When the new Congress begins in January, everyone should prepare themselves for more Hunter Biden. If we’re already sick of hearing about him, too bad. He is number one on the minds of the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives.
For years now, we’ve heard more about Hunter than anyone else in the Biden administration. Except, Hunter isn’t even in the administration. Never has been; never will be. The reason Hunter is such a popular villain is he’s the son of President Joe Biden and seems to be the only source of dubious scandal to whom the president can be tied.
Hunter is no doubt prepared for multiple hearings in the Republican-controlled House. He’s been on their hate list for the past four years, and the most popular “boogyman” to stir up the Republican base. He is constantly targeted on Twitter by those who post their hate-filled memes and repeat ugly rumors about him and President Biden and the so-called “Biden-crime family.” This garbage-level stuff about Hunter appears primarily on Twitter and far-right media, and its sources are suspect. It gets very little attention from the mainstream media.
Department of Justice is definitely investigating Hunter for tax evasion on income he was paid by foreign countries. Apparently, he has mismanaged his income taxes for years, but DOJ may have to take into account how much his severe drug addiction played a role. He is also accused of lying on an application to buy a gun, and again it’s possible his behavior will be attributed to his addiction. Hunter announced publicly a long time ago he was being investigated and was cooperating fully with DOJ. And he claims to have paid some back taxes already.
The investigation by House Republicans is going to be far more interesting – to them, anyway. They are relying on information gathered by political masterminds, Rudy Giuliani, Steve Bannon and a man described as a fugitive Chinese tycoon, Guo Wengui. As reported long ago, they got their hands on Hunter’s laptop and apparently gleaned lots of juicy details about Hunter’s life as a drug addict.
Files on the computer have materials concerning his drug use and sexual behavior that are salacious and titillating, but may not be particularly significant. However, Rudy and Bannon took the information that fell into their hands and ran with it. The story has now been expanded to include claims that Hunter is a pedophile, was blackmailed by the Chinese, and that both Hunter and Joe Biden have been bought and paid for by the Chinese Communist Party.
According to investigative reporters, these particularly lurid accusations have little evidence to support them, and are not considered to be genuine. The computer files are said to be embarrassing for Hunter, but contain no indication President Biden was ever involved in Hunter’s foreign entanglements. There are videos of women on the computer, but no images of underage girls. There’s also nothing that suggests the Bidens were being blackmailed by the Chinese, and no credibility to the charge they were paid millions by companies in China. Those who have seen the files believe Wengfui deliberately made up the lies about China’s role in the scandal.
The hearings in the House will be uncomfortable for Hunter, and painful for his parents and family. If he had wanted to hide how low he sank as a drug addict and the pain he caused his loved ones, he would never have written his book describing in great detail the hell he was in during that period of his life.
The DOJ investigation has been hanging over Hunter’s head now for three years. President Biden understands House Republicans will dig for as much dirt as they can find, publicize it to the maximum and spend millions of dollars in the process. We have a precedent for such intentions in the multiple hearings on Benghazi. How could we forget the 11 hours of public testimony by then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and the years of investigation, that in the end, proved nothing other than it was a tragic event over which the State Department had little control.
Americans will be watching as House Republicans give their full attention to Hunter’s laptop. Hopefully, they will spare a few minutes to work on the problems of crime and inflation.