There is a very old and very stupid method that corrupt families use to hide ill-gotten money. The main criminal just doesn't keep any of the money (or property bought with it) in his own name. He "gives" it all to his family members. The government can't attempt to recover the money or property from Aunt Bertha because Aunt Bertha committed no crimes. (At least, they'd have to prove the transaction was a straw transaction.)
But of course the criminal still really owns all the money and property, and can call it in from his family members when he needs it.
Biden can't take foreign money. Not without invoking the Foreign Agent Registration Act and not without having to declare it as income. If he took foreign money openly, he would have two choices. He could either register as a foreign agent, effectively killing his political career and thus his ability to collect foreign money in the first place, or he could illegally ignore his duty to register under FARA, running the risk of being prosecuted.
Now, given that he's a Democrat, the risk of being prosecuted for a FARA violation is very low, and of course the "home field" advantage of being a Democrat almost guarantees an acquittal even if prosecuted. But failing to divulge the foreign money in income tax filings? The IRS doesn't play.
So what Biden has done is simply designate his family members as the Holders In Name Only of the money. Instead of giving $50,000 per month to Joe Biden, just give it to Hunter. Instead of giving $75,000 to Joe Biden, just give it to Natalie. Or whoever.
Joe will "borrow" it from them if he needs it later. "Borrow." Wink, wink.
The Biden Crime Family needs to be RICO'd.
This is money laundering. This is tax evasion.
This is a racketeer-influenced and criminal organization.
Even more relatives of President Biden -- or at least a dozen in all -- will be exposed for having received money from foreign entities, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee said Sunday.
"There's not going to be anybody left for a Christmas picture if the [Department of Justice] did their job and went in there and indicted everyone that has any type of fingerprints involved in this influence-peddling scheme," said Rep. James Comer (R-Kentucky) to Maria Bartiromo on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures" show.
"I mean, it's the entire family," Comer said. "And there isn't a single one of those family members that had the ability to do anything to influence foreign policy other than the big guy, Joe Biden."
Comer said the number of implicated Biden family members will jump from 9 to at least 12, with the president's son Hunter and brother Frank's foreign dealings just the tip of the iceberg.
He said his oversight committee is still reviewing bank records and "suspicious activity reports" that indicate members of the first family are benefiting from dealing with foreign entities through limited liability companies that seek to shield identities.
"Through our informants and through our research over the past year and through other investigative reporting, we thought there were around a dozen of these LLCs that were created by Biden family members to disguise or launder where the source of the revenue was coming from," Comer said.
"But there are many more LLCs. There are many more Biden members ... and many more countries that were involved."
Comer said the business dealings involve countries more unsavory than communist China.
"I will say this: China was probably the most reputable country that the Biden family was dealing with," he said.
The congressman even suggested that Biden family members may have broken the law by acting as "foreign agents" while not registering as lobbyists to do so.
There you go.
He talks tough, but, as you'll see, as usual, this cvck just wants us to talk and write and read about the crimes, not actually prosecute the crimes.
A little advice to Republicans overseeing the Biden investigations: Don't worry if he's a criminal. It's bad enough to be corrupt.
...
Comer suggests that the only rational explanation for [donations from foreign regimes to Biden family members] is that foreign regimes, including such hostile ones as Communist China, were buying Biden's political influence.
This would be shocking if proved.
When the Framers gave Congress the power to remove a president from office by inserting impeachment clauses in the Constitution, nothing more animated them than fear of foreign corruption. A president whose influence and authority had been purchased through shady foreign deals, and who could thus be expected to subordinate American interests to those of anti-American powers, could profoundly damage the United States.
...
With the Bidens, of course, there is a lot more than mere potential to be worried about. They undeniably reaped millions of dollars, mainly through obscure entities patently set up to make the transfers hard to trace, apparently without providing discernible value in goods or services to justify the breadth of the payments.
It looks like sheer influence peddling. We are entitled to presume that it is unless and until an (unlikely) innocent explanation is posited.
Wait a minute, don't they get a presumption of innocence? No, they don't. This is a congressional inquiry, not a criminal case.
If foreign payments are proved, we're entitled to presume Biden is compromised for the same reason the government may deny a security clearance out of well-founded fear of potential corruption.
In a criminal trial, a defendant is presumed innocent because the government seeks to convict him and remove his right to liberty.
But political power is a privilege, not a right. Joe Biden has been trusted to wield the awesome powers of the presidency. There's no presumption of entitlement to a privilege.
If he and his family cashed in on his political influence, particularly with hostile foreign powers, and if they covered their tracks with labyrinthine money trails and false accusations of "Russian disinformation," we're entitled to presume they did so to the detriment of the nation.
That is where Comer needs to keep his focus. Instead, he is intimating that the Justice Department has been derelict in that it has not "indicted everyone who has any type of fingerprints involved in this influence-peddling scheme."
That's foolish. The crimes Comer seems to be hinting at may not have been committed. Money laundering, for example, is difficult to prove unless one can show the money was the proceeds of criminal activity before assets started being moved around.
Of course McCarthy has to cvck out. "We can't prosecute! It would be so mean!"
Yes, it is unsavory to take money from apparatchiks of the Chinese Communist Party, from corrupt Ukrainian government cronies, and from Russians in strongman Vladimir Putin's circle -- among many dubious foreigners with whom the Bidens have done business.
But it is not illegal per se to do business with such sources; therefore, the money taken from them for such vague services as, say, "consulting" may technically be lawful income, even if it stinks to high heaven.
If the revenue was booked accurately -- and the Bidens can afford good lawyers and accountants -- there may be no major tax violations (at least beyond the Hunter tax offenses that have been widely reported).
If the Bidens took the money to do the bidding of their foreign "partners," they could be guilty of acting as foreign agents without registering as such with the government (under FARA, the Foreign Agents Registration Act).
But FARA felonies are rare and notoriously tough to prove.
Comer also wants to know what position John Kerry has with the government. Biden has been refusing to say.
House Committee on Oversight Chair James Comer (R-KY) on Tuesday issued a final letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken demanding all documents and information related to Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerrys role within the Biden Administration. Since 2021, Republicans have questioned what duties and responsibilities Kerry actually holds. On three separate occasions, Comer has requested Blinken provide transparency about Kerry's role, but those requests have been ignored. Blinken's failure to provide the requested information has caused Comer to threaten a subpoena.
Posted by: SMOD
In case you missed it, which I'm sure you didn't, the decrepit, Basement-Hiding, galloping-dementia-suffering credibly accused r@pist Joe Biden announced he's running for reelection.
He said, and I quote, "I'm running on the January 6th hoax, "MAGA extremists," and bubblegum, and I'm all out of bubblegum."
Obviously he's not running on his record. Just on CNN's video highlights from 2020-2023.