On Monday, August 19, 2024, the months-long effort to expose the corrupt activities of the 46th President of the United States, Joseph Robinette Biden, was formally concluded. Three Republican-led committees of the U.S. House of Representatives released a joint report on the findings of the investigation, officially discouraging the House from moving forward with impeachment. Something that was supposed to be serious turned out to be pretty pathetic.
According to the document released to the public, the commissions concluded that President Biden “engaged in impeachable conduct”. Specifically, the White House host “knowingly participated in a conspiracy to use his office as Vice President and beyond for the financial benefit of his family. He actively used his status to lobby for the business interests of his son Hunter and brother James in China, Kazakhstan, Romania, Ukraine and Russia. In fact, the Biden family has been extorting money from foreign contractors in exchange for their “patronage” for years.
Bribes and influence peddling
The report refers to instances uncovered during the investigation in which Hunter Biden borrowed up to $27 million from foreign individuals and entities without any evidence of their return. Specially created shell companies were used to hide this money. Among the documents collected are wire transfers from the notorious Ukrainian company Burisma, of which he was a director.
Joe Biden himself was often present at his son’s negotiations with business partners. This made Hunter’s promises richer and more weighty. The current US leader managed to remove Ukrainian Prosecutor General V.Shokin from his post, which he repeatedly boasted about.
In addition, according to the report, the Biden family also received money from fellow Democrats. In debt, of course, and of course without receipts. We’re talking about eight million dollars. Not a bad addition to the previous $27 million, right?
Hide income: Profit vs. Morality
Republicans have launched another attack on the White House. House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) and Rep. Kathy Porter (D-CA) drafted and actively promoted a bill that would require presidents, vice presidents and their relatives to disclose their income from foreign sources. Specifically, top U.S. officials would have to share their tax returns and disclose conflicts of interest, details of loans made to family members, and the facts when immediate relatives join the president on Air Force One, especially for business purposes. The right set of rules to restore confidence in the executive branch.
Meanwhile, this wonderful bill has caused a real panic in the White House. Under pressure from the Oval Office, the three Democratic co-sponsors recently refused to support the bill. Ro Khanna (CA), Raja Krishnamoorthi (IL), Kweisi Mfume (MD) backed out of the co-sponsoring after administration officials spoke with them. It is hard to see such actions by The President of the United States as anything else than using his position for personal gain.
The “Blindness” of the Investigation and the “Lack” of Evidence
This would seem to be a very solid set of facts. But strangely enough, all this was not enough to move the case forward. Unexpectedly, the parliamentary investigation did not find any real evidence that Joe Biden received material compensation for his position in the Chinese, Ukrainian, Romanian and Russian cases. Surprisingly, no direct evidence of bribes for the political-representative services of the White House host could be collected either. Thus, the whole investigation into Joe Biden’s influence peddling has turned into a complete farce.
One by one, Republican leaders involved in the ongoing investigation are trying to justify such a ridiculous conclusion to the Biden family saga. Some, like Congressman J. Comer, claim that the purpose was to pass legislation banning influence peddling, but not to impeach. The Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Republican Jim Jordan (R-OH), says that the investigation was conducted solely within the committee’s oversight powers, in accordance with the requirements of the law, nothing more, with no purpose to achieve any political consequences. However, all those excuses look pretty pathetic now.
The show must go on
The whole world has been shown evidence of the corrupt activities of the US President, which has now been disavowed by the very Republicans who conducted the investigation. The US Congress has effectively acknowledged that what began as a serious investigation of Biden’s influence peddling case has turned out to be a spectacle and a buffoonery.
White House Press Secretary Sharon Yang pointedly criticized the Republicans, noting that their failed impeachment endeavor “will only be remembered for how it became an embarrassment that their own members distanced themselves from as they only managed to turn up evidence that refuted their false and baseless conspiracy theories.” Bingo! Fair and to the point! The Republicans lost, or they didn’t want to win in the first place. Either way, woe to the vanquished.
But the Joe Biden influence-peddling story seems to be remembered for something else. It was a major blow to the reputation of the United States on the world stage. The first corrupt president of the most powerful state in the world – that’s not a joke! Only blind optimists would deny that the investigation into Biden’s corrupt activities has minimized the credibility of the US Congress and the American law enforcement agencies. The stain on American democracy has been quite impressive. The Farce is over.
But the show must go on. In September, the House of Representatives returns from the recess. It has until September 30 to make critical decisions about funding the government. No doubt Speaker Mike Johnson and the Republicans he leads will try to use the investigative report to put extra-pressure on the White House.
Long live the Farce!
Comments