the White House says this is all okay so long as Hunter doesn't (wink, wink) know the names of the Chinese-government-connected Chinese billionaires buying his influence, I mean, buying his "art."

Gee, isn't it terrifically lucky that just as Hunter Biden loses his revenue streams from Ukraine, Russia, Mexico, and China due to increasingly scrutiny, reportedly China-connected art dealers suddenly discover that he's an Instant Genius Untrained Artist?

Imagine the great good fortune that always seems to attend to Joe Biden, the "poorest man in Washington." His crackhead whoremonger son loses his revenue stream peddling influence to foreign potentates and billionaires, and then, virtually the next day, he's discovered to be the Pablo Picasso of graft.

Byron York closes his piece with Miranda Divine's wishcast that the media will finally become embarrassed enough to report on this:

And yet, even though the elder Biden is President of the United States, the laptop news blackout continues at all those media and social media sites. Will that ever change? Devine is optimistic. "I think the steady accumulation of evidence should reach a tipping point beyond which no self-respecting journalist can keep ignoring it," she said via email. "But until the New York Times, Washington Post, etc. start taking it seriously, the White House won't address it. The point is that this is not a story about Hunter Biden, private citizen with a former drug problem. It involved the president and his claim he knew nothing about Hunter's business dealings."

There are almost no "self-respecting journalists." They are determined, vicious partisans, acting as State Media for the Democrat Party.

And even if a few actually "self-respecting journalists" would like to report on the story, they will be squashed by leftwing editors who fear being criticized for "helping the Republicans" by reporting the truth.

posted by Ace at 02:34 PM

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