The New York Times reports that Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt privately recorded his intentions to give Donald Trump money in order to advance his business interests in the United States. Pratt wrote, “If Potus is having his election party at mar Lago I’ll book as many rooms as available,” because doing so would not only help Trump win the election but also “be good for business.”
The Times reports that, according to witness testimony to federal prosecutors, Pratt “spent $1 million to attend the party, well in excess of the normal charge.” That is to say, Pratt was not merely indulging himself in amenities offered by Trump’s private club but consciously using those payments as a vehicle to pay Trump directly.
While there is no evidence this alleged scheme violates any criminal statute, the colloquial term for this behavior is bribery.
Meanwhile, House Republicans are continuing to circulate allegations that President Biden was connected to his son Hunter’s influence-peddling business. Representative James Comer has made a series of uncorroborated allegations that the conservative media have uncritically promoted, insinuating that Joe Biden personally benefited from his son’s business. Republicans have produced communications between Hunter Biden and his father, which might be expected between a father and a son, but no clear evidence that Joe Biden received any payments stemming from Hunter’s work.
They are attempting, so far without success, to show Biden did what Donald Trump is proven to have done.
Years later and y’all are still desperately grasping at straws. Keep trying, one of these days something will stick for sure!
Gotta love the open and blatant hypocrisy of Republicans here. The Venn diagram of people who care about Hunter Biden, and people who criticized Trump/Ivanka/Kushner for open influence peddling (including copyrights from China for Ivanka, and literally billions of dollars in unexplained income from the Saudis for Jared) is two separate circles with no overlap.
Just completely incapable of applying the same standard when the shoe is on the other foot. Actually, a much higher standard.
Jared Kushner was a government official (even though he shouldn’t have been, for literally this exact reason: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/437292-kushners-security-clearance-was-denied-due-to-concerns-of-foreign/) and we know he mysteriously received billions of dollars from the Saudi government.
Nobody gave a shit.