You're Not Going to Believe This, But Two Russian Oligarchs Who Did Business With the Biden Crime Family Somehow Avoided Getting Put on the Sanctions List!!!

They went property-hunting with Huntie.

Two Russian billionaires who have managed to dodge US sanctions over Moscow's year-old invasion of Ukraine went property shopping with Hunter Biden, dined with then-Vice President Joe Biden, and discussed "favors" they might swap, sources tell The Post.

New details of Joe and Hunter Biden's association with Yelena Baturina and Vladimir Yevtushenkov flesh out tantalizing clues from the first son's abandoned laptop. The sources spoke with The Post this week after the duo was yet again spared a fresh batch of sanctions announced by the Treasury Department Friday.

"I think it's very fishy," said one source who had firsthand knowledge of the business relationship between Hunter Biden and Yevtushenkov -- who is sanctioned by the UK and Australia but not by the US.

"I think he should be sanctioned," Michael McFaul, a former US ambassador to Russia under President Barack Obama, told The Post of Yevtushenkov -- estimated by Forbes to be worth $1.7 billion. "I don't understand why he has not been."

Yevtushenkov, whose Sistema business empire until recently included Russian rocket and radar-maker RTI and drone-maker Kronstadt, admitted last year he met with Hunter Biden for breakfast at the Ritz-Carlton in Manhattan on March 14, 2012 -- but denied any further contact.

However, emails and calendar entries from Hunter's former laptop show that they were set to meet again on Jan. 27, 2013, for dinner at DC's Cafe Milano before looking at a commercial real estate development the next day near Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia.

"I asked [Yevtushenkov], 'Why are you doing this?' on the front end -- before I understood that they were going to buy some real estate," the source told The Post. "'Why are you even doing this? Why would you be paying the son of the vice president to meet at a public restaurant in New York City?'

"He made it very clear to me that, you know ... 'I think it would be good to have a good relationship with this guy ... maybe he can do a favor for us and we can do a favor for him,'" the source continued. "It was a complete quid pro quo that he was going in for."

"I told him that's not the way it works in America, [but] he basically laughed at me and told me I was so naive," the source recalled of Yevtushenkov, whose holdings also include Russia's largest cellphone provider, MTS -- which faced a long-running investigation into nearly $1 billion in bribes paid to Uzbekistani officials between 2004 and 2012.

A different source, meanwhile, told The Post he vividly recalled Baturina and her husband, ex-Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, looking "like an odd couple" at a now-infamous, intimate dinner with Hunter and his father, the then-vice president.

It's long been uncertain whether Baturina, estimated by Forbes to be worth $1.4 billion, and Luzhkov actually attended the April 16, 2015 dinner at Cafe Milano -- the same Georgetown restaurant where Hunter and Yevtushenkov set a date more than two years prior.

...

In an email at the time, Hunter wrote that the meal would be "ostensibly" about his role a chairman of the World Food Program (WFP) USA.

"Ostensibly." So not really, then. Pretextually.

His father, the sitting vice president, arrived at the dinner and stayed for about 40 minutes, the second source told The Post, even sitting down to eat and then posing for a photo with the Kazakhstani group.

Huntie previously advised Vice President Joe Biden on how to answer Burisma questions -- which is a problem, because Huntie was a paid agent of a foreign entity, and was influencing US government positions through coaching his dad.

Then-second son Hunter Biden coached then-Vice President Joe Biden's press secretary on how to respond to media questions about him joining the board of Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma Holdings, emails reviewed by The Post show.

The May 13, 2014, exchanges between Hunter and Kendra Barkoff, which have not been previously reported, form the basis of a complaint sent to the Justice Department on Friday alleging that the Biden scion, now 53, violated federal law by failing to register as a foreign agent.

"In advising the Office of the Vice President how to respond to press inquiries about his appointment, Hunter Biden 'represent[ed] the interests of [a] foreign principal before any agency or official of the Government of the United States,'" America First Legal Foundation general counsel Gene Hamilton wrote to the assistant attorney general for national security, Matthew Olsen, quoting the relevant statute.

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"The news seems rather odd on its face and, if true, would present a fairly glaring conflict of interest given the VP's role on Ukraine policy -- particularly since the company is controlled by Nikolai Zlochevsky, who was energy minister and deputy NSC chief under [former pro-Moscow Ukrainian President Viktor] Yanukovych," the reporter added. "Is this true? What exactly is going on here?"

...

The America First Legal Foundation, founded by Stephen Miller, a former senior adviser to President Donald Trump, claimed the discussions with Barkoff showed "Hunter Biden is Burisma's agent and subject to FARA registration because he was an officer of Burisma and represented Burisma's interests to the Office of the Vice President in addition to advising on a public relations matter."

Jonathan Turley updates us on Hunter Biden's aggressive and threatening legal moves.

He decided he's going to wage lawfare to censor anyone talking about his connections to China, Russia, corrupt Ukrainian government officials, crack, hookers, international bank transfers from gangsters, influence peddling, money laundering, holding 10% for "the Big Guy," giving half of his income to his father, etc.

Hunter's handlers are reinventing Hunter in a more combative image. He is an edgy and aggressive antagonist ready to fight fire with fire against Republicans. A team was assembled to reportedly attack potential witnesses and critics. With a possible criminal indictment and congressional investigations looming, Hunter the businessman or recovering addict or victim will not do.

Hunter appears to have acquired lawyers by the gross, including former Clinton counsel Abbe Lowell. Lowell recently sent out a letter that caused a stir by not only seemingly confirming the authenticity of the laptop but threatening a host of critics. Biden called for groups to be stripped of tax exemptions, suggested a host of possible defamation actions, and even demanded criminal investigations against critics.

The problem is that, unlike Dark Batman, Dark Biden is missing one critical element: a credible threat.

Undeterred, Lowell recently defied a demand for evidence from the House Oversight Committee...

Lowell categorically refused to turn over a single document to House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.), saying there was no "legitimate legislative purpose" for the investigation into Hunter. He left open the possibility the House might convince Hunter to cooperate. Perhaps the House could try to "say it nicer," as Hunter once instructed ABC News reporter Amy Robach.

The message is "fear us" but it could not be less convincing than if Lowell put black tights and an eared mask on his client. It just does not fit.

Congress clearly has a legitimate interest in investigating whether millions of dollars from foreign interests, including some connected to foreign intelligence, were funneled to the Biden family to influence President Biden.

The New York Times mentions that Lowell also began asking his client's father to start using the federal agencies he controls to punish his client's critics, though the New York Times doesn't put it like that:

Mr. Lowell also requested investigations by state and federal law enforcement and the Internal Revenue Service into Trump allies who helped disseminate information from a cache of files belonging to Mr. Biden. And he sent letters to those Trump allies and others, asking them to preserve records in preparation for possible litigation.

Not only did the New York Times fail to notice that Lowell was asking Hunter Biden's father to use the full force and fury of the federal government to terrorize Hunter Biden's enemies, they seemed to think it was a terrific idea!

"The new posture is exactly what's required in an environment where the Republican investigators are relentless," said David Brock, the former self-described right-wing hit man turned Democratic operative.

But all is not well in the Bidencave, as the various mob lawyers clash:

Mr. Lowell has not been welcomed by everyone on Hunter Biden's team.

Chris Clark, the lead criminal defense lawyer representing Mr. Biden in the Justice Department investigation, has kept Mr. Lowell at a distance in dealing with that matter.

And Mr. Lowell's addition led to the exit of another lawyer -- Joshua A. Levy -- who specializes in helping clients facing congressional inquiries.

President Biden's personal lawyer, Bob Bauer, had recommended Mr. Levy for the job. But Mr. Levy had clashed with Kevin Morris, a lawyer and close adviser to Hunter Biden who has lent him money to pay his back taxes and some other bills, according to a person familiar with the strategy. Mr. Morris and Hunter Biden brought on Mr. Lowell late last year, prompting Mr. Levy's departure.

Mr. Clark, Mr. Levy and a spokeswoman for Mr. Bauer declined to comment.

Hunter's had a history of lawyers quitting on him.

The lawyer representing Hunter Biden in his paternity case abruptly withdrew on Monday while his client blew off the hearing, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal.

Biden, 49, was not in the second-floor courtroom in Batesville, Arkansas, when his attorney former Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel quit.

That's how you know a man has good character, when he's always in court being defended by lawyers, and when those lawyers are always quitting on him.

Is Huntie's brilliant legal defense of just asking his dad to use the entire US government to protect him working? Well, the Treasury Department is refusing to turn over Suspicious Activity Reports about Huntie and Biden's brother James, so you tell me.

House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer (R-KY) on Monday demanded the Treasury Department answer for stonewalling its investigation into the Biden family for nine violations, including money laundering and wire fraud, by withholding 150 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) flagged by U.S. banks.

In January, the Treasury Department denied the committee's request to disclose the 150 SARs flagged by U.S. banks concerning the Biden family's foreign business bank transactions, causing the committee's chairman to threaten a subpoena. SARs often contain evidence of potential criminal activities, such as money laundering and fraud.

Before Comer tries to work through the courts to compel the relevant information, Comer demanded the Treasury testify on March 10 about failing to produce the reports it has previously failed to provide, citing "improper disclosure" of information that could reduce the Biden administration's ability to "conduct of law enforcement, intelligence, and national security activities."

"Given the amount of time that has passed since our initial request and Treasury's inability to provide a projected timeframe when the SARs will be produced, the committee believes Treasury may be delaying its production to hinder our investigation and operating in bad faith," Comer wrote on Monday. "Treasury's excuses and delay tactics are unavailing given you have known about our request since last year and previously produced relevant SARs to others."

The Biden family bank records are a key trove of information that will provide details about how the family business operates and desired transparency on Hunter's anonymous art sales and foreign business transactions, along with knowledge of whether Joe Biden remains compromised by foreign governments through his family's business.

posted by Ace at 03:29 PM

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