Thread: Hunter Biden Busted?

Originally Posted by S Landreth

alleging he lied to the FBI.

So without verifying the information it was released to the maga nutters to play with ?

The religious fruitcake FBI supervisor probably got a promotion out of it

It is entertaining

When did Republicans know the truth about Alexander Smirnov?

Republicans need to explain when they learned the truth about Alexander Smirnov

“Russia, Russia, Russia” is Donald Trump’s mocking mantra

Smirnov is an enigma. The DOJ can’t confirm his actual profession. (He says he’s in “security.”) He holds U.S. and Israeli passports. According to a New York Times report, "It is not clear, either in court filings or public records, where Mr. Smirnov was born. He is fluent in Russian, speaks English with a heavy accent and might have roots in Ukraine, according to a person with knowledge of the situation." Prosecutors say he alternately refers to his romantic partner as his girlfriend and his wife. Prosecutors claim Smirnov has access to over $6 million in cash, but say he conveniently omitted that in a court statement. The only thing the government seems to be certain about is that Smirnov is a serial liar with connections to Russian intelligence officials.

There’s also the fact that Smirnov was an FBI source for over a decade.

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• Hunter Biden lawyers say prosecutors confused photo of sawdust for cocaine

Lawyers for Hunter Biden have claimed that a picture government prosecutors are using to support a tax fraud case against him shows neatly arranged lines of sawdust from a carpentry shop – and not cocaine as the government contends.

Joe Biden’s son is facing tax evasion charges for failing to disclose millions in foreign income and a charge for failing to disclose he was a drug addict on gun licensing forms. He claims that use of the picture shows that prosecutors’ evidence against him should not be taken at face value.

The potential mix-up “sounds more like a storyline from one of the 1980’s Police Academy comedies than what should be expected in a high-profile prosecution”, Hunter Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell wrote in a court filing.

Lowell said that the government was “flat-out wrong” to claim that Biden took the photograph or that it showed cocaine.

Instead, Lowell said, “this is actually a photo of sawdust from an expert carpenter and it was sent to Mr Biden, not vice versa”. The photo was from a master carpenter and “coke addict” that Biden’s psychiatrist had sent to his patient to “convey that Mr Biden, too, could overcome any addiction”.

The apparent sawdust image is one of hundreds of photographs from the same laptop that Biden had left in a repair shop. Its contents were made public shortly before the 2020 election, flooding the public realm with images of Biden taking crack cocaine and playing with guns and in compromising situations with sex workers.

Biden’s defense lawyers argue that the tax charges should be dismissed, months after a plea deal on the tax and weapons charges that gave Biden blanket immunity from future prosecution was thrown out by a judge in Delaware.

• Exclusive: Hunter Biden sees his sobriety as key to keeping Trump from winning

President Biden privately has expressed worry that Republicans' daily attacks and the criminal prosecution of his son Hunter are taking a toll on his family — and could even lead Hunter to relapse, given the family's history of struggling with addiction.

Why it matters: Hunter Biden knows this. He told Axios in a rare interview that he sees his continued sobriety as crucial not only to his life — but also to ensuring Donald Trump doesn't return to the Oval Office.

• "Most importantly, you have to believe that you're worth the work, or you'll never be able to get sober. But I often do think of the profound consequences of failure here," Hunter said.

"Maybe it's the ultimate test for a recovering addict — I don't know," Hunter Biden said. "I have always been in awe of people who have stayed clean and sober through tragedies and obstacles few people ever face. They are my heroes, my inspiration."

• He added that in this case, "I have something much bigger than even myself at stake. We are in the middle of a fight for the future of democracy."

Zoom in: A slip by Hunter would weigh heavily on the president as he seeks re-election. Republicans and conservative tabloids have relished documenting Hunter's alcohol and drug addictions.

• Hunter's actions during his struggles with addiction from 2013 to 2018, along with his foreign business dealings, will be at the center of his testimony behind closed doors Wednesday as he is questioned by the GOP-led House Oversight and Judiciary committees.
• Republicans seeking to impeach Joe Biden have been trying to find hard evidence that he changed U.S. foreign policy to help his family financially, but have yet to find it.

Last July, Hunter swore in federal court that he had been sober from alcohol and drugs since June 1, 2019.

• Starting in August 2023, he repeatedly tested negative for drugs and alcohol, U.S. Magistrate Judge Christopher Burke said at a September hearing.
• A representative from Hunter's legal team told Axios he has continued to be tested since that hearing, and has tested negative.

Hunter told Axios that his first responsibility for himself and his family is to "make it through that fight clean and sober, and I feel a responsibility to everyone struggling through their own recovery to succeed."

• He is resolute that he won't — can't — relapse. But he acknowledges that the temptation is always there for him and anyone else who has gotten sober.
• "I don't care whether you're 10 years sober, two years sober, two months sober or 200 years sober — your brain at some level is always telling you there's still one answer," he said.

Zoom out: Hunter emphasizes that his struggle isn't more difficult than anyone else's. But it's undeniable that his recent path to sobriety has been unique.

• When Joe Biden announced his candidacy for president on April 25, 2019, Hunter was still in a tailspin of addictions to alcohol and crack cocaine after a family intervention in Wilmington, Del., several weeks earlier had been unsuccessful, Hunter recounted in his memoir, "Beautiful Things."
• Hunter quietly fled to California afterward, and "quit responding to the constant calls from Dad and my girls, picking up just often enough to let them know I was alive and seeking help — which in turn gave me cover to burrow back into oblivion," he wrote.
• Still, Joe Biden entered the presidential race. Hunter later wrote that "the confidence my father has in me is evidenced by the fact that he still ran."

In the first weeks after Joe Biden entered the race, Hunter met and soon after married Melissa Cohen, a documentary filmmaker. She helped pull him out of his spiral.

• Hunter's initial sobriety date was the day they married — May 17, 2019, the day before Joe Biden's official campaign kickoff in Philadelphia.
• Hunter acknowledged in court last July that he had a "drink or two" soon after, and said June 1 of that year was his official sobriety date.

What they're saying: Hunter told Axios he hopes he can provide advice for others trying to stay sober.

• "Embrace the state in which you came into recovery — which is that feeling of hopelessness which forces you into a choice," he said.
• "And then understand that what is required is that you basically have to change everything."

• Takeaways from Hunter Biden’s closed-door deposition with House Republicans

Hunter doesn’t mince words attacking GOP

Hunter Biden’s opening statement at Wednesday’s deposition served two purposes: He made clear his father was not involved in his business and he took a swipe at Republicans who have accused him and his father of corruption.

“I am here today to provide the committees with the one uncontestable fact that should end the false premise of this inquiry: I did not involve my father in my business,” Hunter Biden said.

What’s happening inside the room? Depends who you ask

During the first break in the closed-door deposition, lawmakers from both parties took turns at the cameras outside the hearing room to offer their spin on what was occurring inside.

The Democrats went first, taking turns accusing the Republicans of wasting government resources pursuing the impeachment inquiry and embarrassing themselves with their questions of the president’s son.

“What we saw I think was a rather embarrassing spectacle, where the Republicans continue to belabor completely trivial points they seem to be obsessively focused on,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee.

Republicans, of course, had a different take. GOP Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina spoke to reporters at the first break, saying that Hunter Biden was being “defiant and dishonest.”

She added that some of his answers were “in direct conflict with other witnesses,” though she would not elaborate on what she was referring to.

Hunter raises questions about Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law

Democrats leaving Hunter Biden’s deposition said the president’s son raised the “double standard” of Republicans investigating his business dealings but turning a blind eye to members of the Trump family like Jared Kushner, whose company received a $2 billion investment from Saudi Arabia after leaving the Trump White House.

“I think [Hunter Biden] may be a little bit frustrated by some of the double standards relating to Jared Kushner and money that has been just openly pocketed by Donald Trump in office, and Jared Kushner, of course, brought back $2 billion from Saudi Arabia. And all of that has been part of the conversation, and he was assertive about that,” Raskin said.

Comer says public hearing next step

The GOP committees and Hunter Biden’s legal team negotiated for months over the terms of the interview. The Republicans ultimately agreed not to have the interview videotaped – which they have done for other interviews – as a condition for Hunter Biden to appear behind closed doors.

The concession was just one indication that Hunter Biden’s testimony is a key part of the impeachment investigation. “Obviously, this is a big day,” Comer said before entering the hearing room Wednesday morning.

Just before the interview wrapped Wednesday afternoon, Comer emerged to say that the committees’ next step would be to hold a public hearing with Hunter Biden.

“This impeachment inquiry will now go to the next phase which will be a public hearing,” he told reporters Wednesday afternoon.

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• Hunter Biden attorney: Republicans 'have produced no evidence'

Abbe Lowell, Hunter Biden’s attorney, dismissed Wednesday’s deposition, saying republicans “have produced no evidence that would do anything to support the notion that there was any financial transactions that involved Hunter with his father, period.”

“It seems to me that the Republican members wanted to spend more time talking about my client’s addiction than they could ask any question that had anything to do with what they call their impeachment inquiry. So as I said before, there is no evidence because there is no evidence, and today only confirmed that,” he added.