Joe Biden may have ‘enabled’ his family’s corruption, legal analyst warns

Legal analyst Jonathan Turley paints a bleak picture of the president Joe Biden and his family as corrupt “crooks” and “influence peddlers”.

Turley, professor of public interest law at the George Washington The university’s law school said the Bidens leaned toward the “crook defense” because it made alleged crimes or improper business dealings less serious.

However, Turley said Information week, fraud remains corruption.

“If the president knew his family was involved in ‘influence peddling,’ he is by definition corrupt. The current defense does not have the means to extricate the president from the scandal,” Turley said in an interview telephone call on Saturday. “In fact, it is becoming increasingly difficult to understand why the president was unaware of the influence peddling.”

In a recent column, Turley draws comparisons to the lovable Professor Harold Hill, the main character in the movie “The Music Man,” who uses his charm to scam the townspeople, promising to train members of a new band.

“Biden’s crook defense is an effort to get the public to think less of the coked-up Henry Hill in ‘Goodfellas’ and more of the lovable Professor Harold Hill in ‘The Music Man,’ the charming hayseed-pulling rascal by selling marches. groups,” writes Turley. “The problem is that this is still corruption, and the president not only knew about it, but encouraged it.”

News week contacted Biden’s office via email for comment. The president has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and the White House has accused Republicans of spreading baseless accusations.

Hunter Biden, the president’s son, has caused a lot of problems for the White House, the Democratic Party and Biden’s re-election campaign. Home Republicans took advantage of his foreign business connections to try to launch an impeachment inquiry against the president.

House Republicans have subpoenaed Hunter as part of the investigation, asking him to appear for closed-door testimony, something he said he would not do during a recent appearance at the Capitol, offering instead to testify at a public hearing.

Hunter faces nine federal tax-related charges, as well as three federal gun-related charges.

Meanwhile, it was recently revealed that James Biden, the president’s brother, was caught in the act. FBI audio as part of a corruption investigation, while Ashley Biden, the president’s daughter, faces demands for unpaid taxes.

Turley, who has documented problems with influence peddling for decades, writes that James’ upcoming appearance before the House could solidify this new line of defense: the Bidens are “harmless crooks.” He also claims that by “selling influence” and selling Joe Biden’s name to foreign clients, they were able to make millions as a collective.

Turley says the FBI tape shows how the Bidens marketed their name and access.

The FBI surveillance occurred as part of the corruption investigation into Mississippi attorney Richard Scruggs, who was ultimately imprisoned. Scruggs said he paid James Biden $100,000 as he sought to build support for tobacco legislation.

Scruggs told the Washington Post Recently, “I probably wouldn’t have hired (James Biden) if he wasn’t the senator’s brother.” Joe Biden served as a senator from Delaware from 1973 until 2009, when he became vice president under the former president. Barack Obama.

Turley compares this incident to Hunter Biden associate Devon Archer admitting they were selling the “Biden brand” as part of an alleged bribery scheme with executives at Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company where Hunter Biden was a member of the board of directors.

Turley said Joe Biden’s previous and current denials of direct involvement in Hunter’s business deals could eventually fail.

“They need to recognize that this narrative may be useful in immediate news cycles, but ultimately could collapse in any real impeachment battle,” he said. News week. “The best defense is actually the opposite of this, showing that he (Joe Biden) took clear steps to prevent his family from using his name and office to obtain payments from foreign assets and other sources.

“The problem is that they have been so busy in denial that it is not clear that any of these steps were taken.”

Turley wrote in his column: investigations into the Biden and Joe Biden familyabove all, will boil down to “knowledge”.

“Under federal case law, money and gifts given to family are often treated as a benefit for the purposes of corruption or bribery. Indeed, many current Democratic members have already voted that the money paid to members of a judge’s family was impenetrable.” he said. “It is highly implausible that the president was unaware of the influence peddling. There have been press reports about these allegations, and the Biden family has been accused of influence peddling for decades. It is a virtual family business.”