Thread by @Woody4123

Okay, I’m a third of the way through Hunter Biden’s deposition. It’s as revealing as it is damning. A couple of things were said which debunk a lot of GOP talking points.

Let’s start with the beginning. Hunter Biden entered his credentials into the record. He’s got a better

Resume than even I thought. At one point, Hunter sat on 17 Boards and listed 12 into the record. One of the meetings Joe Biden called into was when Hunter was hosting a thank you dinner at Cafe Milano (walking distance from the Naval Observatory) to donors to the

World Food Program, which fed 70 million people per day. Hunter put his father on speakerphone in front of a couple of oligarchs, a GOP Megadonor, and a couple of rich people from New York. At a charity event where Hunter was thanking them for donations to an org which

Fed 70 million people per day. It gets better.

Burisma actually approached Devon Archer first. It was the first or second democratically elected Prime Minister of Poland who convinced Hunter to sit on Burisma’s board. Because, at the time, Burisma was the only

Alternative to Russia fully controlling the natural gas drilling and transportation between Eastern and Western Europe.

It gets even better. I’ll go through a couple of personal things which were highly relevant.

1) Hunter talked about how it was both a privilege and a responsibility to be a Biden. POTUS was a big name since Hunter was two. A cop pulled Hunter over and told Hunter his dad wouldn’t want the cop to let him off.
2) Hunter taught the highest rated class Georgetown

Called the School of Foreign Relations.
3) Hunter was a sought after Board Member for CHARITIES. Contrast that with Ivanka, Eric and Don Jr, who aren’t allowed to be an officer or director of any charity which operates at all in New York.

4) Hunter rose to become Vice Chairman of Amtrak with votes from appointees of both parties. Hunter somehow developed a specialty in Corporate Governance and Controls.
5) Switching gears, Abbe Lowell is a really good lawyer. Lowell identified, in advance, a dozen

Gotcha questions or vaguely worded ones.
6) Hunter was a hell of a lobbyist. But he gave up lobbying when Joe Biden became VP.

Switching gears to the debunking part of the exercise.

- Hunter didn’t get a car from a Kazakhstani Oligarch or a valuable diamond from China.

The diamond was worthless but Hunter, Archer and Jim Biden paid for a $20,000 bottle of scotch. The car, was actually paid for by Devon Archer. While Archer received money from a foreign source which he used for the car, Archer paid Hunter with the money for the car

For help he needed on an unrelated transaction. Devon Archer was Hunter’s college roommate.

- Hunter was asked dozens of questions about accounts which sound the same. Minority counsel had to waste a ton of time debunking a lot of BS. For example, Burisma

Hunter and Devon Archer (who was put on the board before Hunter) billed their Burisma fees together. In some cases, Archer sent Hunter’s share of the fees over to Hunter from his accounts. The GOP double counts and spins this as money laundering. But they were all Morgan

Stanley or Wells Fargo Accounts (eg US Banks who don’t fudge records), not the accounts from sanctioned Russians who funded Truth Social.

Bottom line, and I’ll get through the rest tomorrow. Hunter answered every question but debunked the GOP’s primary thesis.

Hunter played these deals straight up. He didn’t lobby, he didn’t take money for policy, and the things he solicited donations for were charities which fed starving people in Africa, tried to solve the problem of exporting natural gas during the Obama Fracking Boom, or

Were related to his prior experience as a well sought after Board Member.

More tomorrow.

Okay I’m through the second third. The Big Reveal is that the text messages supposedly shaking down Chinese officials didn’t go to the right Zhao and Hunter didn’t remember the message. It all took place when Joe was out of office regardless.

Of the three big out of context Comer allegations, Joe Biden was invited to a lunch in NY with Jim, Hunter and CEFC executives. Joe is in town to see granddaughter. Regardless, Joe never showed, the meeting was in 2017, and Jim and Hunter don’t remember.

#NothingBurger

We get to the famous “10% to the Big Guy.” And here it gets interesting. Basically, Hunter did a nice job debunking Tony Baloney, and highlights he never responded, and even pulled Tony Baloney aside to tell him to keep the words “Joe Biden” out of his mouth. The deal was signed

Where each of the five partners got 20% (eg - nothing for the Big Guy).

It was 2017 also so another #Nothingburger

What I did take out of the evidence from both sides is something fascinating. While no one links Hunter to invoking his father, ever, they can sure

Point to evidence Hunter’s partners sure did. The 10% to Joe actually was Rob Walker’s brainchild, not Tony Baloney. There’s even a scene described by Devon Archer where Hunter calls his dad during a Burisma Board Meeting. In spite of his felony conviction,

Devon Archer is a trained Yalie who once worked for the Heinz Foundation. In other words, clever as shit. Archer reported the phone call from Hunter to his Dad was relayed to him by a Zlochevsky associate, who we later learned didn’t speak English. Another #NothingBurger with an

Asterisk. This is hearsay upon hearsay which would be inadmissible in court.

Another little nugget I found fascinating. Hunter’s Burisma salary wasn’t reduced because Joe left office. Every Board Member’s was b/c the company decided to take on other expenses (I’m reading…

Between the lines). Burisma hired Kroll and Associates, a Top Tier forensic accounting firm. Kroll figured out the UK Allegations against Burisma and Zlochevsky were bunk.

(Side note: Zlochevsky was finally convicted on unrelated charges after a 2.5 year trial. He received

No jail time, probably because Zlochevsky funded the Ukrainian War Effort to the tune of about $100 million out of his personal funds).

Another nugget I finally figured out. Zlochevsky and his associates didn’t speak English, so if they were going to go around

Bribing US Officials, they needed a translator to do it.

Another couple of side notes about Burisma:

1) after the Maidan Revolution in 2014, Zlochevsky was left with a choice. Cozy up to Russian backed interests, or cozy up to the New Ukrainian Political Movement which

Was Anti-Russia and pro-EU. Zlochevsky, for all his faults, chose the EU.
2) Burisma’s pro-EU stance led them to approach politicians Corporate Governance experts. Which led to the hiring of the former Polish PM and…Devon Archer.

It was actually Devon Archer who introduced Hunter Biden to Burisma. They didn’t seek Hunter out for influence peddling.
3) Hunter, who was Of Counsel at Boies, appeared to think he was in for a big referral fee given Burisma’s litany of legal issues.

4) Hunter, probably on the advice of his dying brother Beau, was conscious of any conflicts, and convinced Burisma (and Zlochevsky) to hire Blue Star to do their lobbying.

Regardless, Boies is a monstrous law firm, who knows how to manage such conflicts.

A couple of other nuggets. Majority Counsel went to great lengths not to let Hunter describe what he was paid to do. But what’s clear is that the transactions with China were real and someone who commanded top dollar was needed to work on them.

One of the projects was

For a Liquified Natural Gas facility to be constructed with associated pipelines, permits and capital that were needed. All that stuff was right in Hunter’s wheelhouse.

Just so you don’t think this is partisan, Rex Tillerson, Rick Perry and other Trump Administration

Illuminati were trying to do the same thing. Just in Ukraine, not the US like Hunter and Ye.

(Side Note: Obama had us fracking natural gas like crazy, and even had us over producing our heat and electricity generating capacity. We could have been exporting tons of LNG starting

In 2018 of Trump hadn’t fucked up by completely screwing up the Obama Era permitting process)

One final note in the second third. Hunter and Abbe Lowell are starting to get chippy. Here’s Lowell’s response to Comer implying Lowell still represents Jared Kushner.

More to come.

@moknows5150 @Bricchetti1 The money to Hunter for his share from Archer’s accounts. If you see Bohai, that’s what that is.

Okay I’m through the last bit of Hunter. We spent a lot of time on Tony Baloney so we’ll do him in the Appendix. The next session started off testy. Basically, Republicans tried to put out of context emails and texts they got from

Tony Baloney, Hunter and Lowell were having none of it. But it took awhile. Bottom line, Hunter redid the deal he negotiated with Tony Baloney with four other people.

Hunter hates Tony, not for what he did to Hunter but for trying to run an Op on his father.

Next we had to go through our conspiracies:

1) Hunter got a car from an Oligarch from Kazakhstan. Which, no surprise, is a total mischaracterization. Devon Archer owed Hunter Money so he negotiated an advance on his future revenue (Archer’s fee). The money

Was then sent to a car dealership. Hunter didn’t say so, but putting the car in the company’s name.

It was a simple tax avoidance scheme to take the depreciation on a luxury car as a tax deduction (although Hunter didn’t say so). Archer was indicted not long afterwards so

The Depreciation never really helped.

2) the insanity of commingled funds.

A) Hunter put Joe on his AT&T Family Plan and gets reimbursed. We spent five pages figuring that out.
B) the family accountant couldn’t reach Joe and the Pool Guy/Garbage Man was refusing to show.

So Hunter paid the Pool Boy and got money back. In 2010.
C) we then had to go back and show Joe Biden sent Jim Biden $200K and $40K and got aid back. House Rs were trying to get Hunter in the middle of that but Hunter didn’t bite.

We then moved on to the key. The key, for those that don’t know, was referenced in an email where Hunter
asked someone to make Joe a duplicate office key.

I think Hannity, Ingraham and Comer spent much pearl clutching about the key. It turns out

Hunter’s business went kaplooyee after Archer’s indictment, Hunter didn’t need the space. He wanted the Biden Foundation to move in.

But the office in question co-located with the Penn Biden center and no key was ever made. Much ado about nothing. Again.

We then get to Matt Gaetz, who is as annoying in these as he looks in real life. Gaetz spent a lot of time trying to make an issue out of Hunter not debunking the 10% to the Big Guy thing. Hunter didn’t bite.

Gaetz then tried to get Hunter to authenticate the “laptop.”

Here Hunter and Lowell gave us a preview of what is probably to come. Hunter denied remembering anything about the laptop, and noted the proximity of Apple Stores to both his father’s house and Hunter’s home in DC.

They clearly have something which I hope comes out soon.

Not to be unprofessional, but at this point I would have given Gaetz a piece. We then moved on to Hunter’s credentials again.

It was Gaetz who let Hunter squeeze in that he was Chairman of the Amtrak Compliance Committee. Which is a BFG.

(As an aside I’ve only had one client with a railroad. A tiny one. One locomotive and 240 or so cars. They employed two ladies whose only job it was was to fill out the paperwork for one car and two unit trains).

They then finally got Hunter to admit to his official

Which for those on Team Biden is bad news - it’s eight months after he bought the gun.

It’s either a major eff up by Hunter (which would be wildly inconsistent with his other testimony) or Lowell has figured out a defense against the gun charge.

We then spent a too many pages on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act which Hunter and Lowell shut down.

We then went on to an incident I entitled “OHMYGOD! Hunter had a thirty minute meeting and a pull away with the Chinese Ambassador!”

I didn’t know much about this, but now we have the date and it makes much more sense. Hunter owned an Investment Advisory Firm in 2011 with real heavy hitters back then. Their specialty was helping funds raise money. The Chinese Government had just announced that

It would allow its public/private companies to invest around the world, and raise money to do the same on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. This was candyland for every investment advisor. Reading between the lines, it sounds like Hunter setup

A grip and grin for Chinese companies looking to move in with a bunch of his investment advisor buddies.

(Side note: Back then, China was really screwing up the supply / demand balance for commodities. The price of steel doubled that year. Mines in Australia and Russia

Needed infrastructure to get the ore out).

Anywho, now that we’ve figured that out, it’s time to move on to Tony Baloney.

TAKE A BREAK BEFORE READING ABOUT BALONEY

Alright here we go! What we know. Hunter, Jim and Joe were all in LA, and Hunter and Jim wanted to meet Tony Baloney out there. So, on script, they’re having a late dinner so of course Joe shows up.

Joe is in town to give a speech on the cancer moonshot. Tony Baloney

Has relatives with cancer so he gets full POTUS empathy treatment. From here, accounts vary wildly on what happened next. I’ll go with Hunter’s version. Hunter said Joe invited Baloney to his speech the next day, and they all got coffee afterwards. Hunter said no

Business stuff was discussed and I assume Jim Biden said the same thing bc no one on either said raised holy hell.

Side note: the Republicans make big time hay when someone says to Hunter it was nice to “meet” your father. Hunter remembered one case in his deposition

Where the “meeting” in question was a photo op and a handshake.

Back to Tony Baloney. Tony and Hunter decide to follow up, and there’s lots of really bad forensic evidence Tony Baloney provided (screenshots from a blackberry mostly).

I spent thirty minutes of my

Life trying to triangulate this crap with shit on the laptop before giving up.

Bottom line, there were five partners. Jim Biden, Tony Baloney and two others. Hunter, in the throes of his addiction, ceded a lot of control even though everyone had equal equity percentages to

have a say. Anyhow, at some point, Tony Baloney and Hunter had a falling out. Hunter, who had the main contact with the Chinese, simply froze Tony Baloney out. The reasons Hunter froze tony out vary. In his deposition, Hunter said Tony wanted to much control, especially of

The Biden name. Lowell has said in court papers, and in correspondence to the DOJ, that Hunter cut Tony Baloney off bc of his Russian Ties.

Regardless, you can watch Tony on Fox and recognize the man is what we call in Pgh a total Jaggoff.

So that’s the tale of Tony Baloney, although two things strike me.

1) I could almost see Abbe and Hunter’s delight as I read. Tony Baloney is almost certainly facing at least one, and probably several, perjury charges.
2) Tony, everyone agrees, was frozen out of a deal he

Worked hard to put together.

But I don’t feel bad for Tony at all. He’s that much of a dxck.

Appendix II - Who is Missing from this story and why it matters?

#sobrietydate

Appendix II: Who isn’t in this story.

I’m going to start with Valerie Biden Owen’s. For those who aren’t ardent Biden watchers, she’s Joe’s sister and ran everyone of Joe’s senate campaigns. She was, in many ways, the force behind Joe’s stunning political rise. Valerie also

Helped raise Beau and Hunter, even after Jill arrived on the scene. Valerie was part strategist, part enforcer, part grass roots organizer and part mother hen.

I don’t know why Valerie didn’t step in as Hunter spun down the vortex of addiction. But, if you can picture

The Biden House. Joe comes home after a long train ride, and probably just sits down with his kids and sister. Which makes these calls / random drop ins seem so consistent. Hunter at one point is aghast when the questioner asks why Hunter asked his dad to

To stop by a lunch at a NY Swanky Restaurant. Joe has probably been dropping in on Hunter’s lunches
and dinners for fifty years.

Having your campaign manager/sister/primary babysitter is so Biden. And it makes the meet with Tony Baloney for a random dinner so Biden.

For West Wing Followers, Valerie Biden is part Sam, part Josh and a whole lot of Leo.

Appendix III: What’s out there that’s real?

Appendix III: What’s missing?

People keep asking me if House Rs uncovered any additional wrongdoing? The short answer is not really. Tony Baloney probably has a good case to sue Hunter for costs he incurred but there’s no damages as that deal never took off.

Hunter may also

Have some exposure for failure to register as a Foreign Agent, although FARA cases are notoriously hard to prosecute (see Barrack, Tom). And from his deposition Hunter seemed to know about where the FARA lines are and how not to cross them.

One thing I am struck by as well is that there is a mountain of evidence that crap from the laptop has been manipulated. And Hunter lost many devices over the years. I am very surprised Raskin didn’t take the time to create a record of data manipulation and forensic tarnish,

Especially given the Smirnov situation. Maybe that was off limits, but I was hoping for a few laptop debunks to have some fun with.

For more on the last subject give Marcy Wheeler a follow @emptywheel. She’s covered Hunter
better than anyone I’ve seen.

Freaking Twitter! The end of Appendix Two was supposed to include Beau Biden, so let’s call this Appendix IV,
“What if Beau had lived?”

It’s probably a nice beginning to this story to relay that I actually met Hunter and Beau once. At a high school block party, which

Was a thing back then. I knew four senators kids, and we ran in the same circles (I grew up in DC). Anyway, Beau had a presence to him, the type of guy you just knew was going to be somebody. Hunter was drunk out of his mind.

Anywho, Beau’s career as a politician is well

Documented so I won’t belabor it here. I remember Beau helping a drunk Hunter into a car back in high school, which is consistent with reports that Beau was the one (along with Valerie) who kept Hunter straight. Beau’s death hit Hunter hard.

What people don’t know is that

Hunter, when Beau was alive, was damn good at his job. They were brothers in every sense of the word. Hunter paid for Beau’s law school tuition, and made sure that his public servant brother had enough $$$.

Hunter the Lobbyist didn’t trade off his last name in the

Traditional DC sense of pay me money and my dad will take your calls. Hunter was a door opener. A gladhander. You had a permit tied up for a gas pipeline over at the EPA? Hunter could get you a meeting.

This led to charity work, lots of it. And a knack for fundraising. Not

That Hunter didn’t financially benefit or use his last name. So, I picture in my head how different this story is when Beau Biden gets word from his handpicked successor the Delaware Attorney General (Beau would have been governor) that two partisan

Political hacks over at the IRS had
Opened up a criminal investigation of Beau’s little brother and were trying to rip Hunter’s life apart.

I have no doubt Ziegler, Shapley and probably Rudy and his gang of misfits would be facing criminal charges, not Hunter. #End

That Hunter didn’t financially benefit from raising all that money or use his last name to open those doors. But it’s not corrupt. It’s very Washington DC.

So, I picture in my head how different this story is when Beau Biden gets word from his handpicked successor the Delaware Attorney General (Beau would have been governor) that two partisan

Political hacks over at the IRS had
Opened up a criminal investigation of Beau’s little brother and were trying to rip Hunter’s life apart.

I have no doubt Ziegler, Shapley and probably Rudy and his gang of misfits would be facing criminal charges, not Hunter. #End

Traditional Washington sense in that Hunter didn’t collect money to get his father to answer somebody’s calls. Hunter was a Door Opener, and a Gladhander. If you had a permit for a gas pipeline over at EPA, Hunter could get you a meeting.

It’s not that

Hunter didn’t financially benefit from raising all that money or use his last name to open those doors. But it’s not corrupt. It’s just Washington DC.

So, I picture in my head how different this story is when Beau Biden gets word from his handpicked successor the Delaware Attorney General (Beau would have been governor) that two partisan

Political hacks over at the IRS had
Opened up a criminal investigation of Beau’s little brother and were trying to rip Hunter’s life apart.

I have no doubt Ziegler, Shapley and probably Rudy and his gang of misfits would be facing criminal charges, not Hunter. #End