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Despite the mainstream press finally taking up the sleazy business dealings discussed in e-mails found on Hunter Biden's laptop, the media's lack of interest in Joe Biden's knowledge or involvement in this lucrative part of the family business is palpable.
If President Donald Trump were caught up in similar circumstances, he'd be hounded at every press conference and during every walk to Marine One with the questions: What did he know and when did he know it? It'd dominate cable news and the Sunday shows, newspaper editorials and op-ed pages.
While it's nice that the laptop once dismissed as Russian disinformation is finally considered a legitimate source of news by what are supposed to be news outlets, the reporting comes a year-and-a-half late and doesn't add new information commensurate with the delay.
At this rate, the press will develop a keen interest in the Joe Biden angle to the story — the most interesting and consequential angle — sometime in late 2023.
The president's son, Hunter, and his brother, Jim, have made a living from trafficking on their family name and political connections. The laptop is a guide to a particularly ripe example, a deal with CEFC China Energy, a cat's paw of the Chinese Communist Party that funneled nearly $5 million to Hunter and his uncle.
It wouldn't have taken much imagination or curiosity on Joe Biden's part to realize what his son was up to. The president has said that he's "never spoken" to Hunter about "his overseas business dealings." Let's stipulate that's true (even if it's hard to believe) — it wouldn't have taken much conversation for the then-vice president to understand why his son was hitching a ride on Air Force Two with him on a trip to China in 2013. It wasn't for sightseeing.
Hunter met with the investment banker Jonathan Li, whose private-equity fund got approved by Chinese authorities shortly afterward. Hunter sat on the board.
Until they had a falling out over Hunter's poor judgment in joining the board of the Ukrainian energy firm Burisma, Biden's son was in business with John Kerry's stepson, Chris Heinz. So that's two relations of Democrats who had run for president and occupied high government offices, just coincidentally doing buck-raking together.
How could Joe Biden and John Kerry, these sophisticated statesmen with high-flying connections around the world, not notice what was going on? Had they never encountered the phenomenon of relatives of government officials trying to cash in before?
Even if Joe wanted to avert his gaze from Hunter, in the grip of a terrible addiction, what about his brother, Jim? Did Joe never talk to him about business, either? (That's an awful lot of not talking for Joe Biden.)
Even though we knew about it back in 2020, the CEFC deal remains jaw-dropping. The company sought to extend Chinese influence as part of Beijing's "Belt and Road" initiative. The founder of CEFC, Ye Zianming, roped in Hunter Biden, infamously giving him a 2.8-carat diamond after their first meeting. Everyone knew the score.
Hunter referred to another CEFC official as "the f–king spy chief" and was under no illusions about his attraction to the firm. He told Tony Bobulinski, recruited to structure the deal, that CEFC was "coming to be MY partner to be partners with the Bidens."
The only one who didn't understand the nature of this relationship was Joe Biden, who must have believed well-heeled companies connected to the Chinese government sought out his son for his business acumen and sound judgment.
As it happens, an e-mail says that "the big guy," identified by Bobulinski as Joe Biden, was going to get a 10% cut of the deal. In a text, Hunter associate James Gilliar reminded Bobulinski, "Don't mention Joe being involved, it's only when u are face to face, I know you know that but they are paranoid."
If Republicans take the House, they should make all of this a major focus of investigation. In the meantime, the press ought, out of a feeling of shame if nothing else, to bring more skepticism to the assurances that Joe Biden knew nothing about any of this. Even the president's fiercest critics don't believe that he's that clueless.
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