Hunter Biden ex-friend confirms President involved in shady dealings

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
1 Aug 2023 09:43

The House Oversight Committee says business executives put “constant pressure” on Hunter Biden to turn to the US government to resolve corruption probes.

Hunter Biden, then-Vice President Joe Biden and his sister Valerie Biden Owens attend a ceremony to name a national road after Joe Biden’s late son, Joseph R. “Beau” Biden III, in Kosovo on Aug. 17, 2016. (AP)

The House Oversight Committee revealed Monday that the testimony of former friend and business associate of Hunter Biden, Devon Archer, confirmed that current President Joe Biden was involved in the foreign business deals of his son through phone calls and dinners.

In its statement, the House Oversight Committee said: “Archer’s testimony confirms Joe Biden lied to the American people when he said he had no knowledge about his son’s business dealings and was not involved", adding that Joe Biden, who was VP at the time, joined his son's dinners with foreign business associates either in person or by phone over 20 times.

Congressman Dan Goldman, however, claimed on Monday that there was no indication Joe Biden was aware of who was on the other end of the line and continued to deny the possible connection between the president and his son’s deals.

The statement continued to add that business executives put “constant pressure” on Hunter to turn to the US government to resolve corruption investigations into the company by then-Prosecutor General of Ukraine Viktor Shokin.

Hunter, alongside two Burisma executives, “called [Washington,] DC” to discuss, according to Archer’s testimony, which brings up concerns that Hunter possibly violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act, per the statement.

Furthermore, Biden and his son had dinner in 2014 with the wife of the former mayor of Moscow, Elena Baturina, but the statement said that Baturina has “notably” not been included in public sanctions.

It's not looking goof for big Biden either, as a Rasmussen Reports poll released last month showed that the majority of likely voters in the US believe President Biden was involved in his son Hunter's foreign business deals.

According to the poll, 58% of respondents felt it was likely that Biden was involved in his son's foreign business deals, with 44% saying it was "very likely". Results of the poll also showed that only 10% of respondents are undecided, while one-third believe Biden was not involved in the deals.

The US House Oversight and Accountability Committee chairman James Comer confirms plans to file more than six criminal referrals against Hunter, who despite agreeing to a plea deal with federal prosecutors on two minor tax crimes and a gun case last month, remains in deep water.

This week, Comer said he anticipates filing "between six and 10 criminal referrals" with the Justice Department and that the list would include evidence that Hunter violated the Mann Act, which bans the transportation of women across state lines for the purpose of prostitution or other illegal sexual acts.