I think you’re wrong about Bobulinski: the deal wouldn’t have necessarily been recognizably “shady” (at first blush) if Joe Biden had left politics for good. It’s the fact that he went back in two years after this that makes it shady in retrospect.
Did you miss the part of the interview where he asked Jim when the first met on the night of May 17 of some year how they could risk Joe’s future reputation to run for office in such a shady deal and jim’s reply was “plausible deniability”. Bobulinski knew then it was shady. He knew for sure when the chicoms turned the tables and went after the Russian shares in Rosneft and hunter became counsil to Ye.