Sometimes half a loaf is better than none.
And when it comes to the New York Times writing damaging news about a major Democrat presidential hopeful, even a slice or two is pretty good….which is what we got from today’s article, written by Kenneth P. Vogel and Iuliia Mendel, which talks about Joe Biden’s son, Hunter.
Here is how it starts:
WASHINGTON — It was a foreign policy role Joseph R. Biden Jr. enthusiastically embraced during his vice presidency: browbeating Ukraine’s notoriously corrupt government to clean up its act. And one of his most memorable performances came on a trip to Kiev in March 2016, when he threatened to withhold $1 billion in United States loan guarantees if Ukraine’s leaders did not dismiss the country’s top prosecutor, who had been accused of turning a blind eye to corruption in his own office and among the political elite.
The pressure campaign worked. The prosecutor general, long a target of criticism from other Western nations and international lenders, was soon voted out by the Ukrainian Parliament.
Among those who had a stake in the outcome was Hunter Biden, Mr. Biden’s younger son, who at the time was on the board of an energy company owned by a Ukrainian oligarch who had been in the sights of the fired prosecutor general.
The article eventually goes into great detail in showing what, if written in a different, more accusatory tone, would be a highly damning narrative of Joe Biden using his political power as Vice President to help out a son with a sketchy history and make him a rich man.
It didn’t – this is, after all, the New York Times – but at least it laid out most of the facts.
Now, for the folks who want a take on things that is a lot closer to the bone, here is a video of Joe Biden bragging about how he got the rid of the prosecutor looking into Hunter Biden’s activities- the one this article says”was soon voted out by the Ukrainian Parliament“.
As you can hear, from Joe Biden’s own mouth, removal of this prosecutor was not the result of him losing an eventual loss of a vote. Biden TELLS US he gave the Ukraine 6 hours to fire the prosecutor, or the US would withhold a billion dollars from the Ukraine, and the Ukraine buckled under.
In case you didn’t click on the link to see the video, here is a transcript of its key part:
JOE BIDEN: “I said, ‘You’re not getting the billion.’ I’m going to be leaving here in, I think it was about six hours. I looked at them and said: ‘I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money.
“Well, son of a bitch, he got fired. And they put in place someone who was solid at the time.”
That clear enough for you?
Don’t let the initial polling fool you. Joe Biden’s candidacy has a lot of problems. Big ones.
And this problem – the fact that he interceded as Vice President of the United States to get rid of a prosecutor looking into his son’s dealings – may be the biggest of them all.
