Nellie Bowles, writing today at TGIF:
When it comes to the Biden family and the question of whether or not they have profited off Joe’s position, the goalposts just keep moving. First, after it became untenable to pretend otherwise, everyone acknowledged that, yes, Biden was loosely involved in his son’s foreign business deals. Then, he was on the phone with his son’s business partners. A new memo from House Oversight Chair James Comer summarizes much of the findings and the money—more than $20 million—that flowed into Biden family member coffers during his vice presidency. Now the new line of defense is: sure, but nothing shows “direct payment” to Joe Biden. Unless there is a picture of Joe Biden literally receiving a silver briefcase of cash, and then in exchange giving an IOU with the presidential seal on it, there’s no corruption (honestly, even then I’m not sure).
My favorite part is no one is even pretending the money paid to Hunter and others was in exchange for anything other than access and influence at the White House. There’s not a pretend story about skills Hunter might bring to the deals. He didn’t do a Six Sigma course for appearances. Nary a certification in international commodities trading. It’s just silence. “No one in the Biden Administration or in the Minority has explained what services, if any, the Bidens and their associates provided in exchange for the over $20 million in foreign payments,” the report states.
Mostly the response to this from Dems is a sputtering whataboutism: So you want Trump?! You think they’re not corrupt? The answer is obvious and I want neither one (Chris Christie, what up!). But also: it’s okay not to want our highest office defiled with petty corruption from characters like a Kazakh oligarch who bought Hunter a sports car. A Kazakh oligarch? The words themselves make me want to shower.
