The Patriot Post® · Biden 'Signals Are Basically Used as Currency'

Another day, another story about Joe & Hunter Biden Corruption Inc. Fatigue can set in over the constant drip of such news — we get it. But it’s awfully important when it comes to exposing the corruption of the sitting U.S. president.

Democrats know they have a big problem. Joe Biden is non compos mentis, barely able to mumble what he reads off a teleprompter, unable to climb the full staircase into Air Force One. On top of that, he’s corrupt, sitting at the center of a lucrative influence-peddling operation.

No wonder Democrats really, really want Donald Trump to be the news focus, dropping one bogus indictment after another — especially when they need to distract from news of Biden’s corruption — to gin up outrage and make sure he’s the GOP presidential nominee.

On Monday, Hunter Biden’s business associate Devon Archer gave closed-door testimony to the House Oversight Committee about Joe’s involvement in the family business. Democrat Congressman Dan Goldman rushed out to the first available microphone to declare that Archer’s testimony “completely absolves Joe Biden of any involvement in Hunter Biden’s business world.” Hunter was just creating the “illusion of access,” he claimed.

Goldman added that Joe and Hunter might have spoken on the phone during 20 or so of Hunter’s business meetings, but it was only about “the weather” and other mundane things.

What is this? Bill Clinton’s tarmac meeting with Attorney General Loretta Lynch to talk about grandkids while the FBI was investigating Hillary Clinton’s illegal email server?

Humor aside, Goldman walked right into a trap. Oversight Chairman James Comer released the transcript last night, and let’s just say “the weather” wasn’t the point. And “illusion of access” was Goldman’s choice of words, not Archer’s.

Comer and others had already indicated that Archer made plain what any rational observer would understand about such phone calls: Hunter Biden was selling the Biden “brand,” making clear to his associates how valuable immediate access to the then-vice president really was. Indeed, that’s what the transcript lays out in even more detail. When Joe picked up the phone, Archer told the committee, “there was brand being delivered.”

“People send signals,” Archer explained, “and those signals are basically used as currency.” Literally, in the Bidens’ case.

In fact, writes Noah Rothman of Republican investigative findings: “All told, the committee alleges that Hunter Biden and his business partners earned more than $20 million in shady payments from his associates in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and China while his father served as Barack Obama’s vice president. The committee’s findings suggest that Hunter Biden wasn’t selling the ‘illusion’ of access to the highest echelons of the U.S. government at all. He delivered.”

As for why Hunter would secure a highly paid seat on the board of Burisma, the Ukrainian energy giant, Archer said, “It’s pretty obvious if you’re, you know, you’re the son of a vice president.” Especially the vice president who served as point man for U.S. policy on Ukraine.

To be sure, Archer said, “to my knowledge” Hunter didn’t specifically ask his father for official favors in his hearing. But Archer noted that he was “left out of everything” that involved truly consequential discussions with Joe Biden. That means he couldn’t testify regarding damning specifics like coercing bribes from Burisma, but it also means the Bidens knew exactly what they were doing in covering their tracks wherever possible.

Archer was certainly clear that Hunter’s access to Joe helped Burisma. “I think Burisma would have gone out of business if it didn’t have the brand attached to it,” Archer asserted. Why? “Because people would be intimidated to mess with them … legally.” Remember that Ukrainian prosecutor Joe Biden is on video bragging about getting fired? That was the brand and intimidation at work, and for a corrupt company like Burisma, operating in a corrupt country like Ukraine, that’s real value.

Representative Andy Biggs asked Archer to clarify that everything was really about Joe Biden. “When you say ‘Biden family,’” he began, “you aren’t talking about Dr. Jill or anybody else. You’re talking about Joe Biden. Is that fair to say?”

“Yeah, that’s fair to say,” Archer replied. “I don’t think about it as, you know, Joe directly, but it’s fair. That’s fair to say. Obviously, that brought the most value to the brand.”

It wasn’t just a few phone calls, but in-person dinners as well. Archer told about a 2014 dinner Joe attended with Hunter and other business associates, who funneled money — $142,300 in this case — to one of the Biden family’s numerous shell companies. “It was for a car,” Archer explained. “Hunter’s car.” Either a Fisker or a Porsche, Archer couldn’t exactly recall, but it was “an expensive car.”

The House Oversight Committee has uncovered more than just vague references to the Biden “brand” and expensive cars. A series of emails between Hunter Biden and Archer make clear that then-Vice President Joe Biden’s official April 2014 visit to Ukraine was all part of the plan.

In fact, during that visit, Biden made remarks about gas that were clearly meant to boost the value of Burisma. “Imagine where’d you be today if you were able to tell Russia: Keep your gas. It would be a very different world you’d be facing today,” Biden said. “It takes some difficult decisions but it’s collectively in your power and the power of Europe and the United States. And we stand ready to assist you in reaching that.”

Archer replied to Hunter excited for that opportunity “to make sure this rag tag temporary Government in the Ukraine understands the value of Burisma to its very existence.” In other words, Burisma not only didn’t go out of business but benefited thanks to the Biden “brand.”

Unfortunately, if you get your news from the wagon-circling Leftmedia, you get headlines like The Washington Post’s “Hunter tried to sell family name but Joe Biden never talked business, says ex-associate.” Or NBC’s “Hunter Biden business associate testifies he has no knowledge of wrongdoing by Joe Biden.”

The vast majority of news consumers read only headlines, meaning they’ve just been served a heaping bunch of misinformation.

That a corrupt man like Joe Biden presides over the country — and the political persecution of his most likely election rival — is not quite the steady hand and unity he promised.

Just keep one thing in mind. In August 2019, Biden insisted, “I have never discussed with my son or my brother or anyone else anything having to do with their business, period.”

That lie continues to crumble with each new revelation.

(Updated)