Thursday, June 22, 2023

America faces a "Watergate moment" as Hunter Biden plea deal emits odor of favoritism and wrongdoing, requiring a full, fair, and serious Congressional probe

Joe and Hunter Biden

 

(Note: I published the following item at 1:18 p.m. yesterday (6/21/23) here at Legal Schnauzer. A few seconds later, I received an email from Blogger, which is Google's publishing platform that I use for my blog. The email came so quickly after publication that it also was time stamped at 1:18 p.m. It informed me that my post was being removed because it violated Blogger's Community Guidelines. Specifically, it claimed the post violated their Spam policy, although it did not say how. The policy states:

Spam

Do not spam. This may include unwanted promotional or commercial content, unwanted content that is created by an automated program, unwanted repetitive content, nonsensical content, or anything that appears to be a mass solicitation.

I invite anyone to read the post and the Spam policy, and please let me know if you see any portion of the policy that the post violates. I think you will find it does not come close to violating the policy in any way, but again, feel free to let me know if you find something that might be a violation. Here is where things get strange: At 1:19 p.m. yesterday, one minute after I received notice that the post was being removed because of an alleged Guidelines violation, I received a second email stating that the Blogger Team had re-evaluated my post, decided it did not violate any policy, and was being reinstated. They reversed themselves in one minute--actually it probably was a few seconds less than one minute -- but here is the catch: They did not reinstate the post. I notified them that the post had not reappeared on my blog, but nothing changed. As of this morning (6/22/23), it still does not reappear, so I am attempting to re-post, so that folks who might want to read it can read it. I'm not sure if the platform will let me re-post, but I'm giving it a shot. Don't you just love "customer service" at Big Tech companies.

(Update: Blogger Team sent me an email at 8:22 last night, stating that the post finally had been reinstated and was ready to reappear at my blog. I did not want to post it so late at night, so I'm holding off until this morning to publish it. Hope it works.)

 

The Hunter Biden plea deal should be the subject of a Watergate-style Congressional investigation, according to an editorial-opinion piece today at DonaldWatkins.com. A longtime Alabama attorney, civil-rights advocate, and criminal-defense expert, Watkins writes under the headline "Congress Must Investigate Hunter Biden’s Tax, Gun Possession Plea Deal":

Crack-smoking, tax-evading, drug addict Hunter Biden had a great day on Tuesday (6/20/23)! Hunter and his dad, President Joe Biden, pulled off the criminal case "fix" of the 21st century.

Merrick Garland’s Department of Justice announced to a U.S. District Court in Delaware that it had reached a “sweetheart” plea deal with Hunter Biden, making the "fix" official.

Unbelievably, the United States’ entire criminal case against Hunter Biden was reduced to two “no jail-time” misdemeanors -- solely for political reasons.

Merrick Garland also approved Hunter Biden’s entry into a federal pretrial-diversion program on a related gun-possession felony charge. Garland’s exercise of prosecutorial “grace” on this charge saved Hunter Biden from a mandatory minimum sentence of 5 years in prison.

Hunter Biden now is free to continue his junkets around the world on Air Force One -- courtesy of U.S. taxpayers. He will also continue to get Secret Service protection -- at taxpayer expense. (Note: Dr. Brent Eastwood, an expert on national security, addressed the issue of Hunter Biden's travel on government aircraft in a post at msn.com. Eastwood also noted that former President Donald Trump has engaged in international travel, with sons Don Jr. and Eric, to locations where the family has hotel and golf-course properties.) Writes Watkins:

Congress must investigate this plea deal. It stinks from the foul odor of public corruption!

The Democratic-controlled Senate will not touch this matter. After all, Joe Biden is the head of the Democratic Party and Hunter Biden is America's "First Son," with all of the privileges and benefits that this status entails.

The Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee must conduct the investigation. This is one time when Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) must be smart, prepared, and even-handed -- something he has not been good at in the past.

If Merrick Garland improperly“fixed” Hunter Biden’s criminal case. It’s Jim Jordan’s job to prove it in a public hearing.

In Watkins' view, this is a matter of utmost seriousness, and Jordan must treat it as such:

We don’t need hyperbole and GOP showboating. Hyperbole and showboating feel good and are easy to do, but they are NOT effective techniques for exposing this kind of public corruption by the nation's top law-enforcement agency.

This is a "Watergate" moment, and it must be handled right. We have been here before with Attorney General John Mitchell, who served as President Richard Nixon's Attorney General from 1969 to 1972.

Mitchell was indicted, tried, and convicted for his role in the infamous Watergate break-in. He served 19 months in a federal prison camp at Maxwell Air Force Base for his crimes.

The American public needs Jim Jordan’s Committee to develop and meticulously present the relevant facts regarding Hunter Biden’s plea deal in a full and fair public hearing.

Jordan should follow the hearing format used by the January 6th Committee. It was impressive and effective.

Despite holding a majority of the seats in the House, Republicans have been incredibly weak and amateurish in presenting evidence of wrongdoing by the Biden White House and its executive departments.

Jim Jordan’s Judiciary Committee must NOT blow this public hearing like it blew the recent FBI whistleblower hearings. This is one time when the American people do not need mindless Republican minions in Congress who merely parrot GOP-prepared talking points on FOX News.

Instead, we need high-quality, focused, and professional leadership in this Congressional probe.

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