{"id":584521,"date":"2023-07-27T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-27T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/the-memo-hunters-headlines-create-political-bind-for-biden\/"},"modified":"2023-07-27T13:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-07-27T10:00:00","slug":"the-memo-hunters-headlines-create-political-bind-for-biden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-memo-hunters-headlines-create-political-bind-for-biden\/","title":{"rendered":"#The Memo: Hunter\u2019s headlines create political bind for Biden"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/07\/bottom-of-the-top-Hunter-Biden_072623_AP_Julio-Cortez.jpg?w=900\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The tale of Hunter Biden took yet another strange turn Wednesday, when a district judge in Delaware unexpectedly balked at <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>roving a plea deal.<\/p>\n<p>In a day marred by chaos and confusion, the deal \u2014 which would have seen President Biden\u2019s son avoid jail time on two misdemeanor tax charges and also enter a diversion agreement related to a gun charge \u2014 ended up in serious doubt.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr1_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>The two sides will have to come before the judge again at a future date in the hope of convincing her they have resolved a number of outstanding issues.<\/p>\n<p>From the political standpoint, the mess ensures that Hunter Biden will remain in the headlines relating to those charges, even while he is also the focus of broader GOP-led investigations.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s bad <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a> for his father \u2014 though the GOP\u2019s strategy carries risks of its own too.<\/p>\n<p>In practical terms, any day when Hunter Biden is at the center of the action is a day when his father is deprived of space and time for his preferred topics, such as his record on the economy and infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p>The investigation of the younger Biden is itself coming under increased scrutiny, in part because of testimony from two IRS whistleblowers, Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In short, Shapley and Ziegler argue that the investigation was soft-pedaled for reasons of political sensitivity \u2014 even though lead prosecutor David Weiss, who was appointed by former President Trump, has pushed back against the central allegation that he was blocked by higher-ups at the Department of Justice from pursuing more serious charges.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr2_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>Further testimony, this time behind closed doors, is expected Monday from a former business associate of Hunter Biden\u2019s, Devon Archer.<\/p>\n<p>Archer is far from the perfect witness, having been convicted and sentenced to jail in a fraud case relating to bonds issued by a Native American tribe.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Still, according to the New York Post, Archer is expected to testify about occasions when Hunter Biden put his father on the phone in the company of business contacts. Biden was serving as vice president to President Obama during at least some of those calls.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr3_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>There are nuances even in Archer\u2019s testimony, which the Post suggested will acknowledge that, in about three-quarters of those calls, Hunter simply put his father on speakerphone without informing him other people were listening in.<\/p>\n<p>On occasions when the elder Biden did know others were with his son, even Archer is believed to be willing to testify only to an exchange of \u201cvague pleasantries.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>All of that being said, even the undisputed details regarding Hunter Biden are problematic.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr4_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>The mere fact that he was paid tens of thousands of dollars per month over several years by the Ukrainian energy company Burisma \u2014 with no seemingly relevant expertise or assets other than his last name \u2014 raises unavoidable questions.<\/p>\n<p>So far, the White House is counting on this not affecting the image of his father, who ran for the Oval Office promising\u00a0to \u201crestore the soul of America\u201d after the tumult of the Trump years.<\/p>\n<p>Matt Mackowiak, the chairman of the Travis County, Texas, Republican Party said he found some of the attention paid to Hunter\u2019s personal problems \u201cmean-spirited.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr5_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>But, he added: \u201cIn politics, it\u2019s real simple \u2014 you\u2019re either on offense or on defense. One of the challenges for the Biden team is, they have described the president in terms of being the adult in charge, having integrity and so on. But these allegations are pretty serious, and you don\u2019t pay Hunter Biden $5 million or $10 million without believing you are getting something in return. So what did they get?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Wednesday that \u201cnothing has changed\u201d after a comment she made the previous day that noted President Biden was \u201cnever in business\u201d with his son.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>That phrasing seemed subtly different from earlier assertions that the president had \u201cnever spoken\u201d to his son about the latter\u2019s business dealings.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr6_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a major distraction for the White House to have to manage,\u201d said GOP strategist Ron Bonjean, speaking of Hunter-related issues in <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">general<\/a>. \u201cInstead of really talking about what they would rather discuss, they are going to have to play defense on Hunter Biden matters.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Democrats insist that the politics of the issue are not quite so simple, however.<\/p>\n<p>They contend that the Republican focus on the younger Biden could seem both vindictive and disconnected from the concerns of vital voters in the political center-ground.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr7_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>Democrats argue that talk of impeachment, currently being given some oxygen by Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), could easily backfire on the GOP\u00a0\u2014 as could a chain of seemingly never-ending hearings.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Republicans are overplaying their hand,\u201d said Dick Harpootlian, a Democratic state senator in South Carolina and longtime Biden ally. \u201cThey are trying to distract from the myriad of legal problems their presumptive nominee [Trump] has. And it really is beneath Congress to do what they are doing. It\u2019s just contemptible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Allan Lichtman, a history professor at American University, condemned the GOP\u2019s priorities as \u201cludicrous.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen your most important points are drag shows and Hunter Biden, and you don\u2019t care about the death of the planet and the death of democracy, that says something,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>But there seems no chance of Republicans backing off now. And even if that approach carries risks, it will also complicate the president\u2019s political life for some time to come.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Memo is a reported column by Niall Stanage.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Copyright 2023 Nexstar <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Media<\/a> Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more News articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/campaign\/4121820-the-memo-hunters-headlines-create-political-bind-for-biden\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The tale of Hunter Biden took yet another strange turn Wednesday, when a district judge in Delaware unexpectedly balked at approving a plea deal. In a day marred by chaos and confusion, the deal \u2014 which would have seen President Biden\u2019s son avoid jail time on two misdemeanor tax charges and also enter a diversion&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":584522,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/07\/bottom-of-the-top-Hunter-Biden_072623_AP_Julio-Cortez.jpg?w=1280","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[138109,117,134343,71391,144726,90482,70867,991,128999,35813,139635,70289],"class_list":["post-584521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-2024-elections","tag-business","tag-campaign","tag-department-of-justice","tag-devon-archer","tag-house","tag-hunter-biden","tag-joe-biden","tag-karine-jean-pierre","tag-kevin-mccarthy","tag-lobbying","tag-senate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=584521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/584522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=584521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=584521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=584521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}