Seven key developments in the Biden family business scandal have come to light in 2022. The scandal, suppressed by the intelligence agencies and establishment media dating back to 2020, became one of the major storylines of the year.
Recent polling shows 71 percent of Americans believe accurate reporting of Hunter Biden’s “Laptop from Hell” could have altered the 2020 presidential election. The political impact of the scandal has drawn GOP House leadership to launch nine investigations into Hunter and President Joe Biden. Sixty-two percent of voters approved of the congressional probes.
Since 2018, the DOJ has reportedly been investigating Hunter for alleged tax and gun violations. Hunter has yet to be charged with wrongdoing.
1) U.S. Banks Flagged Over 150 Suspicious Financial Transactions from Biden Family
In April, U.S. banks flagged over 150 suspicious financial transactions from Hunter and James Biden, according to CBS News. The wire transfers included “large” amounts of money tripped for further review by American banks.
Wire transfers have been the tool of choice for money launderers. To mitigate the risks to the financial institutions, suspicious wire transfers over $10,000 are flagged for review. Wire transactions involving more than $10,000 are also to be reported to the Internal Revenue Service.
“The focus is on day one are those bank violations and those bank records,” Rep. James Comer (R-KY) told Breitbart News. “We are pretty confident in what we’re going to find in those. We have two bank violations. We have some bank statements in hand, and we believe that suspicious activity reports, which are bank violations when the bank notifies the federal government that we’re pretty confident that our client has committed a crime, Hunter Biden and Jim Biden have at least 150 of those. And I’ve said this before, and I come from a strong banking background, I don’t think there’s anyone in the history of the United States that’s had that many suspicious activity reports.”
2) Joe Biden Met with Hunter’s Business Partner at White House
News broke in April that Hunter’s closest business partner Eric Schwerin made at least 19 visits to the White House and other official locations from 2009 to 2015, according to visitor logs from the White House. Schwerin also reportedly met with then-Vice President Joe Biden in the White House.
The meetings contradict Joe Biden’s statement that he has not been involved in the Biden family business schemes. In fact, a total of seven times Joe Biden and his team have deflected or denied involvement in the family business. “I’ve never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings,” Joe Biden said.
3) Voicemail Proves Joe Biden Spoke to Hunter About Family Business
In June, news broke Joe Biden left Hunter a voicemail in 2018 about a Chinese energy deal, directly contradicting Joe Biden’s statement in 2019 that he and his son had not spoken about the family’s corrupt business schemes.
“Hey pal, it’s Dad. It’s 8:15 on Wednesday night. If you get a chance just give me a call. Nothing urgent. I just wanted to talk to you,” Joe Biden said in a voicemail reported by the Daily Mail.
“I thought the article released online, it’s going to be printed tomorrow in the Times, was good. I think you’re clear. And anyway if you get a chance give me a call, I love you,” he concluded.
In December, Cliff Sims, former deputy director of National Intelligence (DNI) stated he warned CNN reporter Natasha Bertrand that Hunter’s laptop was not Russian disinformation before she wrote the infamous and discredited Politico story which utilized “dozens of former intel officials” to purvey a false and misleading narrative about the origins of Hunter’s laptop. Breitbart News reported:
Bertrand, a reporter for Politico at the time, approached then-deputy DNI Sims on October 19, 2020, regarding an article she was writing about 50 former information officials claiming Hunter’s laptop was Russian disinformation. Breitbart News’s Emma-Jo Morris had a few days earlier broken the “Laptop from Hell” story, which big tech censored, in the New York Post.
Sims told Bertrand before the publication of the Politico story that the “Laptop from Hell” was not Russian disinformation, citing then-Director of National Intelligence (DNI) John Ratcliffe. Despite Sims’ warning, Bertrand wrote the story anyway and gave the Democrats the headline they wanted, Sims stated.
5) White House Debating How to Combat Probes into Hunter
According to a Washington Post report in December, disagreement exists among those surrounding the Biden family about how to combat Republican investigations into the family business.
A disagreement exists between Hunter’s attorney, Kevin Morris, and the White House about how the Biden family should combat the investigations into the family business. Morris wants Hunter to remain in the public eye by attending public events, such as the recent White House state dinner and public art exhibits. The Post reported those who agree with Morris’s strategy also believe Hunter should play a public role in Joe Biden’s potential reelection campaign.
The White House appears to have opposed pushing Hunter further into the public eye, despite Hunter’s noted public appearances, including at Joe Biden’s vacation destinations.
6) Hunter’s Drug Abuse Reportedly Delaying Charges in Tax, Gun-Related Probe
The Justice Department reportedly delayed its “final decision” on whether Hunter will be charged for alleged tax and gun-related violations because people familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal in October that Hunter’s drug abuse could be a scapegoat the defense could successfully use to defend the president’s son against potential charges.
According to media reports, charges were expected to be brought by the end of summer 2020, but Joe Biden’s Justice Department is reportedly wrestling with Hunter’s drug addiction.
7) Legal Experts Estimate Hunter Biden’s Legal Defense Costs $100K a Month
Hunter has stated he is not wealthy. According to Hunter’s ex-wife, Hunter was nearly penniless while Joe Biden was vice president, living paycheck to paycheck after out-of-control spending. From 2018-2019, Joe Biden even committed to wiring Hunter $100,000.
Where Hunter is finding the money to pay his legal bills is unknown, but it appears that Hunter has maintained multiple income streams. Breitbart News reported in December:
According to attorneys with knowledge of industry compensation standards, Hunter could be paying more than $100,000 per month ($1.2 million per year) for his legal defense team. Lawyers at such a level would cost $1,000 per hour, a D.C. attorney who asked for anonymity for fear of retribution and reprisal told Breitbart News. Prepping for a single hearing could range from 6 to 40 hours, another attorney said.
In 2018 and 2020, Breitbart Senior Contributor and Government Accountability Institute President Peter Schweizer published Secret Empires and Profiles in Corruption. Each book hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list and exposed how Hunter Biden and Joe Biden flew aboard Air Force Two in 2013 to China before Hunter’s firm inked a $1.5 billion deal with a subsidiary of the Chinese government’s Bank of China less than two weeks after the trip. Schweizer’s work also uncovered the Biden family’s other vast and lucrative foreign deals and cronyism.
Breitbart Political Editor Emma-Jo Morris’s investigative work at the New York Post on the Hunter Biden “laptop from hell” also captured international headlines when she, along with Miranda Devine, revealed that Joe Biden was intimately involved in Hunter’s businesses, appearing to even have a 10 percent stake in a company the scion formed with officials at the highest levels of the Chinese Communist Party.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.