EDITOR’S NOTE, February 16, 2024: On February 15, Justice Department Counsel David Weiss indicted FBI informant Alexander Smirnov on two felony counts of making a false statement and creating a false and fictitious record for claims made to the bureau. The charges are in relation to June 2020 FD-1023 form alleging President Joe Biden and son Hunter Biden received a combined $10 million in a bribery scheme involving the Ukrainian energy company, Burisma.
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Former White House Press Secretary and current weekend MSNBC host Jen Psaki joined the network’s Thursday coverage of President Trump’s third indictment and arraignment to discuss the GOP’s reaction, specifically their attempts to equate the situation with Joe and Hunter Biden’s problems. Psaki was not thrilled with the comparison, claiming to do so in reminiscent of Vladimir Putin.
After co-host Jose Diaz-Balart observed Republicans are trying to tie Joe and Hunter Biden together, Psaki recorded, “Of course they are. And there is no evidence of that, but they're going to keep trying because that is the argument that they want to fuzzy the waters out there, muddy the waters, not fuzzy them, muddy the waters out there.”
“That, by the way, is a tactic that Vladimir Putin and other authoritarian dictators use, but that's their strategic objective, to make it all seem the same,” Psaki continued.
Interestingly enough, the man who allegedly paid the Bidens a $10 million bribe at Burisma, Mykola Zlochevsky, worked in the administration of Viktor Yanukovych, who ran away to Russia in 2014 after the Ukrainian people got tired of being governed by a Putin stooge. If a Republican father-son were facing these allegations involving Putin-aligned foreigners, the media would be paying far greater attention.
Additionally, almost every time the media discusses Hunter, they feel the need to bring up Trump’s kids. Is that a Putinesque attempt to muddy the waters?
MSNBC political contributor Matthew Dowd then jumped to claim nobody cares about Hunter Biden anyway:
There’s a history in our country of people, of the opposing party trying to bring relatives into the campaign, it never works. I remember with George W. Bush, they brought up Neil Bush over and over and over again, George Bush got elected. Roger Clinton was brought up over and over, the brother-- half-brother of Bill Clinton, it never worked. Nixon's brother was brought up over and over and over again, it didn't work. Billy Carter was brought up in 1976. It doesn't work. It’s a distraction, it feeds the base, swing voters do not care about Hunter Biden.
Maybe if the media didn’t dismiss concerns about Hunter Biden as no big deal, that would change.
This segment was sponsored by Subway.
Here is a transcript for the August 3 show:
MSNBC The Indictment of Donald Trump
8/3/2023
11:47 AM ET
JOSE DIAZ-BALART: They’re also trying to tie in Hunter Biden with President Biden, not just Biden – not just—
JEN PSAKI: Of course they are. And there is no evidence of that, but they're going to keep trying because that is the argument that they want to fuzzy the waters out there, muddy the waters, not fuzzy them, muddy the waters out there. That, by the way, is a tactic that Vladimir Putin and other authoritarian dictators use, but that's their strategic objective, to make it all seem the same.
MATTHEW DOWD: Can I add one thing to here?
ANA CABRERA: Please.
DOWD: There’s a history in our country of people, of the opposing party trying to bring relatives into the campaign, it never works. I remember with George W. Bush, they brought up Neil Bush over and over and over again, George Bush got elected. Roger Clinton was brought up over and over, the brother-- half-brother of Bill Clinton, it never worked. Nixon's brother was brought up over and over and over again, it didn't work. Billy Carter was brought up in 1976—
DIAZ-BALART: Yeah, Billy Carter.
DOWD: -- It doesn't work. It’s a distraction, it feeds the base, swing voters do not care about Hunter Biden.
