Hunter Biden

[FullMonte]

Lost in all the news coverage about what's going on in the US right now is this bit of information.

The Ukrainian government has completed an audit of thousands of case files related to Burisma. Ruslan Ryaboshapka (the prosecutor general), described by Zelenskiy as "100 percent my person" in the July phone call with president Trump said "I specifically asked prosecutors to check especially carefully those facts about Biden's alleged involvement. They answered that there was nothing of the kind."

Not that anyone SHOULD be surprised to find out that Hunter Biden was not implicated in something that was done by the CEO of Burisma in his role as a government employee, that happened two years before Biden joined the board.

Ukrainian prosecutors find no evidence against Hunter Biden

Audit probed energy company Burisma, of which Biden was a board member from 2014-2019

www.theguardian.com

 

[GrandAdmiral]

Shocked I tell you... SHOCKED!!!

/sarcasm

 

[JRad]

It’s just going to shift to “well that’s what Ukraine says”

Which isn’t an entirely unfair stance considering pretty much anything Barr does comes under the same scrutiny.

But this will never be called a witch hunt or waste of taxpayer money regardless of final outcome.

 

[zztop]

going to post this here, in an attempt to keep other non-Hunter topics from getting diluted with this (I know some posters like to bring him up)

IRS whistleblowers lash out at federal officials in fiery Hunter Biden hearing: 5 takeaways

Two whistleblowers, Greg Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, gave Congress their side of the story from the yearslong investigation into Hunter Biden.

www.usatoday.com

 

[zztop]

oh well

Judge refuses to accept Hunter Biden's plea deal after initial agreement falls apart in court

President Joe Biden's son had an unusually dramatic plea hearing Wednesday after his lawyers fought with prosecutors over the course of the deal.

www.businessinsider.com

 

[FullMonte]

oh well

Judge refuses to accept Hunter Biden's plea deal after initial agreement falls apart in court

President Joe Biden's son had an unusually dramatic plea hearing Wednesday after his lawyers fought with prosecutors over the course of the deal.

www.businessinsider.com

And…now he didn’t.

short version:
—Questions were raised about the deal.
—The judge gave the parties 10 minutes to work it out.
—They worked it out and returned.
—Hunter was ready to plead guilty.
—The judge decided she could not accept the agreement, and told both sides to present briefs explaining how the deal is structured.

 

[MT15]

This is a good thread explaining in plain English what happened, I’m only posting 2 tweets, but its worth the look, especially if you want non-conspiracy theory explanations.

 

[DJ1BigTymer]

This is a good thread explaining in plain English what happened, I’m only posting 2 tweets, but its worth the look, especially if you want non-conspiracy theory explanations.

Which is why I shared this belief:

And the Republican's weaponization of the Judicial System continues:

Hunter Biden pleads not guilty after plea deal is derailed

The judge raised concerns over two separate agreements the president's son reached with prosecutors, but the agreement could ultimately be accepted.

www.nbcnews.com

This just guarantees that Republicans can keep bringing up more unsubstantiated crap from their 5 year mission to discredit Joe Biden.

Edit: Hunter pleads Not Guilty as he and his lawyers walks out on the deal. The Judge hearing the case raised a hypothetical question:

...asking if Hunter Biden could face charges for failing to register as a foreign agent and whether the agreement block his prosecution for such a charge. The defense said they believed the agreement would prohibit him from being charged and the prosecution then disagreed.

Hunter Biden's lawyer, Christopher Clark, said to the prosecutor "then we'll rip it up" while discussing the disagreement.

Good. I hope they do go to trial, I can see that trial ending with a lesser result of the previous plea deal.

 

[MT15]

Yeah, the thread I posted said that Hunter pleading guilty to three charges that are almost never brought only seems like a good deal for him if they say that the investigation is over. Otherwise he’s being prosecuted for crimes that almost nobody else ever has to face.

They‘ve had 5 years. That’s enough, IMO. There’s no credible evidence of any crimes at this point. Just let it go.

 

[zztop]

Attorney general appoints a special counsel in Hunter Biden probe, deepening investigation

Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed a special counsel in the Hunter Biden probe, deepening the investigation of the president’s son.

apnews.com

Garland noted the “extraordinary circumstances” of the matter as he made the announcement at the Justice Department. He said that Weiss asked to be appointed to the position and told him that “in his judgment, his investigation has reached a stage at which he should continue his work as a special counsel.”

 

[BullSheetBuddha]

Attorney general appoints a special counsel in Hunter Biden probe, deepening investigation

Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed a special counsel in the Hunter Biden probe, deepening the investigation of the president’s son.

apnews.com

Garland noted the “extraordinary circumstances” of the matter as he made the announcement at the Justice Department. He said that Weiss asked to be appointed to the position and told him that “in his judgment, his investigation has reached a stage at which he should continue his work as a special counsel.”

One thing I like about this is it will stop the Republicans from saying it isn't being taken seriously enough.

 

[coldseat]

One thing I like about this is it will stop the Republicans from saying it isn't being taken seriously enough.

No it won't. They'll keep saying it. When have facts or any type of objective reality mattered to Republicans?

 

[samiam5211]

I will accept whatever conclusion Weiss reaches.

I trust the AG.

 

[UriUT]

Attorney general appoints a special counsel in Hunter Biden probe, deepening investigation

Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed a special counsel in the Hunter Biden probe, deepening the investigation of the president’s son.

apnews.com

Garland noted the “extraordinary circumstances” of the matter as he made the announcement at the Justice Department. He said that Weiss asked to be appointed to the position and told him that “in his judgment, his investigation has reached a stage at which he should continue his work as a special counsel.”

The "extraordinary circumstances" is that the repubs have pushed so many lies and made an ant hill into a mountain. Therefore to appear fair and unbiased, garland will bend over backwards to continue a farce and thus be unfair and bias.

 

[MT15]

The "extraordinary circumstances" is that the repubs have pushed so many lies and made an ant hill into a mountain. Therefore to appear fair and unbiased, garland will bend over backwards to continue a farce and thus be unfair and bias.

We will have to rely on Weiss to be fair. I hope he will be. I hope exculpatory material is brought to light, because the House GOP is just ignoring all of it.

 

[bdb13]

I will accept whatever conclusion Weiss reaches.

I trust the AG.

Why now did Weiss feel his investigation was at this point and what's the actual effective difference now with this transition to a special counsel given that Weiss was already in charge of the investigation.. would be my two questions I think.

 

[rajncajn]

One thing I like about this is it will stop the Republicans from saying it isn't being taken seriously enough.

From the Republicans' perspective, you may as well appoint Hunter's own legal team as special counsel. Weiss being appointed pretty much guarantees this investigation will be dragged out till well past the election after which Hunter (and Joe) will be exonerated of any wrong-doing. Garland is basically rubbing their nose in their own poo and you think they're going to be happy about it?

From the two IRS agents that testified before congress:

During their public testimony, the two men said that throughout the Hunter Biden investigation, decisions were made that benefited the president's son.
The two whistleblowers accuse Delaware Assistant US Attorney Lesley Wolf, an assistant to Mr Weiss, of repeatedly blocking further investigation into Hunter Biden. They say she denied a request for a search warrant of Joe Biden's Wilmington home, where Hunter Biden kept some of his financial records, citing "optics".
They say she also prevented investigators from asking about Joe Biden's connection to his son's finances and denied a request to interview Mr Biden's adult grandchildren about their connections to deductions claimed on Hunter Biden's tax returns.

She informed Mr Biden's lawyers that investigators were interested in documents contained in a rented northern Virginia storage unit, allowing Mr Biden the opportunity to access the unit before investigators could take action, they say.
"I have reason to believe that there was gross mismanagement present throughout the investigation, that there was a gross waste of funds relating to the tax dollars spent on investigation this case and that there was an abuse of authority," said Mr Zielger during his testimony.
Mr Shapley said that the IRS had largely concluded its investigation by the end of 2021 and recommended that Hunter Biden be charged with multiple tax fraud felonies. The agency officially referred those conclusions to US government attorneys in Washington DC, in February 2022, and in California in September 2022. Neither took action.
Ultimately, Mr Weiss brought charges against Mr Biden as part of a plea deal - but for misdemeanours that carry no prison time, not the felonies the IRS investigators recommended.

In a 7 October 2022 meeting, Mr Shapley described how Mr Weiss told a group of senior IRS and FBI officials that he "was not the deciding person on whether charges are filed". Mr Shapley documented the meeting, which he attended, in an email later that day to an IRS colleague.
"That was my red line," Mr Shapley said during his Oversight Committee testimony. "The justice department allowed the president's political appointees to weigh in on whether to charge the president's son."

He said the following month, the statute of limitations was allowed to lapse on Hunter Biden's 2014 and 2015 tax returns, even though prosecutors could have sought an extension.

I can't see ANY Republican thinking Weiss being appointed is a good thing.

 

[MT15]

From the Republicans' perspective, you may as well appoint Hunter's own legal team as special counsel. Weiss being appointed pretty much guarantees this investigation will be dragged out till well past the election after which Hunter (and Joe) will be exonerated of any wrong-doing. Garland is basically rubbing their nose in their own poo and you think they're going to be happy about it?

From the two IRS agents that testified before congress:



I can't see ANY Republican thinking this is a good thing.

Well, to be fair, all the Rs care about is smearing Joe, they don’t actually give a shirt about a president‘s relatives profiting from foreign companies. They don’t even care if their allegations are true, as long as they get to yell about them over and over.

Here is one thing I’ve never got an answer to: why do Rs think Weiss (a lifelong R and Trump appointee) is corrupt?