Posted on 02/28/2020 8:33:03 AM PST by karpov
WILMINGTON, Del.—The purchase of an abandoned 10,000 square-foot DuPont mansion in an affluent Wilmington suburb may have been a stretch for a 32-year-old widower and father of two commuting daily to Washington for his job as a U.S. senator.
Then again, Joe Biden readily acknowledges that his passion for real estate occasionally overtook his common sense.
The son of a car salesman who was under frequent financial duress, Mr. Biden has seen up close what it looks like to scrape by. He also knows what it feels like to be worried about his mortgage payments.
As Mr. Biden faces a make-or-break moment for his presidential campaign Saturday in South Carolina, he has emphasized that background, trying to draw a contrast with primary rivals who include two billionaire businessmen.
The former vice president has cultivated a decadeslong brand as “Middle Class Joe” and often referred to himself as “one of the poorest members of Congress.” But Mr. Biden’s financial struggles, compared with many of his colleagues, weren’t just a product of his reliance on a government salary. They also stemmed from his penchant for buying stately houses, a Wall Street Journal review of public records and interviews with his current and former associates found.
Mr. Biden’s efforts to live like some of his wealthier Senate colleagues at times led him to borrow money against the value of his homes and life insurance policies, and he routinely reported a negative net worth.
Unlike many of his former colleagues who left office after a term or two and joined the private sector, Mr. Biden, 77 years old, served 44 years in office. After his vice presidency ended, he earned more than $15 million in two years from speeches, teaching positions and book deals.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Why not in the ghetto, Joe, with all your Firewall Bros who you fellate on a regular election-time basis?
You coulda got a great deal there, brought some commerce to the area, and DIVERSIFIED The Hood
.
If his Lips are moving...
He’s Lying!
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Backroom deals
Revealed: Joe Biden twice used his position as senator to intervene to boost son Hunter’s lobbying
Joe Biden lobbied Department of Justice Congress and Homeland Security for Hunter’s lobbying clients
BY Alana Goodman, Washington Examiner| October 24, 2019 07:37 PM
Joe Biden privately contacted the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice when he was a senior and influential U.S. senator to discuss issues that his son Hunter’s firm was being paid to lobby on, according to government records.
On at least two occasions, Biden contacted federal departments to discuss issues related to Hunter’s firm’s lobbying clients, according to records reviewed by the Washington Examiner.
Biden’s behind-the-scenes outreach illustrates how his Senate work overlapped with his son’s business interests. Biden has faced scrutiny for taking actions that were perceived to benefit his son’s work, including calling for the firing of a Ukrainian prosecutor and backing policies that helped the Delaware-based credit card industry while Hunter was working for MBNA, which is headquartered in the state.
Government records show that Biden, who has always insisted he knows nothing about his son’s business activities, helped Hunter’s work with strategic and highly specific interventions that could have benefited his son to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars.
On Feb. 28, 2007, Biden contacted DHS to express that he was “concerned about the Department’s proposed chemical security regulations authorized by Section 550 of DHS Appropriations Act of 2007,” according to the department’s log of its contacts with members of Congress.
Section 550, which was passed in 2006 as part of the DHS appropriations bill, requires high-risk chemical plants to submit site safety plans to DHS for approval, including security credentialing and training for employees.
Eight weeks earlier, the Industrial Safety Training Council had hired Hunter Biden’s firm to lobby DHS on the issue. The trade group, which represents companies that provide safety training for chemical facility employees, was mounting a heavy lobbying campaign over section 550, submitting congressional testimony about the need to expand background checks for chemical plant employees.
The Industrial Safety Training Council was seeking to expand the “language in DHS legislation regarding security clearance and credentialing for chemical facility employees and employers” in January 2007, according to lobbying disclosure records.
While Hunter Biden did not register as an individual lobbyist for the trade association, he was one of three senior partners in his firm at the time. The Industrial Safety Training Council paid Oldaker, Biden & Belair a total of $200,000 between early 2007 and the end of 2008.
The Biden campaign did not respond to request for comment. The National Legal and Policy Center, a government watchdog group, said Biden should have avoided involvement with issues that his son’s firm was also lobbying on because of the appearance of conflict.
“It’s implausible Sen. Biden did not know his son’s firm was lobbying on this arcane issue,” said Tom Anderson, the director of NLPC’s Government Integrity Project.
“Sometimes appearances are exactly what they are,” he said. “This is a recurring problem we’ve seen on the Hill, where family members are enriched because of their relationship with a member.”
Biden also sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Jan. 31, 2007 requesting a meeting with the Department of Justice to discuss expanding the federal fingerprint background check system.
“I write to request your assistance in implementing an expanded background check system for our nation’s volunteer organizations,” wrote Biden. “If we can work together to expand the number of volunteer organizations that have access to fast, accurate, and inexpensive fingerprint background checks, we will make significant and important strides in our ongoing effort to protect kids across our country.”
Biden added, “I would like to convene a small meeting with key representatives” from DOJ, the FBI, members of Congress and volunteer groups.
One of Hunter’s firm’s lobbying clients at the time, a coalition of state-level criminal justice advocates called SEARCH, was also lobbying the federal government for a broader fingerprint screening system at the time.
The same day as Biden’s letter, SEARCH adopted a resolution calling on Congress to consider “any effort to improve the quality, completeness and accessibility of criminal history records” and expand the current system to “allow the return of all criminal history record information maintained by the States on the search subject through a single fingerprint check.”
The group initially hired Oldaker, Biden & Belair in 2006 to lobby for federal funding for state-level criminal justice programs, paying the firm $114,000 over the next year. In early 2008, SEARCH was seeking funding “to assist states in development and use of information to accelerate automation of fingerprint authentication processes and criminal justice data which are compatible with the FBI’s” system, according to lobbying records.
Biden introduced a bill called the “Child Protection Improvements Act” on March 13, 2008, which created a national fingerprint background check system for volunteer groups that worked with children. Oldaker, Biden & Belair promptly began lobbying for the bill on behalf of their client, SEARCH, according to lobbying records. SEARCH paid the firm $93,000 in 2008, records show.
Hunter Biden founded Oldaker, Biden & Belair with William Oldaker, a former adviser to his father. During his time at the firm, he was registered to lobby for clients on issues ranging from online gambling to higher education. After Biden became a vice presidential candidate in 2008, Hunter stepped away from lobbying, and the firm was renamed Oldaker, Belair & Wittie.
ABC News reported last week that Biden was concerned conflicts with his son’s lobbying work could negatively affect his presidential run in 2008.
Biden was “concerned with the impact that Hunter’s lobbying activities might have on his expected campaign for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination,” according to court documents filed by a former business partner of Hunter Biden’s in 2007, ABC News reported.
“Because my dad was vice president of the United States, there’s literally nothing, as a young man or as a full-grown adult, that my father in some way hasn’t had influence over,” Hunter told the outlet in an interview.
The son of a car salesman who was under frequent financial duress, Mr. Biden has seen up close what it looks like to scrape by. He also knows what it feels like to be worried about his mortgage payments.
Yeah, I know about that...That’s about all, huh???
So, not a “real” job...
Joe sounds like a politician ripe to have his palm greased.
I thought he always passed himself off as “Ordinary Joe”, living in a modest house and taking the train from Delaware to D.C. every day.
‘
Lindsey Graham says, yesterday, effectively, you can’t trust Rudy Guiliani-
And “Joe Biden is a Wonderful man.”
And that’s the other party.
So, the Corruption is incredibly deep.
‘
Actually, Biden is even worse. He’s a faker.
Biden is as corrupt a politician as there has ever been. He demands payoffs for favors granted and been deeply involved in money laundering of taxpayer dollars sent to foreign countries. Hopefully some of his nefarious activity will soon be exposed.
It’s all outrageous.
‘
What happened is someone was running a story, and they reached out for comment.
His comments end up leading the story, but he thought it was coming out, regardless.
He got Hunter on the board at Amtrak, and Biden was treated like a King, where they catered to him (alone).
He does nothing but Lie.
‘
See, he HAD TO steal.
His boneheaded financial decisions aren't our responsibility, only seeing justice done for his crimes.
Luckily, Hunter Biden has only been seduced by illegal drugs and strippers.
Check Joe’s OFF SHORE BANK ACCOUNTS! He’s always had MILLIONS and MILLIONS!
That all ended after he got into politics......
They all seem to be jumping on a similar band wagon... reminds me of a line from a Steve Martin movie.
A steaming pile of horse manure. He lived in North Star, an upper middle class neighborhood. Then he lived in Montchanin, a high class area full of old money. This was after he shepherded a bankruptcy bill favorable to the banks. His current home, a 5 acre plot on a private lake, was reportedly gotten with favorable terms.
So, Old Joe lies again.
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He has at least three houses.
Lives in Mansion on the Potomac.
Off-shore accounts, absolutely
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10k sqft home. My parents had a few of those when I was born. Made for some cool backgrounds in my baby pics and videos. Then they got fed up with the property taxes and crime.
They still live large but have advised me, regarding real estate investments, “Don’t buy anything over five thousand square feet, sooner or later it will get on your nerves.”
I used to think that was all about misplacing the keys or the phone. Turns out a big place wakes you up every day moaning, FEED ME. Upkeep and repair hassles like you wouldn’t believe.
Now when I see a big old house going cheap, all I hear is FLIP ME.
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