Use of shell companies is standard practice in American business for lots of reasons other than concealing transactions. You're simply lumping a bunch of generalizations together and claiming something illegal is happening. Show me who got what money under which conditions. It certainly wasn't illegal for Joe Biden's son and other relatives to do business with other companies. And it wasn't illegal to use shell corporations in setting up whatever businesses they were doing. If they were illegally evading taxes, they should be prosecuted. If they engaged in money laundering or other illegal business transactions, they should be prosecuted. But just throwing around numbers and claiming guilt by association just doesn't cut it.ajax18 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 09, 2023 4:24 pmNo, but they're still paying the Vice President's son, daughter, brother, and other family members huge amounts of money that the Bidens attempted to conceal with shell companies. Think of it this way. What if the Russians paid Don Jr. $10 million for no discernible service other than Don Jr. demonstrating he had access to Don Sr. That would still be a bribe in that case, right? Trump actually has a hotel business in which case you viewed a good deal on a hotel was reason enough to impeach. The "Biden brand," is nothing more than demonstrating that you have access to the Big Guy. And the partisan DOJ has been obstructing justice the entire time on this congressional investigation.
Why would anyone pay Don Jr. money to demonstrate he has access to his father? Of course he does. He campaigned for his father. He called his father on the phone. He visited his father at the White House. He went with his father on trips.
Now, here's a potential example of actual bribery. A member of the U.S. Government who is an advisor to the President borrowed a huge amount of money to pay way to much money for a building. The loan is coming due and no U.S. bank will refinance to bail out the bad investment. The advisor is placed in charge of "solving" the Middle East, and becomes besties with the Saudi Prince who is likely to become head of the Kingdom. After Qatar turns down the U.S. advisor's application for a loan to bail him out, Saudi Arabia begins putting enormous pressure on Qatar. Qatar changes its mind and bails out the advisor. The President, who also happens to be the U.S. advisor's father-in-law, takes no action in response to the advisor's bestie Prince kidnapping, torturing, killing and carving into pieces an American journalist.
We could also do the advisor's wife and her Chinese patents.
I've never taken the position that Trump should have been impeached over a good "hotel deal." There's evidence that foreign governments tried to curry favor with Trump by paying for large blocks of hotel rooms that they didn't use. There was some talk from Trump or the Trump Org. that those payments would be donated to charity. I've never tried to figure out if they actually were (Trump has a spotting record of keeping those kinds of promises). If the profits were donated, no problem.
Did Hunter and other people not named Joe Biden try to trade on Joe Biden's name? Yes. Are the Bidens some kind of special case? No. Unless we lock close relatives of politicians in cells so they can't conduct any business, there will always be people who will offer employment to relatives of politicians either because they think association with the name will give them a perceived business advantage or because they think it will give them some influence.
LOL! Just because the "Trump Brand" is a real thing that Trump used his political position to make money off of doesn't mean there is a "Biden Brand."
The DOJ is doing its job -- investigating and prosecuting actual crimes. The current Republican investigations are political campaigns. They make requests that they know the DOJ can't comply with without screwing up criminal investigations and prosecutions just so they can complain that the DOJ is "interfering" with their grandstanding. It's 100% disingenuous and intended to keep the rubes donating to reelection campaigns.