Biden’s inner circle deeply involved with family’s business dealings: report

Posted on by Latest Political News on Fox News

President Biden has long attempted to distance himself from his family’s business dealings as he ran for and eventually became president, but a new report details just how involved those in the president’s inner circle have been in Biden family ventures.

Biden has shared a personal bookkeeper with this son, Hunter Biden, a personal lawyer with this brother, Jim Biden, and the former head of then-Vice President Biden’s Secret Service detail helped Jim Biden investigate a potential Chinese business partner, according to a report from Politico.

While the Bidens have long said they observe strict "firewalls" when it comes to discussing business with each other, the Politico report details just how involved those in the president’s orbit have been in dealings with Hunter and Jim Biden.

In one case, the president’s brother, Jim Biden, hired the head of the former vice president’s Secret Service detail, Dale Pupillo, to investigate a Chinese executive the president’s son, Hunter Biden, was traveling to meet in 2017.

TOP CHAOTIC MOMENTS FROM THE HOUSE OVERSIGHT HEARING INTO BIDEN FAMILY'S 'INFLUENCE PEDDLING'

The president’s brother stressed during the February impeachment inquiry that he personally commissioned the investigation into the executive so that he was not going into the situation blind, but insisted he did not know the details of the potential venture being led by his nephew.

"I wanted to know who I was meeting with and if there were any complications at all," he said at the impeachment interview, noting that it was common in the Biden family to keep the details of business dealings away from each other.

The executive, Patrick Ho, was later arrested and convicted on federal corruption charges.

The Politico report notes that Jim Biden had a long habit of tapping those connected to his powerful older brother. In one case, in 1975, during Joe Biden’s first Senate term, Jim Biden secured a loan from the senator’s old law firm, Walsh, Monzack & Owens, to help fund his nightclub business.

One of those partners, Mel Monzack, has gone on to serve as the president’s personal attorney and campaign treasurer. Monzack’s current firm has also served as the registered agent for the president’s personal S Corporation, CelticCapri, which handles income from activities such as writing and speaking fees.

GOP LAWMAKER SAYS REPUBLICANS ‘DON’T HAVE THE GUTS’ TO IMPEACH BIDEN

Monzack has also served as Jim Biden’s personal attorney, helping to negotiate a proposed deal that would have given the president’s brother’s company a 35% stake in the Americore hospital chain.

While the deal fell through, Monzack’s involvement raised questions, though Jim Biden has insisted he does not have knowledge of the attorney’s arrangement with President Biden.

"I don’t have the full depth of what he does or doesn’t do," he said in February. "But I know that he’s intricately involved and has been, you know, for the last 40 or 50 years."

Another close associate of President Biden, body man Fran Person, stayed involved with Hunter Biden after leaving government in 2014. Emails showed that Person, who the Bidens have said became like a son to them over the course of Joe Biden’s service in the Senate and as vice president, pitched Hunter Biden on a plan to develop SeaWorld parks in China in a deal between Person’s business and the state-owned Chinese Development Bank in 2015.

WhatsApp messages that were revealed as part of an IRS investigation into Hunter Biden’s tax matters also showed conversations between Person and Hunter Biden, including conversations in which Person told Hunter Biden his Chinese business partner, Bo Zhang, was eager to help the president’s son overcome his growing financial troubles.

GOP LAWMAKER SAYS REPUBLICANS ‘DON’T HAVE THE GUTS’ TO IMPEACH BIDEN

The Politico report also detailed the role another Hunter Biden business partner, personal bookkeeper Eric Schwerin, played in the family, with President Biden leaning on the bookkeeper to handle his own finances.

Nevertheless, Schwerin testified during the impeachment inquiry that there was no intermingling between the president and his son’s finances.

The connection between the president’s orbit and his family even extended to President Biden’s personal physician, Army doctor Kevin O’Connor. O’Connor served as then-Vice President Biden’s personal physician and grew close to Biden throughout his time in the Biden administration. The doctor now serves as Biden’s White House physician, the report notes.

In between those two roles, the president’s brother, Jim Biden, sought O’Connor’s help as part of his proposed Americore deal. According to the report, the president’s brother wanted to partner with the Veterans Affairs Department "to use vacant space at rural hospitals to treat veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder."

The White House did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.

Running for Congress: Pooch leads police, reporter and Senate staffers on hairy rush-hour chase around Capitol

Posted on by Latest Political News on Fox News

I thought it was a jogger at first.

Someone clad in black ran up the sidewalk on the north side of Constitution Avenue, just across from the Senate side of the U.S. Capitol. 

But it was too fast for a jogger. There was an urgency.

This was a female U.S. Capitol Police officer, wearing a thick tactical vest. A radio pack and other police equipment sprouted from the front. Then yelling. 

Then three other Capitol Police officers charged up Capitol Hill, knees churning. 

Police radios crackled. Something was terribly wrong. 

WOMAN DISCOVERS HER DOG IS ALIVE AND UP FOR ADOPTION AFTER 'PUTTING HIM DOWN'

A security issue? A terrorist threat? Someone with a gun? A bomb?

It was something else.

A scruffy, brown and gray terrier scurried up the hill, with no leash. It darted between cars during the pm rush hour on Constitution Avenue. 

The dark pavement respirated petrichor on this sticky June day. A stray shower had just bathed the street, charging the air with moisture in the way Washingtonians know all too well during warmer months. 

But it was about to become a dog day afternoon.

The loose pooch charged toward the Russell Senate Office Building. But then haphazardly hopscotched across the bustling roadway — eluding vehicles like an ‘80s arcade master playing Frogger.

The dog artfully dodged the cars. But the canine risked getting KO-ed.

That’s when I realized the mutt was heading toward me on the Capitol side of the street.

He made a dogleg turn and loped toward the Capitol. 

MISSING DOG RESCUED AFTER SPENDING 18 HOURS STRANDED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE HIGHWAY: OWNER WAS 'PANICKED’

I had just gotten off the air — delivering a live report on Bret Baier’s program about criminal referrals for Hunter Biden and James Biden by a trio of House committees. It was around 6:25 pm and I was walking to my car. I dropped my lunch pouch on the sidewalk and inched toward the street between two parked cars. I crouched down, arms extended and hands sagging toward the ground, like a soccer goalkeeper about to challenge a breakaway at the front of the penalty area.

Things were looking up. Anything to get the dog out of the street. A pursuit would be much easier on the Capitol square side of the Congressional complex. The U.S. Capitol rests atop a 60-acre expanse of lush open areas, bushes, leafy trees, park benches, accentuated by twisting footpaths. This would be safer for the dog than having it lope around Constitution Avenue.

The pup spotted me.

Zoooosh!

He made a hard right and galloped into the gulley between where cars were parked on Constitution and the curb. There’s a raised, concrete barrier between the curb and the grass. It was too high for the dog to make it onto the Capitol square. Now he had reversed course and was running back down Capitol Hill.

"Help!" I yelled at an oblivious woman talking on her phone next to one of the parked cars. "Get that dog!"

She looked up just as he ran over her beige mules and zipped back into the street.

Oh no. 

By that point, several of the officers who joined the chase on the north side of street had now run over to the south side near the Capitol with me. Fortunately, no traffic was headed up the hill on Constitution as the dog loped down the hill. He undulated back and forth across the six lanes of roadway like running between agility obstacles at the American Kennel Club dog show at Madison Square Garden.

DOG RESCUED AFTER BEING CHASED OFF ‘STEEP CLIFFSIDE’ BY RACCOONS: VIDEO 

I took advantage of the break in cars coming up the hill, taking off in a sprint. My blue, striped tie flapped over my shoulder. My TV IFB cable was still connected to my earpiece and draped down my back from the live shot. 

"Stop traffic!" I yelled behind me to the trailing officers.

I peaked over my shoulder and saw a few cars creeping slowly in the westward lanes down the hill. The drivers obviously saw the commotion, spotting the contingent of uniformed officers running in the street. 

Now the dog was drifting toward the north side of the hill, toward the lower end of the Russell Senate Park and the Robert A. Taft Memorial and Carillon. 

Exhausted and scared, the terrier sought refuge under a parked car on the north side of the street. Someone must have called to shut off traffic on the radio because there was no traffic advancing in the far lane toward us. I could see a wave of traffic clustering at the foot of Capitol Hill, backing up toward the Department of Labor. An officer who is assigned to the post at the corner of Constitution and 1st St., NW, stood in the middle of the roadway, halting the cars. 

I get to the rear of the car and drop down to my knees. The dog is there. One officer slides up by the driver’s side and drops to the ground, peeking under the vehicle.

But all that did was flush our quarry. The dog escaped because there was only two of us surrounding the car. There was no way to trap him or grab ahold of a leg or a collar. 

There he goes again, tiny legs pumping like miniature pistons as he races back up the hill and toward the Capitol side of the street. The dog crisscrosses lanes like a manic commuter on the Beltway. Fortunately, there was no traffic now. So the roadway was clear for the dog to bolt away and slip under a gunmetal-colored Toyota sedan with Maryland tags parked behind a maroon Acura SUV. 

Four officers charged from the grassy hillside of the Capitol square toward the vehicle. Another three ran down the hill, including the original officer in the tactical vest. Two officers approach the car from the south side of the street along with yours truly. Two Senate aides are now involved. One in a long skirt and another wearing a tie so orange it resembles the Tampa Bay Buccaneers colors of the 1970s. His white, oxford dress shirt now spills over the top of his belt, apparently from his part in the pawchase. 

Almost everyone drops to their stomachs, reaching under the car for the little guy, flailing around. It will be hard for him to dash away this time. Every corner of the vehicle is now covered. Two officers in the street stand back a few feet, hands on knees like a third baseman guarding the foul line. They’re backup – ready to grab the wayward dog if he somehow escapes again.

I’m on the ground, my right arm outstretched under the driver’s side. I can smell the fresh rain from the greasy pavement. An officer on the passenger’s side somehow clasps the collar. But the pup wiggles out of it. I poke at it from my side, trying to flush it toward the curb. Finally a mustachioed officer in a U.S. Capitol Police ballcap manages to pull the pooch out from under the car on the curbside.

"F---!" shouts the officer, nipped almost immediately by the petrified dog.

No good deed ever goes unpunished.

"F---!" yells the officer again, grimacing.

He unceremoniously hands the dog to another uniformed officer and inspects his right hand.

That officer in turn gives the panting pup to what appeared to be a plainclothes officer who arrived on the scene wearing shorts and a bandanna. He pulls the hound close to his chest and cuddles it. The dog began to relax. 

Unfortunately, there was no tag attached to the collar. But there was a report of a missing dog in the area. It’s believed there’s a microchip embedded in its neck for identification purposes.

Everyone is grinning. But gasping for breath. Beads of sweat glisten and slip down cheekbones. It was four minutes of an intense, aerobic pursuit. Considering all of the direction changes, it’s a wonder no one turned an ankle or tore an ACL. The officer in the tactical vest is now smiling. Laughing, even. 

The quest has ended. The dog is safe. The officers re-open Constitution Avenue to traffic. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., was riding in one of the stalled vehicles and hollers something out the window, having witnessed the entire episode.

Harry Truman famously declared that "if you want a friend in Washington, get a dog."

Dogs may be man’s best friend. And if you’re a dog in Washington, perhaps your best friends are the U.S. Capitol Police. 

Trump plans to grab the power of the purse from Congress

Posted on by Mark Sumner

The Constitution gives the power to allocate federal funding to Congress, but Donald Trump isn’t about to let that stop him. Trump has made no secret that he wants to restore presidential impoundment, a power that has been severely limited since 1974, and seize the power of the purse away from Congress.

As The Washington Post reports, Trump’s ambitions go beyond just bringing back a power that was limited after Richard Nixon abused it to shut down programs he didn’t like, such as blocking billions Congress had authorized for subsidized housing. Presidential impoundment is both a sword and a scalpel, capable of eliminating entire departments or taking out individual programs.

Trump has already made it clear he means to purge the federal government, dismantle existing agencies, and replace career federal employees with an army of supporters loyal only to Trump. He’s also determined to turn the Department of Justice and FBI into agents of his retribution, allowing him to round up and imprison political opponents. And those are just a few of the choice pieces of destruction laid out by Trump and his cohorts in their 887-page Project 2025 playbook.

But even with Republicans in Congress shedding every member not committed to the MAGA cause, Trump still would not have every lever of power in his tiny hands so long as Congress can determine the spending. So he wants to end that control.

“Presidential Impoundment”—refusing to spend money authorized by Congress—was a power that had been exercised by many presidents going back to Thomas Jefferson, but most instances involved small amounts and concerns over funds that were duplicated or in conflict. It wasn’t until Nixon began treating the impoundment power as a kind of line-item veto, blocking tens of billions from programs that didn’t fit his agenda, that Congress took action to limit this power by passing the Impoundment Control Act of 1974.

Ending this act has become part of the right-wing agenda to create a powerful authoritarian president. The Federalist Society insists that the 1974 act ended the president’s “constitutional spending authority,” though no such authority exists in the Constitution. Bringing back impoundments is also part of Project 2025.

Trump already attempted to violate the Impoundment Control Act during his first time in office. That includes the events leading up to his first impeachment when he illegally impounded funds that had been authorized for Ukraine.

In 2023, Trump gave a speech making clear that he wants to end controls on impoundments to strangle any program he doesn’t like.

“I will then use the president’s long-recognized Impoundment Power to squeeze the bloated federal bureaucracy for massive savings,” Trump said in a video address now posted to his campaign site. 

Unlimited use of the Impoundment Act goes well beyond even the authority of a line-item veto. It would allow Trump to halt funds at any time to inflict pain or apply pressure. It’s easy to see how this program might be used to force a weakened Congress into signing on to legislation provided by Trump, to slice out programs that had fallen out of favor, or to destroy whole departments. It’s hard to see how Congress could negotiate any kind of meaningful legislation when Trump could come in and selectively block funding. 

It’s not hard to see how this could be an extension of Trump’s ability to punish his enemies, especially in the wake of calls to “defund” the entire state of New York following Trump’s felony conviction on 34 counts in a Manhattan courtroom. It’s an idea that seems laughable … until you add impoundment.

A limited presidential impoundment ability was arguably beneficial over the nation’s first 200 years. However, it was unsupported by anything in the Constitution and lost in the only case in which it was directly challenged in the Supreme Court. That doesn’t mean that it would lose now, with a Republican-dominated court that seems anxious to hand Trump all the authority he wants. 

An unlimited presidential impoundment authority isn’t a “budgetary issue.” It’s full control of the entire government. Which is exactly why it’s on Trump’s agenda.

RELATED STORIES:

The GOP is determined to weaponize the Department of Justice

Trump’s ‘jokes’ about climate change are no laughing matter

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Fox News Politics: Potential Perjury

Posted on by Latest Political News on Fox News

Welcome to Fox News’ Politics newsletter with the latest political news from Washington D.C. and updates from the 2024 campaign trail. 

What's happening…

- Biden accused of trying to ‘out-Republican Republicans’

- Squad Democrats furious over Netanyahu invitation to congress

- Trump catching up to Biden on fundraising

As Hunter Biden faces criminal gun charges in Delaware, House Republicans are sending criminal referrals to the Justice Department recommending that the president's son and brother be charged with making false statements to Congress about "key aspects" of the impeachment inquiry of President Biden, Fox News Digital has learned. 

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., who have been leading the inquiry, sent the criminal referrals of Hunter Biden and James Biden to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Special Counsel David Weiss on Wednesday, saying the alleged false statements "implicate Joe Biden’s knowledge and role in his family’s influence peddling schemes and appear to be a calculated effort to shield Joe Biden from the impeachment inquiry." 

‘LIKE A SON’: Former top Biden adviser with deep business ties to China spotted inside Hunter Biden gun trial …Read more

'MISTAKE': Biden accused by own party of 'trying to out-Republican the Republicans' on border …Read more

'HE ADMIRES DICTATORS': Kamala Harris tells Jimmy Kimmel that he's right to be worried about what Trump could do to him …Read more

'THIS IS JOE BIDEN': Biden's old age concerns aren't 'going away' soon, CNN reporter says …Read more

'FOUR MORE YEARS, PAUSE': 5 recent gaffes by President Biden …Read more

'NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUE': Former WH doctor raises alarms on Biden's mental state after WSJ report …Read more

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'TOO MUCH AT STAKE': Nancy Mace confronts House Republican who endorsed her opponent …Read more

'SECOND' MATTERS: Lawmakers invoke Hunter Biden in gun law chats …Read more

'IT'S ABSURD': 'It's absurd': Congress takes bipartisan action after Cuban officials' tour secure parts of major airport …Read more

'FULL OF IT': Possible McConnell replacement takes Democrat IVF claims head on with major announcement …Read more

SUPREME ETHICS: Dems accused of ethics violations after demanding Justice Alito recusal …Read more

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'ACCUSED WAR CRIMINAL': Squad Dems furious at Netanyahu being invited to Congress …Read more

LEFT OUT: 'The View' co-host warns Biden will 'lose' if he lives in fear of the left-wing …Read more

'TRUST OF VOTERS': New Mexico DA who indicted Alec Baldwin fends off primary challenge …Read more

MAGA MUDSLINGING: Brutal swing state primary takes center stage as accusations of ‘disloyalty’ to Trump swirl …Read more

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PARTY OVER CLIMATE: NY's Dem governor indefinitely halts congestion pricing plan reportedly over November concerns …Read more

Subscribe now to get Fox News Politics newsletter in your inbox.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.

House GOP wants to prosecute Biden’s family days after Trump conviction

Posted on by Mark Sumner

Republican Reps. James Comer, Jim Jordan, and Jason Smith announced on Wednesday that they are referring President Joe Biden’s son Hunter and brother James for "criminal prosecution" to the Department of Justice. The referral accuses Hunter and James of “making false statements to Congress.”

The announcement wasn’t exactly a surprise, as GOP hard-liners had already laid out a “payback plan” to help Donald Trump following his conviction last week on 34 felony counts. As Politico reported on Tuesday, the criminal referrals were something that Comer, Jordan, and Smith could push through without support from other House members, since even some of their fellow Republicans are skeptical of their stunt “investigations.”

Ever since gaining control of the House, Republicans have conducted multiple simultaneous inquiries into every member of Biden's extended family. The original plan was to gift Trump with a Joe Biden impeachment so that Trump could feel better about having been impeached (twice). But that plan fizzled out badly after the kangaroo court that went after Biden displayed hilarious levels of incompetence. 

Now the House GOP’s Turgid Trio has produced a sorry document riddled with debunked claims, half-truths, and outright lies.

The announcement blares that Comer & Co. have tracked millions of ill-begotten dollars to members of Biden's family, "related companies," and "business associates"—which actually means this was a game of Six Degrees of Separation in which Republicans claimed that every transaction, no matter how remote, was tied to "Chinese money.”

It seems unlikely that the public will be very interested in how unspecified entities did business with something called Rosemont Seneca Bohai, LLC, which also had business with Hunter Biden, and how Hunter may have mistakenly sent texts to the wrong person, which could be read as implying his father was present. Only he wasn’t.

Or how James Biden made money at his business and later repaid his brother for a small personal loan. The trio insists this was Chinese money because someone paid someone who paid someone who paid James Biden who paid back Joe Biden.

By that standard, isn’t it all Chinese money, or Russian money, or whatever anyone wants to claim?

Another charge against James Biden claims that someone named Tony Bobulinski remembered James being at a meeting that he said he didn’t attend. Not that his presence or absence at the meeting made a whit of difference—this was just all that Comer, Jordan, and Smith could find by combing through hours of testimony and looking for contradictions.

Maybe in some deep-cut version of “Fox & Friends,” Bobulinski is a star and Rosemont Seneca is on everyone’s tongue. But outside that pocket universe, all of this is simply malarkey, to borrow one of Joe Biden’s favorite terms.

This latest stunt is mostly an excuse for Comer and Jordan to grab air time and distract Fox News viewers with talk about the "Biden crime family" in hopes of making a false equivalence to Trump's very real felony conviction.

It’s a very, very, very good bet that Attorney General Merrick Garland won’t jump on these referrals, because the evidence is unimaginably weak and the document attached to the charges contains far more lies than any alleged wrongdoing by Hunter or James Biden. But for the Republican trio, that’s also a part of the plan.

Because when the DOJ rightly ignores these nonsense charges, they'll get to make fresh complaints about Biden, Merrick Garland, and the "weaponized" justice system.

It’s all hogwash. But doing all they can to ingratiate themselves with Trump is the House GOP’s No. 1 job, after all.

Donald Trump was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records on May 30. What are potential voters saying about this historic news? And what is the Biden-Harris campaign doing now that the “teflon Don" is no more?

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House Republicans refer Hunter Biden, James Biden for criminal prosecution amid impeachment inquiry

Posted on by Latest Political News on Fox News

FIRST ON FOX: House Republicans are sending criminal referrals to the Justice Department recommending Hunter Biden and James Biden be charged with making false statements to Congress about "key aspects" of the impeachment inquiry of President Biden, Fox News Digital has learned. 

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., who have been leading the inquiry, sent the criminal referrals to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Special Counsel David Weiss on Wednesday, saying the alleged false statements "implicate Joe Biden’s knowledge and role in his family’s influence peddling schemes and appear to be a calculated effort to shield Joe Biden from the impeachment inquiry." 

HOUSE GOP CLAIMS HUNTER BIDEN LIED UNDER OATH MULTIPLE TIMES DURING CONGRESSIONAL DEPOSITION

Attached to the letter are 60 pages of records supporting their referral. 

House Republicans allege Hunter Biden "falsely distanced himself from a corporate entity – Rosemont Seneca Bohai, LLC – and its bank account (Rosemont Seneca Bohai Bank Account) that was the recipient of millions of dollars from foreign individuals and foreign entities who met with then-Vice President Biden before and after transmitting money to the Rosemont Seneca Bohai Bank Account that then transferred funds to Hunter Biden." 

"Hunter Biden made additional false statements as to whether he held positions at Rosemont Seneca Bohai, LLC. After deposing Hunter Biden, the Committees obtained documents showing Hunter Biden represented that he was the corporate secretary," they wrote. "Additionally, Hunter Biden during his testimony relayed an entirely fictitious account about threatening text messages he sent to his Chinese business partner while invoking his father’s presence with him as he wrote the messages. Hunter Biden told the Oversight Committee and the Judiciary Committee he had transmitted this threat to an unrelated individual with the same surname. However, documents released by the Committee on Ways and Means demonstrate conclusively that Hunter Biden made this threat to the intended individual, and bank records prove Hunter Biden’s Chinese business partners wired millions of dollars to him after his threat." 

They added: "A portion of the proceeds has been traced to Joe Biden’s bank account."

As for James Biden, House Republicans said he "stated unequivocally during his transcribed interview that Joe Biden did not meet with Mr. Tony Bobulinski, a business associate of James and Hunter Biden, in 2017 while pursuing a deal with a Chinese entity, CEFC China Energy." 

"Specifically, James Biden stated he did not attend a meeting with Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, and Tony Bobulinski on May 2, 2017 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. These statements were contradicted not only by Mr. Bobulinski, but Hunter Biden."

"Mr. Bobulinski also produced text messages that establish the events leading up to and immediately following his meeting with Joe Biden on May 2, 2017," they wrote. 

House Republicans said, "Hunter Biden and James Biden made materially false statements to the Oversight Committee and the Judiciary Committee, as demonstrated by the evidence presented in the attached referral." 

"The nature of these false statements is not lost on the Committees: every instance implicates Joe Biden’s knowledge of and role in his family’s influence peddling," they wrote. 

COMER INVITES BIDEN TO TESTIFY PUBLICLY AS PART OF HOUSE IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY

"Hunter Biden denying his affiliation with the Rosemont Seneca Bohai Bank Account obfuscates the account to which foreign individuals who met with Joe Biden transmitted funds. Similarly, Hunter Biden creating from whole cloth a fiction in which he transmitted a threat to the wrong individual appears to be an attempt to hide the fact that invoking Joe Biden succeeded in coercing his Chinese partners to send him money," they wrote. "It also calls into doubt Hunter Biden’s other testimony about that event, such as his contention that his father was not, in fact, sitting next to him when he transmitted the message." 

They also said James Biden’s "denial that Joe Biden’s meeting with James Biden, Hunter Biden, and Hunter Biden’s business associate for a Chinese transaction, Tony Bobulinski, took place – despite evidence being placed in front of him and being given multiple opportunities to amend his response – appears to be a clumsy attempt to protect Joe Biden from the reality that Joe Biden has indeed met with his family’s business associates." 

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Comer said Republicans' investigation "has revealed President Biden knew about, participated in, and benefitted from his family cashing in on the Biden name around the world." 

"Despite this record of evidence, President Biden continues to lie to the American people about his involvement in these influence-peddling schemes. It appears making false statements runs in the Biden family," he said, adding that lawmakers have "caught President Biden’s son and brother making blatant lies to Congress in what appears to be a concerted effort to hide Joe Biden’s involvement in his family’s schemes." 

"As part of our efforts to hold the Bidens accountable for profiting off public office, we are today referring Hunter and James Biden to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution for making false statements to Congress," Comer said. 

He added: "This is not the end of our efforts to hold the Bidens accountable; it’s only the beginning." 

"Lying to Congress is a serious crime with serious consequences. Both Hunter and James Biden did just that," Jordan said. "They lied to coverup President Biden’s involvement in their family’s international influence peddling schemes that have generated millions of dollars." 

Jordan said the criminal referrals are "a reflection of criminal wrongdoing by the Biden family, and the Department of Justice must take steps to hold the Bidens accountable." 

Last month, Ways and Means Chairman Smith held a mark-up session to discuss documents protected under IRS code 6103 – a portion of the tax code that keeps certain information confidential. Discussing that material without it being properly released by the Ways and Means Committee is considered a felony. 

HOUSE OVERSIGHT RELEASES JAMES BIDEN'S DEPOSITION TRANSCRIPT AS IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY MOVES INTO 'NEXT PHASE'

The panel voted to release that information. Included were records Smith said prove "indisputably" that Hunter Biden lied under oath multiple times during his congressional deposition earlier this year. 

"President Biden claims no one is above the law. We will soon see his Department of Justice put that principle to the test," Smith said Wednesday. "Congress cannot allow anyone, not even the president’s son or his brother, to stand in the way of its oversight of the executive branch or deny the American people the accountability they deserve." 

Smith said IRS whistleblowers "have provided indisputable evidence that Hunter Biden broke the law and lied to Congress during his February deposition." 

FLASHBACK: HUNTER BIDEN IN 2017 SENT 'BEST WISHES' FROM 'ENTIRE BIDEN FAMILY' TO CHINA FIRM CHAIRMAN, REQUESTED $10M WIRE

Smith maintained that "lying to Congress to impede an ongoing congressional investigation is a serious crime." 

"If the Department of Justice fails to act on our criminal referral and hold Hunter Biden accountable, they will once again be telling the American people there are two tiers of justice in this country," Smith said. "One for the wealthy and politically connected, and one for everyone else." 

House Republicans are continuing their impeachment inquiry against the president. They are investigating his role and knowledge of his family’s international influence-peddling schemes that they say generated more than $18 million for Biden family members and their companies, and more than $27 million, when including the payments to their business associates, who they say were often used to transfer funds to Biden family members. 

Hunter Biden is currently on trial stemming from federal gun charges brought against him by Special Counsel David Weiss. He pleaded not guilty. 

Weiss also charged the first son with federal tax crimes. That trial is set to begin on Sept. 5 with jury selection in California. Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty. 

Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: As goes the swing voter, so goes the election—Part II

Posted on by Greg Dworkin

Abbreviated Pundit Roundup is a long-running series published every morning that collects essential political discussion and analysis around the internet.

New York Times:

‘Antihero’ or ‘Felon’: 11 Undecided Voters Struggle With How to See Trump Post-Verdict

Ben, you’re up. Can you explain why undecided?

Ben, 42, Texas, white, college adviser

A couple people have mentioned a massive judicial conspiracy of everybody going after him. OK, let’s talk conspiracy math here. The sheer number of people who would have to be working together to get something like this working just boggles the mind. And have you ever tried to get four people to agree on what to order for pizza? I just don’t see this working out. And at the end of the day, OK, fine. OK, I’m going to side with Jonathan on this one, saying, what’s the big deal about bribing Stormy Daniels? But I want a president who’s going to be able to cover up a $130,000 bribe to Daniels. If he can’t pull that off, I’m not going to trust him with the nuclear football. This seems like such an easy thing for him to screw up. I’m kind of leaning toward Biden now.

Well, okay then. So long as it’s about policy.

From that story, five of the eleven are leaning Biden, 3 Trump, the other 3 RFK, Jr or won’t vote.

Democratic strategist @celindalake on the Trump convictions: Ds need more repetition, a louder echo chamber, responses to upcoming events (sentencing, appeal, convention) all through a "character matters" lens. Thanks @GregTSargent for this conversation. https://t.co/eeMa38lL6W

— Jill Lawrence (@JillDLawrence) June 5, 2024

NBC News:

Biden calls Trump a 'convicted felon' who 'snapped' after the 2020 election

The president also called Trump, who was found guilty last week in his New York criminal trial, "unhinged."

“It’s reckless, it’s dangerous, it’s irresponsible for anyone to say this was rigged just because they don’t like the verdict,” Biden told reporters at the White House last week.

Biden made similar remarks Monday, saying, "It's reckless and dangerous for anyone to say that’s rigged just because they don’t like” the outcome.

"Something snapped in this guy for real" after the 2020 election, Biden said. "It’s literally driving him crazy."

Biden also called Trump "unhinged."

(During impeachment) This should be decided at the ballot box! (He loses at the ballot box) (incites a violent mob to storm the capitol) If he broke any laws, that’s up to a jury to decide! (A jury decides he broke a ton of laws) This should be decided at the ballot box!

— Ben Wexler (@mrbenwexler) June 3, 2024

Jill Lawrence/The Bulwark:

The MAGA Education of Larry Hogan The Senate candidate learns the hard way that his party no longer supports the rule of law.

The MAGA hardliners, who don’t represent most of us but are determined nevertheless to be the boss of all of us, are lying in wait. The Senate is particularly easy to muck up and bog down, and they are ready. Ready to block Democratic nominees, legislative priorities, and funds for “partisan lawfare,” which is how they describe bringing charges against Trump. They claim the Biden administration is making “a mockery of the rule of law” and they want revenge: “We are unwilling to aid and abet this White House in its project to tear this country apart.”

As Trump would say, unbelievable. Projection like we’ve never seen.

Hogan’s crash course in MAGA-style politics has gotten a lot more intense in the last few days. He may have a feeling he’s not in Maryland anymore, and he’d be right. Planet MAGA is home for the GOP these days—and Larry Hogan is an alien.

Stephen Collinson/CNN:

Why Biden’s escalation on Trump guilty verdict is so significant

Other Democratic officials have used such rhetoric. But the phrase took on greater force coming from the mouth of the president himself. While Republicans have rallied around Trump since his conviction, it remains unclear how the verdict will go down in swing states where the shift in a few thousand votes could decide November’s election.

Biden’s remark was yet another stunning turn in an election entangled in Trump’s multiple legal threats. It came on a day when the first family was embroiled in its own extraordinary courtroom drama as Biden’s son Hunter became the first child of a sitting president to go on trial. The younger Biden has pleaded not guilty to charges of buying and possessing a gun illegally while addicted to or abusing drugs. He also faces a tax trial in September.

Last week, Biden noted that Trump had been convicted on 34 felony counts and said it was “reckless … dangerous … and irresponsible” for his opponent to say the verdict was rigged. Presidential remarks in off-camera fundraisers can often serve as a test bed for rhetoric that later emerges in public events. But Biden’s sharpened tone will certainly lead to accusations by the Trump campaign that the former president’s conviction came after a process of political weaponization of the justice system.

The fake elector scandal has racked up indictment totals unseen since Watergate and Iran-Contra: - Arizona: 18 were indicted - Georgia: 19 were indicted - Michigan: 16 were indicted - Nevada: Six were indicted - Wisconsin: Three were indicted this morning https://t.co/OdsH8nK4nu

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen) June 4, 2024

John Stoehr/The Editorial Board:

Will a felony conviction hurt Trump? Yes! Just listen to him!

The man's practically howling in pain, but some people still wonder

For the most part, all this wondering comes from very clever people who are paid very handsome salaries to wonder aloud about things, even in the face of plain reality that should end all the wondering.

I’m talking, of course, about members of the Washington press and pundit corps, even some liberals, who want more than anything else to get your attention. They can’t do that as well as they would like if the contours of the election align with normal common sense. It’s normally very bad for a convicted felon to run for president, but it’s more fun, and perhaps more lucrative, to pretend the opposite could be normal.

Political reporters are probably more bored than cynical. Trump never changes and he’s been campaigning nonstop since 2015. The main difference is while he was fascist-lite then, he’s full-on fascist now. That’s not enough, though, and when political reporters get bored, they assume everyone else is bored, too. That assumption, however, should be seen as a choice of convenience. Assumed boredom is a credible rationale for believing spin about a felony conviction working in Trump’s favor, instead of what it really is, which is a painful wound.

💥Netanyahu is cornered: Families of hostages asked Knesset members for their signatures– and 70 (out of 120) joined a call asking Netanyahu to accept the hostage deal. pic.twitter.com/V5u8dPKppT

— Noga Tarnopolsky נגה טרנופולסקי نوغا ترنوبولسكي (@NTarnopolsky) June 4, 2024

Alon Pinkas:

Israel Is in Flames, Israelis Are Dying, While Netanyahu Polishes a Speech for Sycophants in Congress

Analysts of Benjamin Netanyahu keep attributing grand plans to the Israeli prime minister. But there is no plan – just a desperate, incompetent leader, manipulating a once-thriving country, who couldn't care less about the hostages or their families

Northern Israel is burning, four hostages taken alive by Hamas on October 7 have been confirmed dead by the Israel Defense Forces, he is clueless as to what happens next and refuses to engage in any deliberations on postwar frameworks. But don't worry, while his country is in flames, Nero Claudius Caesar Netanyahu is busy picking out a tie for his sanctimonious, recklessly unnecessary, patently divisive showcase speech in the U.S. Congress later this month.

Now that @netanyahu has signaled he won't come June 13, getting a date before Aug recess is increasingly difficult, per sources familiar. House is in June 25-28 and then 3 weeks in July, one of which is the NATO summit in D.C. Johnson said in closed GOP meeting this AM that…

— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) June 4, 2024

Matt Robison on the effect of the Trump felony conviction:

YouTube Video

Hunter Biden’s wife lashes out at former Trump aide during court appearance: ‘Piece of s—‘

Posted on by Latest Political News on Fox News

Melissa Cohen Biden – the wife of Hunter Biden – lashed out at a former Trump White House aide during a Tuesday appearance in court to support her husband, who has been charged with three felonies stemming from a 2018 firearm purchase.

Her remarks were directed at Garrett Ziegler, who was sued by Hunter Biden last year for publishing the contents of his infamous laptop.

Approaching Ziegler at the trial, Biden's wife pointed her finger at him and said, "You have no right to be here, you Nazi piece of s---."

Ziegler, who leads the nonprofit group Marco Polo, did not respond to Melissa Cohen Biden's remarks at the time.

Ziegler confirmed the encounter, which was first reported by NBC News, and told the outlet, "It's sad I've been sitting here the whole time and haven’t approached anyone."

EX-TRUMP AIDE SUED BY HUNTER BIDEN WANTS BIDEN-APPOINTED JUDGE OFF LAPTOP CASE, FEARS '2020 ALL OVER AGAIN'

"For the record, I’m not a Nazi, I’m a believer in the U.S. Constitution. I haven’t said one thing to them," Ziegler added.

Regarding Ziegler's encounter with Melissa Cohen Biden, Marco Polo wrote in a tweet, "The wife has the same level of impulse control as Hunter. To the family bringing decency back, anyone who is perceived as opposition is a Nazi."

"Truly contemptible liars & scoundrels," the group added. "We don’t respond in kind in the back of a courtroom, because we’re gentlemen who do not berate women."

Hunter Biden's lawsuit against Ziegler, which was filed last September, alleged that he had violated federal computer laws by hacking into the now-infamous laptop that was left in a Delaware repair shop in 2019.

The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles, accuses Ziegler and Marco Polo, as well as 10 unidentified associates, of spreading "tens of thousands of emails, thousands of photos, and dozens of videos and recordings" that were considered "pornographic" on the laptop.

Marco Polo is a self-described nonprofit research group "exposing corruption & blackmail." The website has several sections pertaining to Biden’s laptop, including his emails, text messages, phone calls and financial data that culminates into a massive "online searchable database."

In the 14-page civil complaint, Biden’s attorneys allege that Ziegler is a "zealot" who has unleashed a "sustained, unhinged and obsessed campaign" against the entire Biden family for over two years and "spent countless hours accessing, tampering with, manipulating, altering, copying and damaging computer data" with his associates.

"While Defendant Ziegler is entitled to his extremist and counterfactual opinions, he has no right to engage in illegal activities to advance his right-wing agenda," attorneys Abbe Lowell, Bryan Sullivan, Zachary Hansen and Paul Salvaty wrote.

HUNTER BIDEN’S DRUG USE: WHAT THE PROSECUTION NEEDS TO PROVE AND WHAT WE ALREADY KNOW

In March, Ziegler sought to have a judge who was appointed by President Biden removed from the case. He argued that the outcome of the lawsuit not only has implications for the congressional impeachment inquiry, but also the 2024 election.

In a recent motion in U.S. District Court for Central California, Ziegler's attorney, Robert Tyler, requested that Judge Hernán D. Vera recuse himself from the case because his "impartiality will be reasonably questioned." Vera made donations to Joe Biden’s campaign for president in 2020. He also was appointed to his position by President Biden just three months before Hunter Biden filed the lawsuit against Ziegler and one day after then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., announced a presidential impeachment inquiry had commenced in Congress.

Tyler emphasized that he is not arguing against Vera's integrity and assumes the court system assigned the judge to Hunter Biden's lawsuit at random. 

"But there’s something called forum shopping that lawyers do," he told Fox News Digital at the time. "And here’s a case where our client resides in Illinois, he has no contact with California such that California should have any jurisdiction over this case, yet Hunter Biden’s lawyers filed this lawsuit to the Central District of California just shortly after Judge Vera’s appointed."

Hunter Biden's lawsuit seeks a jury trial based on the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and California's Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act. 

Ziegler’s attorney counters that the former Trump aide and associates "prepared a credible investigative report," known as the "Report on the Biden Laptop," not to wage a campaign against Hunter Biden, but to "expose instances of foreign compromise" by Hunter Biden and his father, President Biden, which are "matters of great public interest and concern." In preparing the report, Ziegler relied on copies of files from the laptop that "had already been widely circulated since at least October 2020 to numerous media outlets," Tyler wrote.

The repair shop owner turned the laptop over to the FBI on or around October 2019 after discovering its "disturbing materials," Tyler's motion noted.

The motion stated that Ziegler’s website with the Biden laptop report has been accessed by over 5 million Americans since its inception in June 2023 and more than 8 million Americans have accessed the free digital version of the report made available in November 2022.

Fox News' Jamie Joseph and Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.

The GOP’s Texas platform is bonkers. You should see the rest of the party

Posted on by Aldous J Pennyfarthing

Sure, the Republican Party is overwhelmingly backing a convicted felon, confirmed sexual assailant, business fraud, insurrectionist, and (alleged!) documents thief whose most endearing personality trait is his rascally inability to stop quoting Hitler, but have you seen what’s going on in Texas lately?

The Lone Star State, which has continually returned a criminally indicted attorney general to statewide office, is now looking to be a laboratory of new, exciting ideas, like “what if we shove all these unlabeled lab chemicals in a Hefty bag, light it on fire, and then stand around and see what happens?”

To read the Texas GOP’s recently passed, deeply un-American platform is to hate it—particularly if you’re a progressive ... or a moderate … or a moderate conservative who either has, knows someone with, or knows of someone with a womb.

As Karen Tumulty wrote in The Washington Post:

Just a few of the platform’s planks: that the Bible should be taught in public schools, with chaplains on hand “to counsel and give guidance from a traditional biblical perspective based on Judeo-Christian principles.” That noncitizens who are legal residents of this country should be deported if they are arrested for participating in a protest that turns violent. That name changes to military bases should be reversed to “publicly honor the southern heroes.” That doctors who perform abortions should be charged with homicide. That the United States should withdraw from the United Nations and that the international organization should be removed from U.S. soil.

Holy Mike Johnson! It’s enough to make you swallow your own tongue, assuming it wasn’t cut out years ago by your local Christofascists for uttering the sacred name of Barron Trump. What’s next, thought crimes? It won’t be long before Republicans seek to jail ordinary Americans for looking at pornographic images of consenting adults—or for not looking at pornographic images of Hunter Biden. (If Covenant Eyes hasn’t yet tweaked its filter to accommodate lurid photos of Hunter Biden, it really doesn’t understand its audience and should probably just shut down now.) 

And that’s not all! If you’re gobsmackingly horrified by the above, well, you should see what they want to do to democracy in Texas.

As reported in the Texas Tribune:

Perhaps the most consequential plank calls for a constitutional amendment to require that candidates for statewide office carry a majority of Texas’ 254 counties to win an election, a model similar to the U.S. electoral college.

Under current voting patterns, in which Republicans routinely win in the state’s rural counties, such a requirement would effectively end Democrats’ chances of winning statewide office. In 2022, Gov. Greg Abbott carried 235 counties, while Democrat Beto O’Rourke carried most of the urban, more populous counties and South Texas counties. Statewide, Abbott won 55% of the popular vote while O’Rourke carried 44%

So to review, Texas Republicans wants to jail abortion doctors while ensuring Greg Abbott can’t possibly lose the governorship, no matter how many killer mutant Sea-Monkeys he pours into the Rio Grande.

All of that is suitably horrifying, of course—and Texas Republicans are admittedly pushing the envelope further than other state parties—but Republican extremism and anti-democratic thinking have been running rampant of late, in case you somehow hadn’t noticed. And that’s a big opportunity for big-D Democrats.

First and foremost, the GOP is a party that embraces a literal felon who faces three more felony cases, all of which are arguably stronger than his first one.

It’s a party that, in newly red redoubts like Ohio, is brazenly attempting to thwart the will of voters on reproductive rights, vowing to do “everything in [its] power” to uphold restrictive abortion laws. 

It’s a party that’s rushed to pass new restrictive voting laws in response to Trump’s insistence that the racist, eternally demagoguing, pro-Putin candidate deserves to win every time.

It’s a party that, to a startling degree, has embraced and protected Putin, as well as openly autocratic Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. 

It’s a party that, post-Dobbs, has eagerly passed new, restrictive abortion laws, even as it tries to pretend it’s moderate on the issue. 

It’s a party that keeps hinting it will take an axe to Social Security and Medicare, which remain vital to the well-being of millions of Americans.

It’s a party that elevates ambulant absurdities like South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s dog killing.

And it’s a party that’s apparently eager to ratify every fascist scheme that Trump wants to inflict on the American people. 

In other words, as Hopium Chronicles’ Simon Rosenberg tweeted, the current iteration of the Republican Party is “the ugliest thing any of us have ever seen.”

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg we’re about to crash into at full speed if we’re not careful.

In 2020, the GOP neglected to release a platform in advance of its national convention, perhaps reasoning that Trump’s surpassing charm and wit were all that they needed—or perhaps worried that Trump wouldn’t read it and would wildly contradict its key planks. Or, more likely, they were worried that the GOP’s awful policies—psst, if you want to live a long, healthy life, don’t live in a red state—would actually shake people loose from their tribal fealties long enough to notice that they prefer progressive policies. (Which, to be clear, most of them do. Turns out millions of non-billionaires actually support raising taxes on billionaires. Go figure.)

Of course, despite ample evidence that the electorate as a whole has no use for GOP policy prescriptions—on abortion and a range of other topics—Republicans across the country (not just in Texas) somehow can’t resist saying the quiet parts out loud. 

I say we hand them a megaphone and encourage them to Trump front and center as often as possible. Because every time he talks, an angel vomits into a pail, and there’s only so much mess God is willing to put up with, even from his chosen one.

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Every day brings a new prognostication that is making President Joe Biden's campaign operatives worry or freak out. Is Donald Trump running away with the election? No. Not even close.

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