Federal criminal investigation Hunter Biden focuses on his business dealings (Update: DOJ appoints special counsel) (5 Viewers)

Hunter Biden received a $3.5 million wire transfer from Elena Baturina, the richest woman in Russia and the widow of Yury Luzhkov, the former mayor of Moscow, Senate Republicans revealed in their report on the younger Biden’s work in Ukraine.

Baturina is referenced in the 87-page report, which was released Wednesday, addressing her payment to Biden’s investment firm in early 2014.

“Baturina became Russia’s only female billionaire when her plastics company, Inteko, received a series of Moscow municipal contracts while her husband was mayor,” it said in providing background on the businesswoman.

The report described her involvement with Biden as “a financial relationship,” but declined to delve deeper into why the wire transfer was made.

The probe also found that Baturina sent 11 wires transfers between May and December 2015 to a bank account belonging to BAK USA, a tech startup that filed for bankruptcy in March 2019.

Nine of those 11 wire transfers were first sent to Rosemont Seneca Partners, the investment firm founded by Biden and Chris Heinz, stepson of former Secretary of State John Kerry, before being transferred to BAK USA.

We all know their is massive corruption on both sides of the aisle. Here is an alleged allegation against Hunter Biden who was allegedly enriching himself because his Dad was Vice President.

Thank goodness he isn’t running for President.

el caliente said:

Thank goodness he isn’t running for President.

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His Dad is. If it's true that he enriched himself because his Dad was President, would you still vote for him?

SaintForLife said:

His Dad is. If it's true that he enriched himself because his Dad was President, would you still vote for him?

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I’m not voting for him anyway, so no, it would cause me to not vote for his father.

SaintForLife said:

His Dad is. If it's true that he enriched himself because his Dad was President, would you still vote for him?

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For Hunter? No. For Joe against Trump, yes. Now, if you can show me that Joe actually changed his policies or chose policies harmful to the US in order to help his son get that money, then no I wouldn't vote for him, even against Trump.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I will right now support a law saying that the President and his family cannot do business with or receive money from foreign entities, and should stop all such business activity while in office. Biden has said he would support that. But I don't think that's what Trump is going for.

I don't think anyone can hold up Joe Biden as being perfect, but he at least has shown he can be shamed into doing the right thing, which at this point I'll take. Granted, if he's actually taken a bribe (through his son or directly), then that's obviously a deal breaker.

UncleTrvlingJim said:

For Hunter? No. For Joe against Trump, yes. Now, if you can show me that Joe actually changed his policies or chose policies harmful to the US in order to help his son get that money, then no I wouldn't vote for him, even against Trump.

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Do you really think that both parties family members and friends don't get monetarily enriched due to their connections?

SaintForLife said:

Do you really think that both parties family members and friends don't get monetarily enriched due to their connections?

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I do, which is why I said I'd still vote for Biden even if his son got money from people because of his father's connections. But if I think that will cause a conflict of interest then I would not vote for him.

I also edited my post to go a bit further, because I do think high level government officials should not have their families making money from foreign interests - or at the very least it needs to be super open and any policies being made that touch on those interests should be reviewed by an independent party.

UncleTrvlingJim said:

For Hunter? No. For Joe against Trump, yes. Now, if you can show me that Joe actually changed his policies or chose policies harmful to the US in order to help his son get that money, then no I wouldn't vote for him, even against Trump.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I will right now support a law saying that the President and his family cannot do business with or receive money from foreign entities, and should stop all such business activity while in office. Biden has said he would support that. But I don't think that's what Trump is going for.

I don't think anyone can hold up Joe Biden as being perfect, but he at least has shown he can be shamed into doing the right thing, which at this point I'll take. Granted, if he's actually taken a bribe (through his son or directly), then that's obviously a deal breaker.

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You know that Hunter Biden made millions based on his dad being Vice President and not because he had any experience to warrant his exorbitant salaries right? It happens on both sides. Our Government is extremely corrupt. The national media ignores that, but it's obvious to anyone paying attention.

UncleTrvlingJim said:

I do, which is why I said I'd still vote for Biden even if his son got money from people because of his father's connections. But if I think that will cause a conflict of interest then I would not vote for him.

I also edited my post to go a bit further, because I do think high level government officials should not have their families making money from foreign interests - or at the very least it needs to be super open and any policies being made that touch on those interests should be reviewed by an independent party.

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Do you not find it ironic that Biden's son was doing exactly what the Democrats and the media were accusing Trump of doing?

SaintForLife said:

You know that Hunter Biden made millions based on his dad being Vice President and not because he had any experience to warrant his exorbitant salaries right? It happens on both sides. Our Government is extremely corrupt. The national media ignores that, but it's obvious to anyone paying attention.

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And Ivanka didn’t get patents in China because she is running a not for profit business. Please, both sides do this, and it’s extremely disheartening.

SaintForLife said:

You know that Hunter Biden made millions based on his dad being Vice President and not because he had zero experience to warrant his exorbitant salaries right? It happens on both sides.

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I think I've already said this multiple times. I'm not sure you keep repeating what I've already said. I also said it isn't a deal breaker for me... I'm not a big fan of it, but people making money off their connections is very common.

However, Biden has at least shown that he can be shamed into doing the right thing, vs Trump doing the same thing and when called out on it basically just says "fork you".

SaintForLife said:

Our Government is extremely corrupt. The national media ignores that, but it's obvious to anyone paying attention.

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So, I'm not sure what you mean by extremely corrupt or the national media ignoring it. Having family members making money because of their connections is not corruption. It creates a potential conflict of interest which can lead to corruption, so we should have laws or procedures to deal with it, which are not sufficient currently. However, that is not actually corruption. Corruption is when politicians sell their votes or policies to help their family members. I don't think that happens as much as you seem to be implying.

SaintForLife said:

Do you not find it ironic that Biden's son was doing exactly what the Democrats and the media were accusing Trump of doing?

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Which is? Hunter isn't an elected official, Trump is, so there is an obvious difference there, but what are you saying that Hunter did that Trump is accused of.

UncleTrvlingJim said:

I think I've already said this multiple times. I'm not sure you keep repeating what I've already said. I also said it isn't a deal breaker for me... I'm not a big fan of it, but people making money off their connections is very common.

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Come on. You edited your post after I made mine

, Biden has at least shown that he can be shamed into doing the right thing, vs Trump doing the same thing and when called out on it basically just says "fork you".

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According to who?

So, I'm not sure what you mean by extremely corrupt or the national media ignoring it. Having family members making money because of their connections is not corruption. It creates a potential conflict of interest which can lead to corruption, so we should have laws or procedures to deal with it, which are not sufficient currently. However, that is not actually corruption. Corruption is when politicians sell their votes or policies to help their family members. I don't think that happens as much as you seem to be implying.

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Just to be clear. You are saying that people enriching themselves because of their family connections to politicians and not due to their qualifications is not corruption?

The national media ignores the family members enriching themselves based on their family's political connections. Do you think that the national media covers that consistently?

SaintForLife said:

Hunter Biden received a $3.5 million wire transfer from Elena Baturina, the richest woman in Russia and the widow of Yury Luzhkov, the former mayor of Moscow, Senate Republicans revealed in their report on the younger Biden’s work in Ukraine.

Baturina is referenced in the 87-page report, which was released Wednesday, addressing her payment to Biden’s investment firm in early 2014.

“Baturina became Russia’s only female billionaire when her plastics company, Inteko, received a series of Moscow municipal contracts while her husband was mayor,” it said in providing background on the businesswoman.

The report described her involvement with Biden as “a financial relationship,” but declined to delve deeper into why the wire transfer was made.

The probe also found that Baturina sent 11 wires transfers between May and December 2015 to a bank account belonging to BAK USA, a tech startup that filed for bankruptcy in March 2019.

Nine of those 11 wire transfers were first sent to Rosemont Seneca Partners, the investment firm founded by Biden and Chris Heinz, stepson of former Secretary of State John Kerry, before being transferred to BAK USA.

Hunter Biden received $3.5M wire transfer from Russian billionaire: Senate report

Hunter Biden received a $3.5 million wire transfer from Elena Baturina, the richest woman in Russia and the widow of Yury Luzhkov, the former mayor of Moscow, Senate Republicans revealed in their r…

nypost.com

We all know their is massive corruption on both sides of the aisle. Here is an alleged allegation against Hunter Biden who was allegedly enriching himself because his Dad was Vice President.

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I don't think this is technically accurate.

Their report states that as a summary, but the actual facts are spelled out a bit differently. A company he co-founded received a consulting payment of $3.5M, but I didn't see anything tying that money directly to Hunter.

UncleTrvlingJim said:

Which is? Hunter isn't an elected official, Trump is, so there is an obvious difference there, but what are you saying that Hunter did that Trump is accused of.

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Do you think Hunter would have received millions of dollars if his dad wasn't Vice President? They were obviously buying influence with Joe Biden.

SaintForLife said:

Do you think Hunter would have received millions of dollars if his dad wasn't Vice President? They were obviously buying influence with Joe Biden.

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Do you really think going down the pay to play path looks good for Trump?

I do think Hunter is clearly cashing in on the family name, just like Don Jr, Eric and Ivanka do. Just like many children do. But I don't think there is anything that implicates Biden.

SaintForLife said:

Come on. You edited your post after I made mine

According to who?


Just to be clear. You are saying that people enriching themselves because of their family connections to politicians and not due to their qualifications is not corruption?

The national media ignores the family members enriching themselves based on their family's political connections. Do you think that the national media covers that consistently?

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Isn’t the NY Post national media even though it is a tabloid. Who get mentioned in what depends on the channels you watch or the websites you read.

SaintForLife said:

Do you think Hunter would have received millions of dollars if his dad wasn't Vice President? They were obviously buying influence with Joe Biden.

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Right, but to prove corruption you have to show that Joe Biden changed his policies to get his son those dollars (and he didn't actually get all that money that is being thrown around right now, but that is splitting hairs, I'm sure he got a decent fee).

People get money based on who they know. It's not great, and less than ideal, but that's sort of the way things work. That isn't corruption. Corruption is selling votes, and policies for personal gain.

So, to show that Joe Biden is corrupt you need to show that he changed his policy to get his son that money. And no one has been able to show that....

Let's take a look at the Burisma "issue". You have to show that Biden took a position he didn't already have and change it so that his son could justify his position on the board. But considering that the position the Obama administration took was consistent with every other Western nation (to remove someone from Ukraine office who was NOT investigating corruption), it's hard to make that case, since it doesn't stick out and was likely going to be the US position regardless right?

Compare that with say Trump's withdrawal of protection of the Kurds. That was a pretty significant change of policy for the US, and at least in my assessment not likely to be the position of any other president. This was something Turkey wanted and Trump has business holdings in Turkey. HOWEVER, even this is hard to prove - even though there is direct financial gain for Trump and a there is a policy departure from standing US policy. After all it's not illegal to believe we should not be in Syria indefinitely, and it is consistent with Trump's stated policy of withdrawing from places he doesn't think we should be. So there isn't really enough there to start an investigation. It isn't illegal for him to own a business in Turkey, and withdrawing support of the Kurds is also not illegal, and we do not have direct evidence of a deal being made.

Now, if you want to support policies to forbid this sort of entanglement, sign me up. Joe Biden has already agreed to not allow his family to do business with foreign entities if he's president (I'm not sure how he can enforce that). Trump has not.