Legal commentator Jonathan Turley, who not only has testified before Congress as a constitutional expert but also has represented members in court, has unleashed a commentary blasting the Biden family’s newest defense for the evidence that shows influence peddling – and the millions of dollars that brought to members.
“The question is whether Joe Biden knew about the influence peddling of his brothers and his son. If so, he actively assisted his family in acquiring millions to influence him on public policy or legislation. His family was effectively marketing time shares in a senator, a vice president and now a president,” he wrote.
“Whether or not Biden delivered, the family business corrupted the functions of government by converting offices into types of commodities. That is the case regardless of whether or not they delivered. It is akin to an extortionist taking money without any intent to follow through on threats of disclosure or use of damaging material. Even in today’s willfully blind politics, every voter should be able to agree on two simple facts.
“First, influence peddling is corruption long opposed by the government and denounced by both parties.
“Second, if the president knew that his son and uncles were using him for influence peddling, Joe Biden is also corrupt.”
Turley, the J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at the George Washington University Law School, noted the “Biden family legal problems continue to mount.”
He cited reports Joe Biden’s brother James was caught on an FBI audiotape in a corruption investigation, while Ashley Biden, the president’s daughter, is now also facing demands for unpaid taxes.
He noted James Biden is expected soon to testify before the House investigators looking into Biden family corruption, and that occasion may “solidify a new line of defense for the Bidens: that they are harmless grifters.”
“After years of denying influence peddling with the help of an obligating media, even some Democrats are now admitting that Hunter and his uncles have been selling influence. Biden associates confirmed that Joe Biden was the brand that they were peddling to foreign clients, who paid millions to the family,” he explained.
The James Biden affair illustrates the operations, he explained.
It happened during an investigation into lawyer Richard Scruggs, who later went to prison.
“Scruggs forked over $100,000 to James Biden when he was seeking to reinforce support for the massive tobacco legislation and Joe Biden was viewed as skeptical on what some viewed as a windfall for trial lawyers,” Turley explained.
In fact, Scruggs admitted James Biden was “hired” because he was Joe Biden’s brother.
When the tape was revealed, the Bidens immediately produced a “new defense. James Biden took the money but allegedly did nothing to land his brother.”
In fact, Biden defenders now say the Bidens took money, but their help was “illusory.”
“In other words, these corrupt figures wanted to buy influence and access, but they were just chumps fleeced by the Bidens,” he wrote. “It is a curious defense that we are not corrupt because we just ripped off dupes who were corrupt people.”
He said, however, the bottom line is that “influence peddling is a form of corruption.”
He said the case will come down to “what the president knew about his family’s influence peddling and when he knew it.”
“It is highly implausible that the president did not know about the influence peddling,” he explained.
And he pointed out Joe Biden likely already likely has lost the fight, as “roughly 70 percent of voters (including 40 percent of Democrats) believes that President Biden acted illegally or unethically, or both.”
