ransomnote: I listened to the video playback at twice the normal speed in order to shorten the time spent reviewing it to about 15 minutes total.
Good information regarding the investigation of Hunter Biden's influence pedaling. I put a portion of the the reporter questions (i.e., NBC's correspondent) in bold texti n the computer generated transcript below because that technology can make it hard to discern who is talking, and also because he's asking how Biden could be guilty of influence pedaling when he was not in office (August 2017).
This seems to be a challenge for the good guys going after abject corruption; I believe Obama/Biden maintained/maintain a 'shadow government' (e.g., Obama traveling to meetings with heads of state after President Trump exited his meeting with them) and now the Deep State hopes to give the Bidens a 'get out of jail free' card with, "Hey...he wasn't in office so..." The rules are different for Trump now that he's not in office.
TRANSCRIPT BEGINS--------- Moments ago the Ways and Means Committee we voted to release over 700 pages of additional material provided to the committee by two IRS whistleblowers Gary shapley and Joseph Ziegler who came forward at Great risk to their careers and reputations to bring the light evidence of corruption and misconduct within our federal government on June 22nd the committee voted to release the initial testimony of the two IRS whistleblowers that showed wrongdoing and misconduct at both the Department of Justice and the IRS their testimony then also shed light on a complex and lucrative Enterprise operated by the Biden family to enrich themselves to the tune of at least 20 million dollars with much of Hunter Biden's share going unreported for taxes in the months since no one has offered any evidence that contradicts Mr shapley and Mr Ziegler's testimony in fact much of their testimony has been supported by additional IRS Witnesses who set for transcribed interviews after being subpoenaed by this committee the new information we just voted to release today further confirms their testimony let's look at what the New Evidence released today shows one it is clear that then Vice President Joe Biden's political power and influence was quote the brand that Hunter Biden was selling all over the world even more alarming the Biden family foreign influence peddling operation suggests an effort to sway U.S policy decisions from documents released just moments ago as you can see in the WhatsApp message behind me from June 6 2017. Hunter Biden explicitly wrote to a business associate that he was not willing to quote sign over my family's brand close quote or give this individual quote the keys to my family's only asset that asset could only be one person Joe Biden IRS investigators provided worksheets they compiled as part of their investigation into Hunter Biden's tax crimes which connect his business activities to official government activity while Joe Biden served as Vice President of the United States this is new and alarming material the committee just made public the very existence of this file makes it abundantly clear that IRS investigators were concerned there was in fact a connection between Hunter Biden's Global influence peddling Joe Biden and official U.S government activity in one example investigators documented how then Vice President Biden's April 2014 official visit to Ukraine occurred only days after a series of meetings between Hunter Biden his his business associate Devin Archer senior staff within the vice president's office and Vice President Biden himself we have received an email sent during that same time frame from an executive verisima a Ukrainian company to Devin Archer saying a quote reasonable balance could be reached about Hunter Biden one month later barisma announced Hunter Biden's appointment to its board in another example from today's material then Vice President Joe Biden hosted Hunter and two of his business associates including billionaire Miguel alamon at the White House in February of 2014 where they had lunch quote in dad's office just three months later Hunter Biden sent an email to Devin Archer saying quote we need to get to Mexico City and cement the deal with Miguel public records show Joe Biden later used Air Force 2 to shuttle Hunter and another business associate Jeff Cooper to Mexico City in 2016. these documents also underline how Hunter Biden's role as quote door opener extended far beyond his father and includes numerous other meetings between Hunter Biden and Senior U.S government officials including now Secretary of State Anthony blinken two the evidence today shows the complexity and scale of the Biden family influence petting peddling scheme millions of dollars were flowing through subsidiaries and LLCs to avoid taxes and shield visibility into how the money from foreign sources including countries like Ukraine Russia China went to different entities and Biden family members the additional whistleblower documents we just released specif specifically mentioned 23 foreign countries on four different continents with connections to Hunter Biden's business operations the map behind me shows the sheer scale and scope of This Global operation lastly in the whistleblower's original testimony we learned doj took unprecedented action to impede any investigative step that could have led investigators to President Joe Biden as you can see here in this new material the whistleblowers have provided an email in support of their earlier testimony where U.S attorney Leslie Wolfe directs investigators to remove to remove all mentions of quote political figure one from a search warrant and who is political figure one you're I would think you would ask that individual is none other than former Vice President Joe Biden here we see clear As Dead As day that the Department of Justice actively interfered in an investigation to protect the current president of the United States additionally in January of 2022 attorney Wolff declined to pursue campaign Finance violations identified by investigators potentially related to to more than two million dollars in payments from Kevin Morris a Democrat Party donor to cover Hunter Biden's unpaid tax liabilities in the documents we voted to release today U.S attorney Wolff stated she quote is not personally interested in following the lead the investigators identified another piece of evidence implicating Joe Biden and in this case his presidential campaign stopped dead in its tracks in an interview with investigators James Biden the president's brother stated that he did not know how Hunter Biden even knew Kevin Morris who was paying Hunter Biden's taxes or why Kevin Morris was helping Hunter Biden the transcript of the interview contained in today's materials shows that James Biden told investigators Hunter Biden asked him to think Mr Morris for his payment quote on behalf of the family it is reasonable to ask who represent who requested that Kevin Morris cover Hunter Biden's tax liability or whether he receives something in return for his more than two million dollars in payments to someone that he barely knew based on this evidence and much more in the documents we voted to release today along with evidence obtained by the Judiciary Committee and the oversight committee I have serious concerns about whether the president of the United States Joe Biden may be compromised by his sons foreign business dillings I also have serious concerns about whether the president may be using his administration to protect himself and his family from scrutiny the American people they have a right to know their elected representatives are not abusing public office to enrich themselves or their families they also have a right to know if federal law enforcement agencies are holding the powerful and the politically connected to the same standard of justice as everyone else I will happy to answer your questions at the end but I'd like to turn it over to Mr Lihue well thank you chairman Smith I think the information that was released today shows the web of criminality by Hunter Biden and the Biden family and corroborates the information that we received initially from the whistleblowers I want to make two points one is going back to early June when the decision was made by chairman Smith in this committee to have the whistleblowers transcripts released that was on June 22nd the notice on that went out on June 19th on June 20th remember a plea was announced in the hunter Biden case and was presented to a federal judge in Delaware I will tell you this as a former Federal prosecutor 99 of plea agreements go through and approved by the judge this one was not judge norika in Delaware decided to reject this plea agreement and what is the basis for rejecting a plea agreement it's under statute New and compelling evidence that was revealed that was put forth in our brief that we submitted to the court and many others that plea agreement which is rarely done was was rejected uh and and if we had not brought that forth if chairman Smith and this committee had not done this Hunter Biden would have already entered that plea agreement to a misdemeanor and so again the information released today continues to corroborate that information that was real then remember this was a federal judge that's a title III judge lifetime appointment independent judge rejected this uh which is which is rare and and never done second point that I would make look at the chronology going back to 2014. we're nine years into this Hunter Biden took over 19 million dollars that is corroborated in the evidence released today 20 different shell companies and llc's that were a part of this that the whistleblowers brought forth the statue of limitations was allowed to be waived for taxes in 2014 and 15. I will tell you this as a federal prosecutor criminal charges are never allowed to elapse statute of limitations is never allowed uh to be waived or to lapsed that was done in this case fast forward uh to uh when the whistleblowers got involved in this case as we as we stand here today we're nine years into this Hunter Biden has still not been charged with anything tax related 20 million dollars from at least seven different countries llc's created in 20 different entities and no indictment today and what I made the point today is by the way that's you don't get any response from our Democrat colleagues on how that is explainable how that is even Justified and what infuriates people is the unequal application of the law and the fact that your last name is Biden or you're connected you're going to be treated differently and was brought up today about President Trump in 91 charges in the last 18 months four indictments against President Trump in 18 months we've been nine years into this not one indictment by doj that is disturbing to all of us I invite all of you to read the documents here today it appears at every level Joe Biden and and his team have stopped doj from moving forward and implementing Justice thank you Mr custom thank you uh thank you Mr chairman I'm a former United States Attorney and I I think that I'm the last Senate confirmed U.S attorney in the House of Representatives what we've seen from the Department of Justice either slow walking or deliberately stalling charges or letting charges expire should be appalling to everybody I know it certainly is to all of us first of all I appreciate the two whistleblowers coming forward at the expense of their career the possibility of their their careers could have been ended because they were also concerned at what they saw as the miscarriage of Justice one person being treated differently than the other along with the possible involvement of Joe Biden and if I could this email that chairman Smith referred to a moment ago I want to point a few things out it is from Leslie wolf it is dated August 7th of 2020 about two months uh three months before the election this bssw draft SW is search warrant draft I think BS is is Blue Storm this is giving permission to have the search warrant execute that last line that last line of Leslie Wolfe's email there should be nothing about political figure one in here I know we all have this concern and I think all of our constituents everybody in America should have the concern why is this a system U.S attorney removing any possibility of having anything in the search warrant related to Joe Biden who was the former vice president who could be a future president again political figure one is identified as former Vice President Joseph Biden Jr it's about a two-tiered system of justice if Joe Biden's name had been Smith or Jones or Johnson he would not have been excluded from this search warrant but yet he was and we wouldn't have known that unless the whistleblowers came forward and you wouldn't know it and the American people would know it unless we just took this vote to release the information to the public there are a lot of documents a lot of emails that have been uh just been voted on to be released pay attention to that also if you would pay attention to the Ziegler affidavit the first exhibit he says a lot of things in that exhibit uh dated that updated August of this year August of 2023 he identifies over 19 million dollars in payments over 19 million dollars in payments from foreign sources that's why all this is important I appreciate the effort of chairman Smith this committee these two investigators from the IRS who are willing to come forward uh and at this time I'd like to call the committee the oversight subcommittee chairman swipe thank you um look it's a lot of reading you have several hundred pages on this added into what was put out a couple months ago if you have the opportunity to start to work through it you got many different story lines you can all work on but one that I find most concerning to me personally is we live in a country where we no longer believe in our institutions you all see the polling what we believe in the Press what we believe in those who are elected read through this and you'll start to understand that distrust may be quite Justified people are being treated very very differently because they're part of the political aristocracy um if you're going to have a functioning representative democracy the Chairman's absolutely right we need to do our work here we need to bring Sunshine into how differently people and this are being treated and then maybe once we've exposed that we can go back to starting to build some trust back in our institutions but take this seriously because this is more than just a story about family who's in the white house or who's in the White House itself it's also how the police bureaucracy the law enforcement bureaucracy we're willing to block tackle change the rules for certain people something none of you would ever receive they're nice as we move forward with this investigation it's like a puzzle and every single day we get more and more pieces people ask why do you want to get this information out there and quite frankly after having read the testimony after having looked at the emails the picture is coming very clear not only do you have a two-tiered system not only do you have politicians at the highest echelons of our U.S fabric who are willing to sell themselves out sell our country out sell their positions and enrich their families but you also have bureaucrats that are so embedded in the system that they're happy to play along and protect these people what we've found with our whistleblowers is people who are hard working American federal workers who want to get down to the bottom they are non-political they don't care they have a job and they take it seriously and what you see time and time again from these emails is they're thwarted from doing their job they have policies that are thrown in front of their face when they're getting ready to travel to go investigate to go talk to a witness they're told oh you didn't fill this paperwork out we changed it at the last minute we've changed her policies when they continue to push forward you get them oh no you can't talk to that witness no you can't ask those questions it's too political it's too close to the campaign when they keep pushing forward and keep pushing forward and they show that there's probable cause you've got those same embedded bureaucrats who sell them out and actually tip off the people who are being investigated this would not have happened if or not the connection to Joe Biden then president vice then Vice President Biden and then you have to look at the emails you have got to look at the questions from CNN themselves who have actually connected an email from Hunter Biden that said hey I thought all of this stuff was this stuff was going to go away when my dad became president do you think anybody else would have received that type of treatment absolutely not the tier the two-tier justice system has got to be exposed and not only do we have to expose the politicians who are corrupt and endangering our country on a daily basis but also those bureaucrats that protect them and are all too willing to play along questions yes Mr chairman uh question just about the timing of all this uh we're talking about a two-tiered system of justice if I'm not mistaken August 7th 2020 Bill Barr was the attorney general and Donald Trump was the president so explain to me where the two-tiered system of justice comes into play and then the WhatsApp message you have I believe is dated June 6 2017. Joe Biden is not vice president or even a candidate for president at that time so where is the direct connection to some sort of criminal malfeasance Within These two pieces of evidence well I think the facts speak for themselves there's over 700 pages of examples of where people should be very concerned when you're talking about um uh the what was your first question the timing of this is August 7th 2020. Bill Barr's the Attorney General Donald Trump's the president yeah and Leslie wolf is a career employee she was not a political appointee and she was the one obstructing the investigation it doesn't matter who's in the white house we need to make sure that the Department of Justice works for all people and doesn't treat those who are politically connected are wealthy much differently and unfortunately we have several examples that came forward by the two IRS whistleblowers that proves that people are treated differently because they're politically but haven't you suggested that Joe Biden being the president now is unfairly treating Donald Trump in his indictments what I'm talking about is the 700 pages that we have before us which is all the information that came from the IRS whistleblowers and that's what we're releasing right now and I'll tell you I would encourage everyone in this room to look at those 700 Pages if you think it's okay with what's in it then we live on two different planets can you explain the timing then of the August 6th WhatsApp message why is that evidence of some wrongdoing I'm not an expert on the timeline I would love to have um President Biden and his family to tell us about all the timelines because it's really really uh unfortunate that we see so many meetings and so many phone calls that involved around official activity that the vice president has been participating in and then big sums of Money Follows later but if he's not the president or the vice president at that time where where's the wrong doing he wasn't even a candidate for president at that time he was a candidate in on in August 6 of 2017. uh apparently what source are you with? I'm with NBC so apparently you'll never believe us I'm not saying I don't believe you I'm asking you for I'm asking you a very direct question you presented a piece of evidence that you say came on August 6 2017 that demonstrates that Joe Biden completely open-minded about this I'm asking you specifically how does that demonstrate that there's some sort of political influence being put over him if at that time he is not a political he's not an elected official I'm definitely not going to pinpoint one item I think we've outlined you presented it you're it was your first thing that you brought up so apparently you don't agree with that so it's not that I don't agree with that I'm asking you to explain it I'll take the next question yes on this um slide that you've got that talks about the search warrant draft do you guys have you guys released or will you be releasing the before and after text of the search warrant like do you have as it was before it was edited and then after it was edited if you recall the IRS whistleblowers came to us in April in May and in June we did the depositions on June 22nd we released the 15 hours worth of depositions and then in July the oversight and accountability committee had a hearing and at that hearing those two IRS whistleblowers testified and was asked numerous questions by Democrat and Republican members of Congress that they were not able to answer because of 6103 authority a private taxpayer information the only way that information could be answered is if they would submit that to the Ways and Means Committee and that we would vote to make that public that's in fact what we did today we only made public what they gave us from addition from the oversight hearing so everything of the 700 pages that we released is what the two IRS whistleblowers gave us and and does that include the before and after language of this particular search warrant in the 700 Pages you guys are releasing I I don't know the answer to that it's 700 Pages um I gave you a portion of it yes um excuse me uh Democrats have said that you guys have only spoken to four people who were involved in this seven eight year case out of 60 people both IRS doj FBI that were involved do you plan to subpoena or send requests for the rest of the the individuals that were involved in the underbody case to get the full picture of what happened yeah great question um three days after we released The Whistleblower testimony on June 22nd we asked for 13 people to come before us IRS Agents FBI employees Secret Service this Administration has stalled those requests we did subpoena four of those that we just recently finished their depositions in the last two weeks it took us three months to get four people because of how the administration Joe Biden's Administration is blocking their employees from speaking to Congress this is probably the first time in the history of Congress that we've seen a special counsel appointed to obstruct a congressional investigation and that's in fact what we're seeing out of this Administration and secondly to go back to the timeline of August 2020 will you be asking Bill Barr or anyone from the Trump justice department to come in and talk about their time on this case we have a long list of people that we are trying to come in to answer questions we're following the facts and we're going to see where the facts lead us yes I'm chairman Smith so to your both of your questions on the timeline I think it's important to remember the U.S attorney at the time David Weiss was put board by two the two Democrat senators from Delaware so it was their choice for the U.S attorney Mr Weiss we would love to talk to Leslie Wolfe if you read through the affidavits from the whistleblowers they say under oath Leslie Wolfe put a stop to it she's a career Federal prosecutor in Delaware she has not come forward we haven't had the ability to talk to her we'd love for her to go to the Judiciary Committee be put under oath and explain why she stopped this investigation at every level that pinpoints the exact time that you're talking about there but they have not come forward they have not been revealing none of that information has come forth yes um what do you expect the ways and means committee's involvement to be moving forward on the impeachment inquiry you know you just used power 6103 do you think you would use it again or would it be through subpoenas you know how do you expect that to move forward you know we're definitely moving um we're going to follow the facts like I said um there's several individuals that we want to hear from Leslie wolf is one of the 13 that we requested the last week in June so there's numerous individuals we're going to continue to push for them to come forward and answer the questions that we have yes um on the impeachment hearing tomorrow you're gonna be there what is it that Republicans are are hoping to accomplish this with this what is the the goal of this hearing when it doesn't have Hunter Biden Associates and it doesn't have bite Administration officials or somebody like Leslie wolf just these these experts what's the the point of this particular hearing there's definitely a lot of query um what does that Encompass what's going on and um what is precedent in the past a lot of that according to what you see as the witnesses um that is what I would predict predict that you're gonna you're going to hear that hearing I'm not the chairman um Jamie comers the chairman of oversight I'll be waving on but um that is my projection of what you're going to hear at the hearing yes this is German just your response to this shortly after the majority leader uh Chuck Schumer announced there was bipartisan support for Senate's version of continuing resolution several Senate Democrats including Senator Brown of Ohio today slammed House Republicans priorities going after uh this impeachment inquiry after today's uh press conference uh with police means uh your your response to while house Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced that A continuing resolution he wants to bring It Forward it doesn't appear that they had the votes yet to to pass that by the end of the week should House Republicans be focusing on these other priorities and not if they're going to go for government shutdown House Republicans can walk and chew gum we're pretty good at that and that's exactly what we're doing I have full faith that we'll be able to deliver funding I will point out that the United States Senate has yet to pass one Appropriations bills one they've not even passed one they said three weeks ago that they were going to pass some we have passed bills we were here at 12 30 last night voting on Appropriations bills the Senate has not taken one vote one vote on the senate floor in regards to Appropriations so they can do a lot of talking but I haven't seen any action of them thank you all very much | |
And yet another...