Tornado Alley (PROG)

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B402, See -- Fact check: Republicans make false, misleading claims at first Biden impeachment inquiry hearing
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=172932450

and

[...]How Republicans overhype the findings of their Hunter Biden probe
[...]
“The Committee has identified over 20 companies affiliated with certain Biden family members and their business associates.”
— Majority staff of the House Oversight Committee, Second Bank Records memorandum, released May 10

“We’ve identified about 20-plus shell companies that the Bidens have created to launder the money they were receiving from foreign nationals down to their personal bank account.”
— Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, interview on Fox Business, May 11

“The Committee has now identified over $20 million in payments from foreign sources to the Biden family and their business associates.”
— Majority staff of the House Oversight Committee, Third Bank Records memorandum, released Aug. 9

“The Biden family received over $20 million from our enemies around the world. What did they do to receive the money?”
— Comer, interview on Newsmax, Aug. 10
[...]
For instance, the second staff memo never says that Hunter Biden used “shell” companies — a term often associated with shady or illegal activity, even though a shell company is a legitimate entity. Comer once described such an entity as “a fake company … they don’t make anything. They don’t produce anything. They don’t provide a good or service.” He is not wrong about many shell companies, but the memo lists real companies, with active websites and real business functions. (The third staff memo refers to just one “shell” company, which we will describe later.)

As for the $20 million in payments, Comer and other Republicans invoke this figure often. A close reading of the memos, however, finds that only about $7 million can be directly attributed to Biden family members, mostly Hunter, while the rest went to “associates,” according to the memos. Yet Comer and other lawmakers misleadingly suggest all of the money went to the Biden family or, as some label it, “the Biden crime family ..

Joe Biden is The Brand.@GOPoversight just uncovered $20 MILLION paid to the Biden Crime Family from Ukraine, Russia, and Kazakhstan for access to the power and influence of Vice President Joe Biden.

And Joe Biden knew, he was at the dinners!https://t.co/Qb9QMrlFB2

— Former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@FmrRepMTG) August 9, 2023

.” No evidence has emerged that any of these funds can be traced to Joe Biden himself.

Let’s detail the difference between the memos and the rhetoric.

‘Shell’ companies

Comer often suggests that the Biden family used these so-called shell companies to launder money; in his telling, such companies served no legitimate function. But that claim is undercut by the list of 21 companies that appear in the second staff memo.

Virtually all of the companies (many of which now are defunct) had legitimate business interests. Others had clearly identified business investments. Digging through the records, we find only three whose business purpose remains vague; one (Rosemont Seneca Global Risk Services, LLC) may not even be related to Hunter Biden, according to an email found in Hunter Biden’s laptop. The memos do not list any payments that flowed through these three companies.
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And re one aspect of the relative corruption in the two parties:

Rick Gates Delivers a Public Lesson on Money Laundering and Political Corruption
[...]
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[INSERT: Major GOP donor Len Blavatnik had business ties to a Russian official
[...]
Blavatnik’s donations to US politicians
Between 2009 and 2014, Blavatnik, a dual US-UK citizen, had been giving .. https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2018/05/08/putins-proxies-helped-funnel-millions-gop-campaigns .. relatively small donations to both US political parties; his biggest spend was a total $273,600 in the 2014 election cycle.
P - However, from 2015 to late 2017, he donated at least $6.35 million to Republican party institutions, PACs, and candidates, May wrote in the Dallas Morning News, based on FEC data. He gave the money in a mixture of personal donations and contributions via Access Industries and AI Altep Holdings, which he also reportedly owns. (The two firms share the same CEO and Blavatnik’s brother is listed as AI Altep’s director, according to Open Corporates.)
P - Most of that cash went to Super PACs associated with Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and onetime presidential candidates Marco Rubio, Scott Walker, John Kasich, and Lindsey Graham. McConnell, Rubio, Walker, and Kasich didn’t respond to emailed requests for comment. A spokesman for Graham said the South Carolina senator “has been one of the harshest critics of Russia/Putin out there” and noted that it’s illegal for candidates to coordinate with Super PACs, while inexplicably linking to an article .. https://publicintegrity.org/federal-politics/rules-against-coordination-between-super-pacs-candidates-tough-to-enforce/ .. on how politicians are almost never actually punished for such coordination.
P - Trump’s campaign didn’t receive any Blavatnik cash during the 2016 campaign but he has donated .. https://www.wsj.com/articles/gop-funds-donald-trumps-defense-in-russia-probe-with-help-from-a-handful-of-wealthy-people-1506109617 .. large sums to the Republican National Committee’s legal fund, which has helped finance Trump’s legal defense for the Russia probe, according to the Wall Street Journal. He also gave $1 million to Trump’s inaugural committee. The committee raised an astonishing $107 million and reportedly spent $104 million; around double the cost of Barack Obama’s 2009 inaugural celebrations. More than $1.5 million went to Trump’s hotel in Washington, according to .. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/14/us/politics/trump-inauguration-spending.html .. the New York Times. The White House did not respond to an emailed request for comment. https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=166428196 ]
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