Per Olav Ødegård
Commentator in VG. Former foreign journalist and correspondent for VG in the USA. Writes mostly about international affairs.
THE ARREST PHOTO: Donald Trump was photographed on August 24 when he turned himself in to the authorities in the Fulton County Jail in Georgia. Photo: – / AFP / NTB
When Donald Trump is dragged into the swamp he has to find someone else to throw dirt on. Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, is legally present.
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This is a comment. The comment expresses the writer’s position Republicans have started an impeachment process against President Joe Biden, focusing on his son Hunter Biden’s previous business activities abroad. Kevin McCarthy, leader of the House of Representatives, claims that a “culture of corruption” has been found in the Biden family. No evidence has been presented for the claim. Hunter Biden faces three separate charges including violating Delaware gun laws and underpaying taxes in the period 2017-2018. The process is seen as a political game by Trump’s supporters, who are vengefully seeking impeachment after Trump himself was impeached twice. Show more
Republicans hope some of the smearing will hit the president, tarnish his reputation and damage his chances of re-election in 2024.
The first hearing in the impeachment process against President Biden takes place on Thursday. It will be about Hunter Biden’s previous business activities abroad.
Even before the first hearing, the leader of the House of Representatives, Republican Kevin McCarthy, says that they have already found a “culture of corruption” in the Biden family. The claim is that Joe Biden both assisted his son and profited from his lucrative and controversial business in other countries.
FATHER AND SON: President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden outside a Catholic church in South Carolina after a service on August 13. Photo: NICHOLAS KAMM / AFP / NTB
The problem for those who accuse him is that, after five years of persistent effort, they have not been able to substantiate gross allegations with concrete evidence. Even a very conservative Republican, Representative Ken Buck, is not convinced:
– Republicans who are eager for impeachment are basing themselves on a made-up story, he says.
What Hunter Biden is accused of pales in any case in comparison to the seriousness of the charges against him Donald Trump.
Trump is accused of undermining the results of a presidential election and of leading a criminal conspiracy. Attacking the institutions of democracy is undoubtedly a crime of quite a different caliber than dubious business practices and tax fraud.
Hunter Biden is in the spotlight in three different processes.
He is charged with violating gun laws in the state of Delaware. The case comes before the court on October 3. The claim is that he broke the law by not disclosing that he was using drugs at the time he bought a firearm.
Hunter Biden is also accused of having paid NOK 800,000 too little in taxes in 2017-18. He will deny criminal guilt, both in terms of tax evasion and illegal weapons purchases.
To get to the bottom of the cases concerning Hunter Biden, including his work for companies in countries such as Ukraine and China, Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed a special investigator, Attorney General David Weiss of Delaware.
His work continues independently of Congressional scrutiny.
COURT SETTLEMENT: Hunter Biden outside Delaware court on July 26. He has taken legal action against the tax authorities after parts of his tax return were made public. Photo: Julio Cortez / AP / NTB
Kevin McCarthy has been reluctantly pressured by Trump’s gunmen in Congress to open an impeachment inquiry. It is as expected. Some Republicans have long vowed revenge for Donald Trump’s impeachment twice.
No one has advocated impeachment of Biden with greater zeal than Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene. The day after the inauguration of Biden in January 2021, she submitted a proposal to this effect in Congress for the first time. She then accused him of abusing his position as vice president, a post he left four years earlier.
Recently, Greene made it clear that she will not vote on next year’s state budget this autumn if Congress does not first start an impeachment investigation of Biden. For a hard core of Trump supporters, the process against Biden is more important than giving the country a budget and ensuring that government services do not have to close their doors due to a lack of money.
In an interview last Thursday on Fox News, Trump said that it is up to the party members in Congress whether they want to initiate impeachment proceedings against Biden. He added:
– They did it to me. If they hadn’t done it to me, I think – and no one is saying this officially – that maybe it wouldn’t be done to them. It’s a shame. It’s human nature.
In other words, it’s about revenge. The fact that Trump was impeached makes it necessary to expose Biden to the same. It cannot be said more clearly that the process is a political game by Trump and his friends.
Trump’s phone conversation with Ukraine’s newly elected president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, led to the first impeachment case. Trump was then accused of withholding military support to pressure Zelenskyj to investigate Hunter Biden’s business dealings in Ukraine.
ALLIES: Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene with former President Donald Trump at the podium during a Republican Party meeting in Georgia on June 10, 2023. Photo: MEGAN VARNER / Reuters / NTB
The second impeachment case against Trump was about his role in connection with the storming of Congress on January 6, 2021. A two-thirds majority in the Senate is required to be convicted and Trump was acquitted both times.
Donald Trump does not need a verdict in the judiciary to establish that Hunter Biden is guilty and that the family is corrupt. He calls both father and son Biden scoundrels. These are included as regular elements in his election campaign repertoire.
It is reminiscent of the tactful cry of Trump supporters in the 2016 election campaign: Lock her up! Back then it was Hillary Clinton.
Leader of the House of Representatives, Republican Kevin McCarthy, on September 14 gave the green light for the impeachment investigation of Joe Biden. Photo: MICHAEL REYNOLDS / EPA / NTB
Hunter Biden held very lucrative board positions, including in Ukraine, during the time when his father was vice president. It may not look good to make good money from your last name, but it is not a crime.
In a PC belonging to Hunter Biden, Trump’s allies believed they had found a treasure trove. They hoped to find evidence that he was corrupt and that his father was somehow involved. Hunter Biden had delivered the PC for repair and forgot to pick it up. Meanwhile, it went astray.
Until now, the investigation of Hunter Biden has revealed nothing but possible tax fraud and violations of the weapons law. But the fact that Trump’s supporters believe in the conspiracy theories about extensive corruption in the Biden family is not surprising. They are also convinced that Trump is completely innocent of everything he is accused of.
– They have found no evidence, none, that he has done anything wrong, says press secretary in the White House, Karine Jean-Pierre, about Joe Biden.
But precisely because the allegations are so serious, it is important to get answers. That is why a special investigator is investigating Hunter Biden’s affairs. It is up to the judiciary to decide whether he has broken the law.
The impeachment inquiry in Congress is something completely different. It is only political theater, staged by Republicans who want to divert attention from the serious charges against Trump.
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Published: 25/09/23 at 01:44
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2023-09-24 23:44:49
#Comment #Trump #revenge
