Commentary
There are many allegations now in the public square about the Biden family’s alleged conflicts of interest. In fact, the liberal-leaning press have been reporting on it it for quite some time in stories often centered on Joe Biden’s son, Hunter.
Last year, Politico wrote “Biden, Inc.: How ‘Middle Class’ Joe’s family cashed in.” In New Yorker, it was: “Will Hunter Biden Jeopardize His Father’s Campaign?” And The Intercept wrote: “Joe Biden’s Family Has Been Cashing in on His Career for Decades.”
Undisputed is the fact that Hunter and other members of the Biden family have been involved in numerous complex, and sometimes controversial, multi-national, multi-million dollar deals involving Ukraine, Russia, China, Luxembourg, and the U.K. Numerous observers have stated they believe the Bidens’ main qualification to conduct such business is simply that they are connected to a powerful political figure who has influence over policies and practices that can impact the businesses: Joe Biden.
Now, new documentation of the allegations have come with a flurry of 11th hour releases and allegations by a former Biden family business partner, and a computer shop owner who got a look into Hunter Biden’s computer. Tony Bobulinski, a Democrat and business associate, claims he met with Joe Biden personally as Hunter and James sought to convince Bobulinski to lead a giant business venture with a communist Chinese energy company. He claims Joe Biden was to secretly receive 10 percent equity in the company, money allegedly to be laundered through Hunter. And, Bobulinski alleges, the Biden’s lucrative entanglements with the Chinese have made Joe Biden hopelessly compromised by a foreign government.
Tangled up in the whole mess are even larger issues. There’s big tech censorship after Twitter censored a New York Post story on the topic. There’s media bias after some in the press announced a black out on the story and refused to cover it. There’s ongoing mistrust in the FBI when it was learned the agency has had the allegedly incendiary Hunter Biden computer material since last December but not publicly acted on anything in it, and kept it secret from relevant Congressional committees that asked about it. Interestingly, the Justice Department and FBI—agencies that have proven rife with anti-Trump leaks—were able to keep uncharacteristically mum when it came to a scandal and allegations about a figure on the other side of the political spectrum.
During these final weeks of campaign 2020, reporters and debate moderators haven’t really challenged Joe Biden to answer to specifics about all of this. When confronted by Trump at a debate, Biden has said he never took a penny from a foreign government. He has also criticized those who suggest his family members have sought to trade on the Biden family name.
Although two of Hunter’s business partners have been convicted of felonies for financial crimes, it’s important to note that nobody in the Biden family has been accused of any related crime. Is it a matter of double standards: the FBI and media giving Democrats protection and a pass for the same things that would cause them to nail Trump to the wall? Or is it simply that there is neither a crime nor legitimate ethical concern here?
Still, there’s one nagging point that I haven’t seen considered. It’s the nature of the Biden family business ventures juxtaposed against Joe Biden’s position on oil and fossil fuels.
Biden has repeatedly taken strong positions against fossil fuels—oil, coal, and natural gas. He has made it clear he wants to “transition” away from them in the United States.
But as he’s advanced this position, his family members have been making money on deals that expand fossil fuel companies and ventures in foreign countries.
For example, While Hunter Biden was getting himself a job on the board of Ukraine’s largest energy company, Burisma; Vice President Joe Biden was coincidentally put in charge of Ukraine policy. The same day the White House announced the vice president would handle Ukraine policy and make a visit there the following week, Hunter allegedly wrote to a business partner, “This could be the break we have been waiting for.” They inked a highly-compensated gig with Burisma in Ukraine.
During Joe Biden’s first visit to the country in his new position, he spoke of how Ukraine could make the right decisions and become “energy independent”—less reliant on other countries and more secure from a national security standpoint. Energy independence in this context implied good things and heavy reliance on Ukrainian fossil fuel companies like Burisma, where Hunter was hitched. There was no bigger oil and gas company in Ukraine than Burisma.
The point is, while Joe Biden has been pushing to end the U.S. oil industry, his family has been cutting billion dollars in deals, profiting off of the oil industry in competing countries such as Ukraine and China. In fact, eliminating fossil fuel in the United States while supporting it in other nations could be seen as putting America at a competitive and national security disadvantage, whether intentionally or by accident.
It may be true that Joe Biden has never intended to link his political policy positions to his family’s business ventures. But the fact that the relationships beg the comparison demonstrate some of the peril that comes with even the appearance of conflicts of interest.
Sharyl Attkisson is The New York Times bestselling author of “Stonewalled,” a five-time Emmy Award winner, and the host of Sinclair’s national investigative television program “Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson.” She is a recipient of the Edward R. Murrow Award for investigative reporting and has reported nationally for CBS News, PBS, and CNN.
The Epoch Times
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