Nunes declines to answer whether or not he received information from Ukraine meant to damage Biden

The Hill ^ | 07/30/20 11:15 PM EDT | BY JOHN BOWDEN

[RandFan]

The House Intelligence Committee's ranking Republican member, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), reportedly declined to answer at a closed-door committee hearing Thursday whether he had received materials from Ukrainian sources meant to damage former Vice President Joe Biden's (D) reputation ahead of the 2020 election.

CNN reported Thursday that Nunes was questioned repeatedly by another committee member, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), about his alleged contacts with a Ukranian politician, Andrii Derkach, who himself is a close associate of Rudy Giuliani, President Trump's attorney who last year boasted publicly of a trip to Ukraine for the purpose of investigating Biden's past.

"I guess I would request an explanation from the ranking member why he is just not prepared to respond to a simple question whether he has received materials that have been called into question that seem designed to denigrate a former vice president of the United States, but, at a minimum, to share them with the rest of the committee," Maloney said during the closed-door hearing, according to a transcript CNN obtained.

"Is the ranking member prepared to even respond to the question? How about it, Mr. Nunes? Did you receive a package from Andrii Derkach or not? And would you share with the committee or not?" Maloney reportedly continued, while Nunes refused to answer. "Well, I guess this is a case where silence speaks volumes."

The meeting was then reportedly adjourned by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the committee's chairman.

The Trump campaign has repeatedly pushed an unfounded theory [Yeah right -RF.] about the former vice president's efforts to get Ukraine to oust its former top prosecutor, who was mired in corruption allegations, which the campaign has alleged was done to protect Biden's son, Hunter, who served on the board of a Ukrainian energy firm. No evidence has ever linked Biden to any attempts to quash investigations into Burisma, the energy company for which his son worked.

Text messages released by the House committee earlier this year revealed communication between a member of Nunes's staff and Lev Parnas, a close associate of Giuliani's who was arrested along with another Giuliani associate last fall for alleged campaign finance violations.

The Hill has reached out to Nunes's office for comment.

[RandFan]

I hope YouTube don’t pull it. More people are questioning the MSM. It would be nice if people can logon and do their own research and SEE it for themselves in black and white.

The media used to be “gatekeepers” but that is no more.

[ConservativeInPA]

Yeah, that'd be bad if it were like a billion dollars or something wouldn't it?

Someone has a sense of humor. Don't go using that around here, you might be misunderstood. And I thought it was "One Million Dollars"

[WASCWatch]

Copies of the documents and recordings are probably included in a criminal referral Nunes sent to the FBI and DOJ.

[ConservativeInPA]

They have some major scrubbing to do to pull it. The video is embedded in tons of other videos. It’s also on sites other than YouTube, including conservative-owned sites.

[bwest]

I think that was meant to be sarcastic.

[ConservativeInPA]

It was. When it gets late I intentionally leave the sarcasm tag off just to see who is really awake.

[Bullish]

It was a billion he threatend to withhold from them if they didn’t fire the prosecutor investigating his son’s Burisma. Listen to the video of Biden boasting about it. It’s not dubious at all, it’s just good old fashioned extortion to get his son and himself out of trouble, and Biden is stupid enough to brag about it on video tape.

The lying sacks of shit in the media don’t give a damn about it.

[ConservativeInPA]

I quit for the night. My humor doesn’t work. Sorry. I apologize. I know it was a billion dollars. I know the video exists. I know the leaked phone calls exist. I knew before the article was posted. I was making fun of leftist journalists that categorically deny that there is no evidence when it is all over they place. It’s been all over FR for months. It’s been on FoxNews. It’s been on Rush, Glenn Beck and Hannity. John Solomon has talked about it endlessly. In the future I will use a sarcasm tag.

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

I know.It really is a shame.

[Liz]

Joe has faced questions about endeavors by brother, James Biden, who is fighting a lawsuit in which he stands accused of feigning interest in investing in a medical device company as a ploy to steal the company’s business model.

According to plaintiffs, James Biden said during investment negotiations that the firm’s “psychiatric care model would be used by Joe Biden as part of his campaign for President of United States.” A spokesperson for James Biden called allegations in the lawsuit “a seriously misleading version of the events,” meant to “[take] advantage of Jim Biden’s public profile as the brother of a presidential candidate,” adding that “[Frank Biden] does not, and has never, discussed his business ventures with his brother.” The lawsuit remains ongoing.

And now the issue is resurfacing once more with the former vice president’s younger brother, Frank.

Frank Biden declined to be interviewed for this report, but over the past decade, during the years he was involved in the charter school business in Florida and afterward, he has spoken frequently in public about his prominent family ties.

In an interview with The Washington Post in late 2011, Frank Biden said of his last name, “I enjoy automatic acceptance or at least listening to what I have to say.” Several press releases put out by Mavericks in Education advertise “brother of Vice President Joe Biden” as one of his credentials.

[Liz]

ITEM Joe Biden used his political connections to sell his son to the highest bidders.....the entire greedy Biden family followed suit.

Son Hunter Biden was chronically unemployed and got tossed out of the Navy for drug abuse.
Deadbeat Hunter owed for child support, and spent bigtime on strippers, drugs, prosties, according to divorce papers.

Dam Breaks: Establishment Media Zone in on Biden Family’s Culture of Corruption....
BreitBart ^ | 1/29/2020 | HARIS ALIC / FR Posted on 1/29/2020, 1:32:01 PM by caww

Politico published in-depth exposé on financial ties between the former VP'S younger brother, James, and a high-powered D.C. lobbyist.

<><> James Biden and his wife purchased an acre of land in the Virgin Islands for $150,000 in May 2005. A year later, James resold 1/3rd of that acre to Scott Green, a 'national security lobbyist who formerly served a Senate staffer for Joe Biden. Green paid $150,000 for the land, even though tax assessed value was only $38,000. “In effect, m/m Biden got their money back while keeping most of the land—recouping their investment in just 12 months.

Any money that Green may have lost through the deal was offset when Joe Biden became vice president.

<><> In 2010 Green and members of the lobbying firm he founded, "the Lafayette Group," were frequent visitors at the Obama-Biden White House.

<><> Green’s ties to the Biden clan seemed to be especially beneficial. On April 11, 2010, the Lafayette Group was awarded two taxpayer-funded contracts from FEMA worth a total of $5.8 million.ed.

Other members of the Biden family did just as well.

<><> Biden’s brother, Frank, benefited from $54 million in taxpayer-backed loans to Caribbean nations heavily involved in real estate and solar power projects he was pursuing in the region. ...even though he lacked a background in solar energy or international real estate development.

<><> Similarly, Biden's sister, Valerie, received millions in fees during the 2008 election. Valerie, was campaign manager for her brother’s failed presidential campaign that year; she paid her own consulting firm, Joe Slade White & Company, $2.5 million for its services. (More Biden finagling in article.......at breitbart.com)

[Liz]

Joe Biden was paid $900,000 for lobbying efforts from Burisma Holdings in Ukraine.
Ukrainians Find Misuse of $5.3 BILLION in US Aid During Obama Admin
US Aid reported as misused was given to the embassy’s favored NGO’s.
GP ^ | December 6, 2019 | Jim Hoft / FR Posted by mplc51

In October Ukrainian Parliamentarian Andrey (Andriy) Derkach revealed in a press conference
that Joe Biden was paid $900,000 for lobbying efforts from Burisma Holdings in Ukraine. Much of the $5.3B in US Aid Ukraine reported as misused was given to the embassy’s favored NGO’s. At the time Yovanovitch, witness for the Witchunt, was the Amb. That embassy directed the police not to investigate. Wonder why Obama forgot Art. 2, Sec. 3.

"Thanks Hunter......now I can buy that $12 million spread on Martha's Vineyard Michelle is bugging me for."

[Liz]

Biden’s Brother's companies Pocketed $54 MILL In Tax-Funded Loans
To Finance Energy Projects In Central America
Right Journalism ^ | 01.21.2020 | Natalie Dagenhardt/ FR Posted on 1/21/2020, 12:38:25 PM by USA Conservative

Frank Biden's companies received $54 MILLION in taxpayer-funded loans to finance energy projects in Central America. Just like his son—Biden’s brother also had no energy experience. “Clinton Cash” author Peter Schweizer makes the case for Biden family corruption in his new book “Profiles in Corruption: Abuse of Power by America’s Progressive Elite.”

The book teaser reads:In "Profiles in Corruption," Schweizer offers a deep-dive investigation into the private finances, and secrets deals of some of America’s top political leaders. And, as usual, he doesn’t disappoint, with never-before-reported revelations that uncover corruption and abuse of power—all backed up by a mountain of corporate documents and legal filings from around the globe. (Excerpt) Read more at rightjournalism.com …

========================================

"Only $54 mill? Not counting under-the-table cash to the usual Dem suspects. Uncle Frank is a loser. "
"My companies took in 100's of Millions from Russians, Chinese, and Kazakh's looking for favors from Obama and my dad."

[virgil]

So what? Democrats have been trying to damage Trump before he took office. If Biden’s a crook, he’s a crook.

[Liz]

Hunter Biden Lobbied Obama Admin for More Ukraine Aid (set up State Dept meeting for group’s president)
FR Posted on 2/18/2020, 9:38:14 AM by Liz

<><>Hunter Biden served on the board of a trade group that lobbied for increased foreign aid, including for Ukraine. <><><>Unknown til now, Hunter Biden’s association with the US Global Leadership Coalition lobbying group, and its close affiliate, the Center for U.S. Global Leadership, has gone unexplored in the coverage of his business dealings. While affiliated with the groups, Biden joined the board of Ukrainian energy firm Burisma Holdings. (Biden’s father was VP at the time and Obama’s point man in Ukraine.)
Hunter Biden was on the board of a trade coalition that lobbied the Obama administration in 2014 on foreign assistance to Ukraine, and appears to have set up a State Department meeting for the group’s president.

<><>Biden’s links to the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition (USGLC) and its affiliate, the Center for U.S. Global Leadership, have gone largely unreported in the coverage of his various business dealings, which have caused a headache for his father as he runs for president. The Bidens have been dogged by allegations that the younger Biden profited off of his last name.

<><>Similar allegations have followed organizations like Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma Holdings, which brought Hunter Biden on as a director in April 2014, despite his having no experience in the energy industry. USGLC, which lobbies and advocates for increased spending in the State Department’s International Affairs Budget, added a series of Ukraine-related bills to its lobbying portfolio at around the same time, lobbying disclosures show.

Biden’s private equity firm, Rosemont Seneca, was by far the smallest company of any of the directors on USGLC or the Center for U.S. Global Leadership. Other directors have included executives and lobbyists from Caterpillar, Cargill, Walmart, Intel, Chevron, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Think tanks such as the Bipartisan Policy Center and the American Enterprise Institute are represented on the group’s boards, as are officials with well-known do-good NGOs like Save the Children and CARE, the anti-poverty group.
But what Biden’s firm Rosemont Seneca lacked in terms of assets and name recognition it made up for in access to key figures in the Obama administration, with Joe Biden being at the top of the list. Beyond that valuable connection, Hunter Biden’s partner Devon Archer was a former adviser on Obama Sec. of State John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign. A third partner, Christopher Heinz, is Kerry’s step-son.

<><>The value of those political connections was highlighted in text messages cited in an unrelated criminal case against Archer. “Hunter Biden works for [Archer]. So we’ve got the top level politicos with us. All of my guys, is as top tier as it gets,” a businessman named Bevan Cooney wrote in text messages released in Archer’s case. “You don’t get more politically connected and make people more comfortable than that.”

<><>Hunter Biden has publicly referred to himself as a member of USGLC’s board, though he was technically a director of the Center for U.S. Global Leadership. Tax filings show that Biden was on the center’s board from 2012 through 2018.

In 2014, while affiliated with the groups, Biden joined the board of Burisma Holdings. The company, owned by Mykola Zlochevsky, who served as minister of natural resources under former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, paid Rosemont Seneca,
Biden’s firm, more than $80,000 a month, according to publicly available records.
That partnership raised some eyebrows at the time because of Joe Biden’s role as the Obama administration’s main point man on Ukraine issues. Like many Ukrainian firms, especially those in the energy business, Burisma had a reputation for corruption. Hunter Biden’s link to the company was seen as undermining his father’s anti-corruption initiatives. As part of his Ukraine initiative, Joe Biden pushed for increased aid to the former Soviet republic in the wake of its overthrow in February 2014 of Yanukovych, the Ukrainian president.

But in 2016, he would threaten to withhold $1 billion in loan assistance to Ukraine that was made available through some of the very same legislation for which USGLC and some of its business partners lobbied. USGLC also took an interest in Ukraine following Yanukovych’s ouster.

The group, which advocates and lobbies for increased spending in the State Department’s International Affairs Budget, added Ukraine to its portfolio of lobbying issues in April 2014, according to lobbying disclosure form filed with Congress.

<><>USGLC is not well known outside of Washington, D.C. Founded in the mid-1990s, the coalition is made up of more than 400 major corporations and non-government organizations (NGOs), a mix that has earned the group the nickname the “strange bedfellows coalition” inside the Beltway.

<><><><>Hunter Biden lobbied the Obama administration in 2014 on more foreign assistance to Ukraine, and appears to have set up a State Department meeting for the group’s president.<><><><>
—snip—

[norwaypinesavage]

"Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), reportedly declined to answer...."

STOP READING right there. When something like that is in the first sentence of a Swamp News report you can be absolutely assured that the rest of the story is FAKE NEWS.

[FreedBird]

The politicians get rich and taxpayers get the shaft.

[tennmountainman]

Nunes has no obligation to say anything about criminal activity involving
Hunter and Joe Biden...yet.
RATS should stay tuned in. They will find out soon enough.

[philman_36]

...whether he had received materials from Ukrainian sources meant to damage former Vice President Joe Biden's (D) reputation ahead of the 2020 election.

To damage his reputation? Nah, it's to convict him of crimes.

[poconopundit]

Welcome back, Liz!