Controlled Demolition

Prior to the 2020 presidential election, a dishonest, biased, and complicit mainstream media, along with social media companies (that banned discussion), and a broad array of deep state operators (ex-intelligence agency executives) worked to protect their choice for president by claiming that the Hunter Biden laptop and the broad influence peddling scandal it implied was "Russian disinformation." That canard has been proven to be totally false, and now even the pillars of leftist media (e.g., the NYT and WaPo) admit that the Hunter Biden laptop is real and that it raises "concerns."

That's an understatement.

In an in-depth analysis of the current state of the scandal, Just theFacts Daily reviews growing evidence that Joe Biden himself was deeply involved in Hunter's influence peddling, profited monetarily from it, and lied when he stated that he had no knowledge of Hunter's business dealings. Their analysis is too lengthy for this post (read the whole thing) but here's a summary:

The emails on Hunter Biden’s laptop, combined with Joe Biden’s own words and actions, prove beyond all doubt that:

• The “ultimate purpose” of Hunter Biden’s multi-million deal with Burisma was to “close down” all criminal “cases/pursuits against” the firm’s owner [a shady Ukrainian oligarch named Nikolai Zlochevskyi].
• In November 2015, Hunter agreed to get “high-ranking US officials” to visit Ukraine and persuade the nation’s leaders to end all investigations into the owner. Two “key targets” of this mission were the “President of Ukraine” and the “Prosecutor General.” [Burisma began making a series of payments totaling at least $3.3 million over the next 18 months to a Delaware corporation, which paid $708,312.40 directly to Hunter and $2.5 million to entities associated with Hunter.]
  
• In December 2015, Joe Biden visited Ukraine and told its president and prime minister that he would withhold U.S. aid to their nation unless they fired the prosecutor general.
  

From the analysis: In December 2015, [Joe] Biden [pwhile VP of the United States] visited Ukraine and later recounted on video that he told Ukraine’s president and its prime minister on that trip that he would withhold a U.S. government “billion-dollar loan guarantee” unless they fired the “state prosecutor.” “If the prosecutor is not fired,” warned Biden, “you’re not getting the money.” Biden then added, “Well, son of a bitch, he got fired.”

However, that firing did not happen right away, and two months later on February 2, 2016, the chief prosecutor secured a court order to seize some properties of the oligarch who was paying Hunter, including his land, houses, and a Rolls-Royce Phantom.

Just two weeks after the court’s seizure order, the president of Ukraine forced the prosecutor to resign. White House phone logs show that Joe Biden talked to the president of Ukraine at least three times in the week surrounding the firing. The phone log for the last of these calls states, “The Vice President also commended President Poroshenko’s decision to replace Prosecutor General Shokin, which paves the way for needed reform of the prosecutorial service.”

Contrary to Biden’s claim that the prosecutor stood in the way of reform, the president of Ukraine complimented the prosecutor for implementing reforms that his predecessors had “been opposing for decades” and then listed the specific reforms. The president then said that he only asked the prosecutor to resign because he “failed to gain society’s trust.”

Those actions, which are complemented by a wealth of incriminating facts, align with textbook definitions of nepotism, bribery, extortion, and obstruction of justice.

The big question is where this goes from here, and the answer is ... probably nowhere of consequence. On the other hand, Joe Biden's presidency has been an unmitigated disaster, the Democrats have generally soured on him, and there may be reason to believe that the Hunter Biden scandal is a useful way to rid themselves of a failed president. The problem, of course, is the collateral damage that might cause—to the party and to 2024 presidential contenders.

What to do?

Jonathan Turley posits that the media and political elites might try to pull off a "controlled demolition" of Hunter. He writes:

I previously wrote a column on the one year anniversary of the Hunter Biden laptop story that marveled at the success of the Biden family in making the scandal vanish before that 2020 election. It was analogized to Houdini making his 10,000-pound elephant Jennie disappear in his act. With the help of the media, the Biden trick occurred live before an audience of millions.

The problem is the public can now see the elephant ...

It appears that President Biden is no longer seen as a political asset with most Democrats refusing to publicly support him in his promised reelection bid. Biden now  could endanger Democratic control of Congress. The question is how to drop Hunter (and even his father) without causing damage to the media, the Democrats, or others in Washington. It requires a controlled demolition.

The most important thing is to control the blast. By refusing to appoint a special counsel, Merrick Garland has effectively blocked the risk of a report on the extensive influence peddling, including the repeated references to President Biden. the “Big Guy” is discussed in emails as the potential recipient of a 10 percent cut on a deal with a Chinese energy firm as well as other benefits. Emails also refer to Hunter Biden paying portions of his father’s expenses and taxes. Recently, there was additional support showing that “the Big Guy” was indeed Joe Biden.

The problem is that embarrassing evidence is mounting by the day. That includes the recent disclosure new open influence peddling by Hunter, referencing access to his father. 

It will be fascinating to watch how the Hunter Biden story plays out. Influence peddling is common in Washington, but the blatant nature of the Biden scandal and a literal media coverup that lasted for one year are shocking, even to those who are otherwise cynical.

I don't expect much to come of this, not because criminal prosecutions for "nepotism, bribery, extortion, and obstruction of justice" aren't warranted, but because the deep state and media protect their own.