If you’re looking for the people who say it’s ridiculous Russia hacking the DNC had any effect on the 2016 election, they are RIGHT NOW arguing the media not publishing Hunter’s shadily acquired emails swung the 2020 election. LOFL. — Grudgie the Whale (@grudging1) March 17, 2022 The Justice Department has exhausted all avenues of …
Repub Venality Open Thread: Hunter Biden’s Laptop As A Weapon of Mass DelusionPost + Comments (47)
In the year after he disclosed a federal investigation into his “tax affairs” in late 2020, President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, paid off a significant tax liability, even as a grand jury continued to gather evidence in a wide-ranging examination of his international business dealings, according to people familiar with the case.
Mr. Biden’s failure to pay all his taxes has been a focus of the ongoing Justice Department investigation. While wiping out his liability does not preclude criminal charges against him, the payment could make it harder for prosecutors to win a conviction or a long sentence for tax-related offenses, according to tax law experts, since juries and judges tend to be more sympathetic to defendants who have paid their bills…
The investigation, which began as a tax inquiry under the Obama administration, widened in 2018 to include possible criminal violations of tax laws, as well as foreign lobbying and money laundering rules, according to the people familiar with the inquiry.
But prosecutors face a number of hurdles to bringing criminal charges, the people familiar with the investigation said, including proving that Mr. Biden intentionally violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA, which requires disclosure to the Justice Department of lobbying or public relations assistance on behalf of foreign clients.
The Justice Department has given no public indication that it has made decisions about any element of the case, and Mr. Biden has not been charged with any crime…
if the DOJ hasn't found evidence to support criminal charges, even after it widened the investigation, shouldn't the big takeaway be that people alleging criminal behavior, and those giving their claims massive media attention, are full of … uh … "it"? https://t.co/P8WexhHKsm
— Jamison Foser (@jamisonfoser) March 17, 2022
Here are things that are true:
1) There is ABUNDANT public evidence that a good number of Trump associates, INCLUDING Trump, are being investigated.
— emptywheel (@emptywheel) March 17, 2022
2) It is a good thing that an already existing investigation into the son of the most powerful person in the country can continue w/o interference–it’s what we wanted, but were deprived of, with Kushner and Don Jr and Trump and Stone and Rudy and Manafort.
3) We should be pursuing sleazy influence peddling in both parties.
Please, someone, give Lanny Davis the same scrutiny we want Paul Manafort to get!!
4) EVEN GLENN GREENWALD admitted that the back story to the Hunter Biden laptop story didn’t hold together, especially given the involvement of suspected RU agent dangle Rudy G, and DOJ was already investigating anyway. It was ALL about distracting you pre-trial.
5) There is zero evidence that David Weiss is conducting himself with the recklessness, the sloppiness, and the fundamental preference for Russian hackers over Hillary Clinton (or Joe Biden) that John Durham is investigating with.
6) Investigations do not always result in prosecutions, and often there are good reasons for it.
With Bill Barr, there were terrible reasons for it.
But there’s no reason to believe DOJ is not pursuing what it can as aggressively as possible.
Vogel was pretty much the only guy to actually believe Giuliani & his Russian spy partners
— Grudgie the Whale (@grudging1) March 17, 2022
More snark:
All the NY Times did today was confirm that some real Hunter Biden emails were planted on the laptop the republicans pretended was his. This means the fake scandal involved hacking and was an even bigger crime than we thought. Many republican operatives could go to prison for it.
— Palmer Report (@PalmerReport) March 17, 2022
The people who concocted this scandal were always going to argue that they honestly thought the laptop was really Hunter Biden’s. But that reasonable doubt argument goes out the window now that they apparently stole his emails and planted them on the laptop.
The DOJ doesn’t bring criminal charges in instances where it thinks it’s going to lose at trial due to a reasonable doubt defense. This new development could mean the difference in terms of the perpetrators of this phony scandal actually being prosecuted.
This developent also raises serious questions about the NY Post’s decision to run with this story. It’s one (bad) thing to have known the story was false. It’d be much worse if the NY Post knew that crimes had been committed in the name of falsifying evidence for the story.
Republicans are declaring victory over today’s developments, because they always declare victory on everything, even when it’s a clear loss. But that won’t help them any.
(As opposed to most liberal activists, who always declare defeat, even when it’s a clear win for their side).
Remember when Hunter Biden made 640 million dollars while working as an unqualified advisor to his dad the president?
Nope, neither do I.
That was Ivanka.— Shari Lynn (@LynnSharig8) March 17, 2022