On November 18, 2023, Washington Post reporter Matt "Biden Adviser" Viser offered the Biden talking points in his article, Hunter Biden’s career of benefiting from his father’s name. Viser asserted the House Republicans "have not produced any direct evidence" of Joe Biden improperly benefiting from Hunter's schemes.
"A Washington Post review of Hunter Biden’s career found no sign the family patriarch was an active participant in his son’s business efforts."
That's ridiculous, since the laptop shows Biden showing up to meet Hunter's clients at swanky restaurants and more. Viser quoted Hunter's lawyers, painting with the broadest brush:
"There is not a single financial transaction between President Biden and his son related to or involving any of Hunter Biden’s business ventures or prior private commercial dealings,” they [Hunter Biden’s legal team] wrote in a recent memo. “Hunter Biden’s business transactions were legitimate and well-documented in written agreements, and transactions legally tracked in his businesses’ bank statements.”
On Monday, House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer demonstrated that was the latest Biden lie, releasing subpoenaed bank records showing that one of Hunter Biden's shell companies -- Owasco PC, which received payments from Chinese companies -- sent direct payments to Joe Biden of $1,380 in September, October, and November of 2018.
So how did Viser and the Post report on this? On page A-7, Viser and Jacqueline Alemany penned an article titled "Comer mischaracterizes payments Hunter Biden made to his father for car." Now wait! If anyone "mischaracterized" payments, it's the Biden camp, who insisted there was "not a single financial transaction" between Hunter and Joe from Hunter's business ventures.
But the Post is just that partisan, insisting in their lede that the Republicans keep getting it wrong:
As House Republicans move toward a floor vote to authorize an impeachment inquiry against President Biden, House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) has again mischaracterized evidence of payments from Hunter Biden to his father.
Instead of asking Hunter's lawyers why they lied about "not a single financial transaction," their Post pals just let Abbe Lowell roast Comer:
“There Chairman Comer goes again -- reheating what is old as new to try to revive his sham of an investigation,” Hunter Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell said in a statement. “The truth is Hunter’s father helped him when he was struggling financially due to his addiction and could not secure credit to finance a truck. When Hunter was able to, he paid his father back and took over the payments himself.”
After the Post allowed a Comer spokesman to insist a series of payments to Joe Biden from Hunter's companies show he's benefited from foreign companies, they dumped more cold water on Comer as the article ended:
Comer has consistently oversold [link to their "Fact Checker"] or misrepresented the committee’s investigative findings as he has argued to initiate impeachment proceedings. Last month, Comer trumpeted a $200,000 loan repayment Joe Biden received from his brother James Biden. Comer sought to paint the personal check in nefarious terms, alleging without evidence that it showed that Joe Biden had indirectly received payments from his family’s foreign business dealings.
When presented with a bank record of the wire payment that showed the $200,000 payment to James Biden had originated from the president’s attorney trust account, Comer baselessly accused the law firm representing Joe Biden of money laundering.
Several "fact checkers" typically rushed to defend the Bidens. CNN's Daniel Dale weaseled through it: "the committee subpoenaed years of financial records; the fraction CNN has seen does not prove with absolute certainty that there was a loan. But even this small batch of evidence clearly shows that the Democrats have documents at least partially substantiating their assertions about the check."
That's good enough for the Biden voters at CNN and the Post.
PS: Back on February 2, Viser demonstrated his partisanship, proclaiming to Nicolle Wallace on MSNBC that “there isn't much that ties the president to any wrongdoing, which I think has got to be the focus for it to be relevant for it to be of a congressional committee is to look at Joe Biden and the presidency and there's nothing at least on the laptop that illustrates that.”
