To Bribe or Not To Bribe, That is the Question  by Tom Reynolds

Unless you have been living in a cave, you are aware of the multiple criminal charges against former President Donald Trump.  The leftist media can’t say enough about those charges.  However, they are not rabidly covering accusations against President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.  Nor is the Department of Justice highly motivated to investigate charges against Biden.

It seems apparent that the charges against Trump are a message from the D C Swamp that this is what happens when you go against the Swamp.  The Swamp has also been sending ‘this is what happens’ messages to anyone who would assist Trump.  And let’s not forget government agencies interfering in the 2024 presidential election. But there is also a fourth part of this story, an attempt to make accusations against President Biden disappear from public view into the bowels of the Department of Justice.  

New York State Congresswoman Claudia Tenney bluntly spelled out the situation when she wrote:

Americans are not fooled by the latest set of politically motivated charges concocted against President Trump by Biden’s corrupt Department of Justice, led by dirty cop AG Merrick Garland, and spearheaded by the Biden Crime Family’s attack dog, Jack Smith. Instead, Americans see the indictment for what it is: yet another shameful abuse of our criminal justice system and further illustration of why our fellow citizens have lost faith in our institutions. The timing of the charges is not coincidental.

It’s a transparent, calculated, and desperate attempt to prevent Americans from learning the truth: Joe Biden has been caught running a criminal influence peddling, money laundering and bribery enterprise using his troubled son as a proxy to enrich himself and his family. Period. This latest weaponization of our government and gross overreach of power is election interference. This stunt can now be placed alongside similar nefarious antics: the Russia Collusion Hoax, Impeachment Hoax #1, Impeachment Hoax #2, January 6 committee show trial, phony Mar-a-Lago boxes hoax and Alvin Bragg’s phony charges. 

Devon Archer’s damning testimony to the House Oversight Committee on the Biden Family should have been a day to cause Biden’s co-conspirators to do some soul searching and put country first once and for all. Instead, these same individuals continue to serve the Biden brand, whatever the cost. Not only are these legal gymnastics a complete violation of equal justice under the law, President Trump’s First Amendment rights and an attempt to interfere in the 2024 election but a truly dangerous precedent for our justice system has been set.

Among the issues Tenney was writing about are possible bribes to Joe Biden when he was Vice President.  What are the facts?

In 2015, Ukrainian energy company Burisma was under suspicion of money laundering and public corruption. Ukrainian prosecutor Victor Shokin investigated the case before he was terminated due to pressure applied by then-Vice President Joe Biden, who threatened to withhold $1 billion in U.S. aid from Ukraine if the Ukrainian government did not fire the prosecutor investigating Burisma.

This was attested to by Joe Biden, himself.  During a 2018 appearance at the Council of Foreign Relations, Biden said: “I said, I’m telling you, you’re not getting the billion dollars. I said, you’re not getting the billion. I’m going to be leaving here in, I think it was about six hours.  I looked at them and said, ‘I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money.’ Well, son of a bitch. He got fired.”

Those seem to be uncontestable facts. 

It is reported that, under oath, Hunter Biden’s close business associate Devon Archer testified before the House Oversight Committee that, in December 2015, Burisma cofounder Mykola Zlochevsky and Burisma executive Vadym Pozharski put pressure on Hunter Biden to get help from Washington, DC, regarding the Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin’s investigation of Burisma corruption.

Archer was under oath when he said this and he was stating a fact, as he knew it.

So, how has Biden explained this away?

Biden and his Democrat and media backers pushed the narrative that Biden didn’t want Shokin fired for investigating Burisma, but for NOT investigating Burisma. Then-Vice President Biden was only executing American policy. 

The evidence to the contrary of Biden’s explanation comes from the ‘laptop from hell.’  Burisma executive Pozharskyi’s November 2015 email to Hunter Biden and his colleagues spoke of Burisma’s “ultimate purpose” being “to close down…any cases/pursuits against Nikolay in Ukraine.” Burisma’s founder, Zlochevsky, and its top executive, Pozharskyi, feared Shokin and his investigation.

And the claim that Shokin never went after any corrupt individuals at all doesn’t square with even the Democrat Washington Post’s reporting that under Shokin in February 2016, Ukraine had reinstated a court order to seize Zlochevsky’s personal property, including a mansion, a luxury car, and plots of land.

Then there is a common-sense question: In a world of huge challenges, why would the United States government be focused on the removal of a prosecutor in a small eastern European country, to the extent it would compromise foreign policy to get rid of him?

Devon Archer told House investigators that he believed the Biden brand kept Burisma from going out of business.  Archer said. “I think Burisma would have gone out of business if it didn’t have the brand attached to it.”

Archer was also under oath when he said this but it was phrased as an opinion. 

An informant has told House Republicans that the informant has two pieces of evidence that show Joe and Hunter Biden each received $5 million in small sums through separate bank accounts to put pressure on the Ukrainian government to fire the prosecutor. 

The evidence has not been made public, as yet.  Tracing the receipt of the $5 million each has been difficult since it ran through a number of Limited Liability Corporations that have been reported to have no business dealings other than transferring money.  (Money laundering?)

If the money can be traced to Joe Biden, that would certainly qualify as a bribe.

One would believe that the U S government’s Department of Justice could trace these funds if it were a mind to.  However, the Attorney General is Merrick Garland and you may note Claudia Tenney’s description of him.

Of course, headlines about informants don’t always prove to be true: remember the Russian Collusion headlines.  But because of Merrick Garland’s lack of ’energy’ in pursuing accusations against Biden, how will the public know the real story.

Lastly, there is the Foreign Agents Registration Act  which is a United States law that imposes public disclosure obligations on persons representing foreign interests. It requires "foreign agents" - defined as individuals or entities engaged in domestic lobbying or advocacy for foreign governments, organizations, or persons- to register with the Department of Justice and disclose their relationship, activities, and related financial compensation.

It’s not illegal to represent a foreign entity, unless you are a government official, but you must register as such.

Neither Hunter or Joe have so registered. And we know Hunter got paid $1 million a year to do what for Burisma?

Evidence seems to be mounting that Joe Biden was supporting of his son’s lobbying for a foreign organization, which made Joe a ‘foreign agent’ when he was also Vice President of the United States. 

And, perhaps, for a bribe.