by Thomas Gallatin: The New York Post's continuing bombshell story of emails found on a laptop presumably owned by Hunter Biden serves to confirm what everyone already knew — that Hunter was profiting from his father's name and political position as the vice president. What we learn from the latest emails is that Joe Biden was quite aware of Hunter's shady arrangements and likely placated to some degree the foreign companies who "hired" Hunter. In short, it's a pay-for-play corruption scandal, as Hunter Biden was hired in order to buy influence with Joe Biden. Exhibit A is Joe Biden's quid pro quo pressure move to get Ukraine's then-president to fire the country's top prosecutor, effectively ensuring that no investigation would be leveled against Burisma, the energy company for which Hunter sat on the board. And Exhibit B may be recovered emails reported in a second New York Post story. The Post says, "Hunter Biden pursued lucrative deals involving China's largest private energy company — including one that he said would be 'interesting for me and my family.'" The emails include the reference "10 held by H for the big guy." Presumably "H" is Hunter; could "the big guy" be Joe Biden?
Once again, the information and rumors surrounding the Bidens' shady dealings with Chinese companies is not new news, but the emails, if authentic, add greater weight to claims of the Bidens' corruption.
However, what may be the bigger scandal brewing has an all-too-familiar ring to it: What did the FBI know, and when did they know it? According to the Post's reporting, the FBI was alerted to and subsequently seized the laptop in question in December 2019 — smack in the middle of the Democrats' impeachment charade. Should the contents of the laptop prove to be authentic, then it serves to undercut the Democrats' sham claims against President Donald Trump. While Democrats were impeaching Trump for a phone call about the Bidens' corruption, did the FBI sit on information about that corruption?
On Thursday, House Republicans sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray demanding answers. The "most concerning" part of the Post's report, say these Republicans, was that the FBI "was in possession of this computer and hard drive back in December 2019" and a "large portion of the President's legal defense case revolved around strong evidence that former Vice President Biden's son, Hunter, was peddling his influence to his father to land lucrative jobs overseas that he might not have otherwise been qualified for."
The strange and questionable manner surrounding the laptop's discovery cautions against jumping all-in on this scandal before more digging is done. That said, should the information prove to be credible and the FBI sat on it, then heads need to roll. ----------------------Thomas Gallatin is a staff analyst at The Patriot Post.
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