I'm going to say something about Hunter Biden

[flotsam]

For the GOP $50K a month is big graft? Horseshit-Hunter Biden is a licensed attorney from a highly esteemed DC law firm. Now if you know about attorneys you mostly know they work a shit-ton of hours, but let's pretend that Hunter Biden is a slacker that only worked 40 hours a week...or 2000 hours a year and let's even admit his name on the corporate mast had value and that while he was a licensed attorney he did not have specialized experience in the energy field. But he was hired to ensure ethics compliance and I've seen no argument he was not qualified for that...

So if he worked 2000 hrs on ethics compliance and lent his name as a surety the actual cost per hour was about $300 an hour and I could name a shitload of people who paid attorneys with no name recognition more. Everybody on this board has seen millions shoveled to the GOP and their candidates just for access-treat this "controversy" as it deserves-tell the GOP to fuck off with their made up bullshit.

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. Give the filthy traitorous piles of HUMAN SHIT credit, they have the entire media

and even us talking about NOTHING while their guy openly commits treason while simultaneously taking food from children and attempting to take healthcare from millions.

I am in AWE.


And no I am not picking on you for mentioning Hunter, in fact I appreciate what you said. Yet, he has NOTHING to do with this election.

I remember saying DAY ONE Hillary email story is not a story, there is NOTHING there and I was right, yet it became one of the biggest political scandals in our history, yet NOTHING happened.

Remarkable.

[dhol82]

3. This!

[brush]

25. And FYI to repugs on Biden: Parents don't control what their grown children do.

[MH1]

30. THIS.

This is what has amazed me about this whole b.s. thing all along.

[madaboutharry]

2. The GOP leaves out that he is an attorney

with DC law firm. The portray him as a near-do-well flunky. That is what fits into their twisted narrative.

What is so galling is the silence about Jared and Ivanka, neither of whom are qualified to have their jobs.

This entire chapter in history is making me sick.

[dhol82]

4. Yup.

[certainot]

21. that's why they love their unchallenged and uncorrected 1500 coordinated radio station monopoly

[okieinpain]

5. This is the first time I've heard Hunter

is an attorney. Why are Biden’s people pushing this.

[Eliot Rosewater]

9. Why are BIDEN'S people pushing this? What are you talking about?

[tblue37]

23. The poster obviously meant "aren't," but didn't proofread for typos. nt

[okieinpain]

26. That Biden is an attorney, no one

Last edited Sat Dec 7, 2019, 04:32 PM - Edit history (1)

ever mentions this. It always sounds like he has no training in anything. I haven’t even heard joe Biden say his son is a licensed attorney.

[Eliot Rosewater]

29. OK, Thanks...

[karynnj]

12. With a Yale law degree and years of experience - he was about 45

[virgogal]

6. I think Hunter Biden was just on the board of directors

at the Ukranian company------they only meet once in a great while and don't work for 40 hours a week.

[milestogo]

8. Yeah, I don't think he was giving them 50K a month worth of legal advice.

[luvtheGWN]

24. Well, the GOP wins again.

Simply by the fact that you all are discussing this.

Isn't it conceivable that Burisma brought Hunter Biden onto its Board of Directors with only the "hope" that his membership would assist the company? That's what all company boards do.

It doesn't mean that there were any shananigans -- only that Burisma hoped having the VP's son on its Board would supply some kind of "insurance" that Hunter's Dad wouldn't be looking too deeply into corruption.

Now I grant that Hunter should have (as it turns out) turned down the offered position. But I doubt he has any fortune telling ability...

[hedda_foil]

32. I read that they meet twice a year -- probably for less than a week.

Sorry, I can't find the link.

[virgogal]

33. Thanks. That's why the OP makes absulutely no sense.

[NoMoreRepugs]

7. Framing the narrative is far more important than the facts.

It's the reason why the Rethuglican party continues to exist.

[Cha]

10. KR!

[FM123]

11. Yep.

He has a highly coveted JD from Yale and worked for Boies Schiller Flexner (as in David Boies who was Al Gore's attorney in Bush v Gore)

[progressoid]

34. Boies has a mixed record. He recently represented Harvey Weinstein.

[warmfeet]

13. Yes, of course it is complete, made up bullshit.

That is the current iteration of the gop - made up bullshit.

That is all they have.

They have no facts.

They have no evidence.

They have a story that about 1/3 of the populace is open to.

They have nothing more than that.

Fuck them all!

[certainot]

22. but they, and putin, have 1500 unchallenged and coordinated radio stations

[UTUSN]

14. I say about H.BIDEN - no different from other govt sons:'member the BUSHes?

* Where Poppy BUSH cried, "My boys have a *RIGHT* to make a living!"? (His boys were outright grifters.)

* 'member when Shrug ("W&quot was kicked off the Carlyle board for not contributing anything of value, just hokey dirty jokes at Board meetings?

************** I *will* say that Hunter disgusts me on many levels, like f***ing his ex-sister-in-law & much more. And I will say that it's a mystery to me how much Joe BIDEN encompasses all this within paternal love and forgiveness.

[pnwmom]

18. And even though Joe didn't take any action based on Hunter's business connection,

the problem is the appearance of conflict of interest. Joe's "don't ask don't tell" policy with regard to Hunter's business interests was a serious mistake.

Now the Rethug answer to Ivanka, Jared, and Junior is always going to be HUNTER IS WORSE.

It doesn't matter to the R propagandists that that's a flat out lie. It doesn't matter that Joe didn't take any actions in exchange for payments to Hunter.

The R's will be screaming about Hunter the whole general election, and most voters will just throw up their hands and figure it's a draw.

[UTUSN]

19. As always, I agree with *ALL* of your 101K posts. Yea, H. is different from the SHITLER mob kids!1

[JoeOtterbein]

15. Hell I would do some graft too for 50 grand a month!...

...plezse, please, perrty please!!!!!

[Haggis for Breakfast]

16. The notion of trumpie or that idiot spawn of his

calling ANYONE else unqualified for something . . . .no words.

[MasonDreams]

17. You are absolutely correct!!

But the repukes still enjoy great success.with fox lies misinfo-tainment ,AM radio and their diseased monkeys throwing shit 24/7/365

[Hamlette]

20. and Board members get six figures

for a smallish bank, for instance, $250,000 is not far off for a Board member who meets once a month.

[Gothmog]

28. I have seen members of the board for pubic companies with less qualifications

[OhNo-Really]

31. I thought kids were off limits 🤷🏻‍♀️

[progressoid]

35. If they are minors.

[Gothmog]

36. The long-awaited defense of Hunter Biden

Here are some facts including that the fact that Hunter was a biglaw firm that was advising this company https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/1/5/1907833/-The-long-awaited-defense-of-Hunter-Biden

Following Paradigm, Biden continued working as a lobbyist for several years and was appointed to the board of Amtrak by President George W. Bush. He had also been the vice chairman of the National Railroad Passenger Corporation. He then founded a private equity firm, Rosemont Seneca Partners, in 2009, which later partnered with the Chinese government to form yet another equity firm, called BHR, where he held an unpaid board position. Trump likes to argue that Biden took “tons of money” from China, but again—this position was unpaid.
He ended his lobbying career and left the Amtrak board as his father became vice president, then started another consulting firm in 2008, as noted by Newsweek.

In 2008, Hunter Biden also founded Seneca Global Advisors, a consulting firm that helps companies expand into global markets. His earnings from Rosemont Seneca and Seneca Global Advisors are not publicly available.

Biden then joined the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner, which features superstar lawyer David Boies as its primary partner and chairman. While at Boies Schiller, Biden was involved in advising Burisma, which was a client at the time being personally handled by Biden, who was advising them on corporate reform, according to Hunter Biden’s lawyer, George Mesires:

In April 2014, Hunter was asked to join the board of Burisma, the largest independent natural gas producer in Ukraine. At the time, Hunter was of counsel with Boies Schiller Flexner LLP [fn 1] (“Boies Schiller”), a major U.S. law firm, and was advising Burisma on its corporate reform initiatives, an important aspect of fueling Burisma’s international growth and diversity. Vibrant energy production, particularly natural gas, was central to Ukraine’s independence and to stemming the tide of Vladimir Putin’s attack on the principles of a democratic Europe.

To further its goals of independence, Burisma sought to adopt standards and practices traditionally employed by Western companies. At Hunter’s urging, Boies Schiller engaged Nardello & Co., a leading global investigative firm, to assess, among other things, Burisma’s corporate structure and governance practices. Burisma agreed to pay the legal expenses of Boies Schiller to support Hunter in developing corporate reform initiatives.

Because of Burisma’s stated commitment to corporate best practices, it was able to attract well-qualified board members, including the former president of Poland, Aleksander Kwasniewski, a leading advocate of democratic principles in the region. President Kwasniewski, familiar with Hunter’s work on behalf of Burisma, recommended that Hunter join the board.

Again, this view is consistent that Biden ultimately joined by the board for Burisma Holdings to help it with its efforts regarding “corporate governance,” as noted by Wikipedia.

In the aftermath of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, Mykola Zlochevsky faced a money laundering investigation,[33][34] and his company Burisma Holdings, the largest natural gas producer in Ukraine,[14] assembled a "high-profile international board" in response.[35][34] Biden, then an attorney with Boies Schiller Flexner, was hired to help Burisma with corporate governance best practices, and a consulting firm in which Biden is a partner was also retained by Burisma.[36][37][38] Chris Heinz, John Kerry's stepson, opposed his partners Devon Archer and Hunter Biden joining the board in 2014 due to the reputational risk.[34] Among those who joined the board of directors in April 2014 were Biden, Archer and former Polish president Aleksander Kwaśniewski.[39] Biden served on the board of Burisma until his term expired in April 2019,[40] receiving compensation of up to $50,000 per month in some months.[37][41]

So it appears that Biden was placed on the board of Burisma as part of its effort to “clean up” its practices after the allegations of money laundering by Zlochevsky, which had previously occurred in 2012. Biden took a pay cut to be on the board compared to what he’d earned as an investment banker, although it may have been an upgrade compared to what he likely earned at Boies Schiller. Biden had nothing to do with the investigation of Zlochevsky and was never investigated himself.

Being on the board of AMTRACK and being with the biglaw firm that was advising this company are sufficient qualifications for Hunter to be appointed on the board.

[flotsam]

37. Great Post

thanks.

[Gothmog]

38. GOP forcing Hunter Biden to testify could 'completely backfire' on them -- here's why

Link to tweet

But as CNN’s Michael Smerconish noted on Saturday, this strategy might not even work.
Enjoy progressive journalism? Help fight right-wing disinformation by supporting Raw Story. Click to learn more.

“This is my theory, pure speculation,” said Smerconish. “I have this vision on the Democratic side of the aisle, some who know Hunter Biden, are sort of rubbing their hands and saying, yeah, yeah, just keep begging for this guy.”

“The Republicans have created such a caricature of him. In other words, they set the bar so low,” continued Smerconish. “And then all of a sudden, Hunter Biden comes in. He’s a handsome guy. He’s articulate. He’s smart. He went to Georgetown, he went to Yale Law. He puts sentences together that are not indicative of having committed anything illicit, other than earning money, perhaps because of the name with which he was bestowed. And Americans say, ‘Oh my god, is that all there is?’ It could completely backfire. It’s one of the intangibles. I don’t know, but I’m paying attention.”