As House Republicans held the first hearing of an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden on Thursday, mainstream media outlets are insisting that there is “no evidence” that Biden abused his office or accepted bribes in relation to his son Hunter’s business dealings. But observers and lawmakers are pointing out that even though the evidence-building process is only just beginning, the media already appears to be covering for the president.
An Associated Press story on Thursday claimed that “[w]hile questions have arisen about the ethics surrounding the Biden family’s international business, no evidence has emerged so far to prove that Joe Biden, in his current or previous office, abused his role or accepted bribes.”
But as reported by The Federalist, significant evidence was unveiled by the House Oversight Committee during Thursday’s hearing that points to the scope of Hunter Biden’s business dealings while his father was vice president, including “reams of text messages and emails between Hunter Biden, his uncle James Biden, and a colorful array of foreign oligarchs, business associates, and bagmen.” It also highlighted a text exchange between Hunter and his uncle James Biden in June 2017 that referred to Joe Biden as his “family’s brand” and “only asset.”
According to a 30-page memo released by House Republicans that outlined the impeachment case, “The Biden family and their close associates … accrued more than $24 million from foreign sources between 2014 and 2019. The money poured in from foreign business partners across Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Romania, and China, who often dished out millions ‘for no identifiable product or service.’”
Despite mounting evidence that points to a coordinated influence peddling scheme, Joe Biden, both as a presidential candidate and as president, has repeatedly denied that he has ever spoken to his family members about their business dealings. In August, the House Oversight Committee compiled a list of 16 instances from 2019 to this year in which Biden claimed to have no knowledge of his family’s dealings.
Still, the process to uncover additional evidence is ongoing, and it appears that government agencies have been slow to cooperate with the investigation. During Thursday’s edition of “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins,” Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) shared that despite the Justice Department and other agencies covering up information and refusing to cooperate with the impeachment inquiry, the House Oversight Committee is moving forward with making public the evidence that they have uncovered so far.
“[W]e are attempting to discover and to learn about the government and decisions that were made by this government, including the Department of Justice, including the Treasury Department, and including perhaps even people inside the White House who have cast a net around the need to protect not just Hunter Biden, but the president himself,” he explained.
Sessions went on to detail how multiple government agencies attempted to cover up evidence related to the Bidens’ business dealings.
“This goes back a number of years when Mr. Biden was vice president, and the money that has flowed, that came through in bank transactions that were really uncovered only in the last two years,” he noted. “As part of that cover-up that took place by the Treasury Department and the Department of Justice, ever since the president took office, there were decisions made not to move forward, to gain access to information or even questioning those issues.”
Sessions further related that “there were some 60 former intelligence officials who said it was not true that Hunter Biden owned the laptop. It became apparent [that] that was not truthful. We have since then found out that there are people from the Department of Justice that have stymied the IRS and other criminal investigators from following through on the open leads that they had up to and including Mr. Weiss, who is the U.S. attorney there in Delaware, holding information until the time ran out to prosecute Hunter Biden.”
Sessions continued, “The bottom line is that the Department of Justice blocked … criminal investigators from knowing more about the source of the money, of investigating and asking questions of people and perhaps even up to and including making sure that Hunter Biden and his lawyers knew ahead of time what to claim, what to wait for and what sweetheart deal would be involved. … [T]hese investigators were precluded by the Department of Justice of figuring out who the ‘Big Guy’ was, and where he was located when Hunter Biden made money.”
“And that’s why the inquiry is justified,” Perkins remarked.
Dan Hart is senior editor at The Washington Stand.
