1 00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:21,320 We're back with another edition of The Federalist Radio Hour. I'm Emily Dacianski, 2 00:00:21,399 --> 00:00:24,320 Culture editor here at the Federalist. As always, you can email the show 3 00:00:24,320 --> 00:00:28,519 at radio at the Federalist dot com, follow us on Twitter at fdr LST. 4 00:00:28,559 --> 00:00:31,640 Make sure to subscribe where ever you've download your podcasts, and of course 5 00:00:31,640 --> 00:00:35,560 to the premium version of our website as well, where we comment back and 6 00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:40,359 forth with our wonderful readers and so appreciate all the subscriptions to the site. 7 00:00:40,479 --> 00:00:44,520 Keep them coming. Now, today was something we've been trying to do for 8 00:00:44,560 --> 00:00:49,600 a really long time. A great conversation between Christopher Bedford, his lovely wife, 9 00:00:49,640 --> 00:00:53,759 Sarah Bedford, and myself on some of Sarah's reporting, but more generally 10 00:00:54,119 --> 00:01:00,719 the Hunter Biden legal saga, the Hunter Biden influence peddling saga. Sarah's a 11 00:01:00,799 --> 00:01:07,439 really talented investigative reporter. She looked a lot into the Clinton Foundation, covered 12 00:01:07,439 --> 00:01:11,959 Wiki leaks really closely for The Washington Examiner back in twenty fifteen and twenty sixteen, 13 00:01:11,079 --> 00:01:15,239 went on to CNN and is back at the Washington Examiner now. But 14 00:01:15,680 --> 00:01:22,799 as we had this conversation, the sort of particulars of the Hunter Biden drama 15 00:01:22,879 --> 00:01:26,760 are both incredible and overwhelming. Of those things often go hand in hand, 16 00:01:26,760 --> 00:01:32,079 of course, but it's actually really really hard to keep track of even if 17 00:01:32,120 --> 00:01:34,560 you cover it really closely. There are so many different people and there are 18 00:01:34,640 --> 00:01:40,000 so many different, I think shocking details. And now, of course there's 19 00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:42,799 a special counsel involved. That would be David Weiss. We've covered this extensively 20 00:01:44,280 --> 00:01:49,519 over at The Federalist, but for the purposes of a podcast, having a 21 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:52,280 conversation about it, I really think is one of the best ways to sort 22 00:01:52,319 --> 00:01:57,359 of make it come alive, make it less overwhelming, and Sarah was certainly 23 00:01:57,480 --> 00:02:01,480 really really helpful at doing that. Again. Last Friday, Merrick Garland appointed 24 00:02:01,879 --> 00:02:10,120 David Weiss a special counsel investigating the Hunter Biden influence. Peddling saga and saga 25 00:02:10,199 --> 00:02:13,680 is really the best word. That's why I keep using it in the context 26 00:02:13,759 --> 00:02:20,599 because it's just an incredible epic tale and we're learning more about it every day, 27 00:02:20,879 --> 00:02:23,080 and maybe we'll learn more about it through this special counsel. But you 28 00:02:23,159 --> 00:02:29,479 probably know the name David Weiss, and you probably are confused about why, 29 00:02:29,639 --> 00:02:32,599 like I was, he would be appointed special counsel somebody who is supposed to 30 00:02:32,599 --> 00:02:39,560 come from outside the government. It's very strange. Accusations from whistleblowers have already 31 00:02:39,599 --> 00:02:46,520 suggested that David Weiss slow walked the investigation. Sarah gets into the previous iteration 32 00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:55,919 of investigations in Hunter Biden. Sarah gets into the question of the question of 33 00:02:55,960 --> 00:03:00,960 statute of limitations, which is one of those details that I think gets as 34 00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:06,039 I was saying earlier, sort of put on the back burner in this broader 35 00:03:06,039 --> 00:03:09,479 conversation, but is in and of itself huge. I was thinking the other 36 00:03:09,560 --> 00:03:15,080 day, I was actually looking at charmp from Axios that put together Donald Trump's 37 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:19,560 impending court dates on one side of the line, and on the other side 38 00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:23,719 it was the twenty twenty four election dates, key dates in the election debates, 39 00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:29,479 caucuses, etc. And when I saw that, you know, obviously 40 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:32,680 I have the misfortune of being a journalist. Although of course it's an incredible 41 00:03:32,719 --> 00:03:37,039 privilege in the United States that we have the freedoms that we do, at 42 00:03:37,039 --> 00:03:39,759 the same time, it means you have the misfortune of being sort of glued 43 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:49,520 to every awful news cycle and can be you know, very very tragic to 44 00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:53,599 have to literally learn all of these different details and think about all of these 45 00:03:53,599 --> 00:03:57,439 different details of American decline day in and day out, and this is certainly 46 00:03:58,199 --> 00:04:03,919 one of those news cycles. And so when you look at exactly how many 47 00:04:03,919 --> 00:04:10,599 different layers to this story there are to the twenty twenty four election, there 48 00:04:10,599 --> 00:04:15,639 are we're talking four different indictments. So journalists who are covering the twenty twenty 49 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:18,360 four election essentially have to be experts on four different indictments. And I'm talking 50 00:04:18,399 --> 00:04:25,040 about legacy journalists, but also that that's from the perspective of me as somebody 51 00:04:25,040 --> 00:04:29,959 who's in the media. More importantly, voters essentially have to be experts on 52 00:04:30,040 --> 00:04:33,279 four different indictments, and understandably, a lot of people won't be that that's 53 00:04:33,319 --> 00:04:39,399 impossible if you want to do diligence as a voter and like really thoroughly understand 54 00:04:39,439 --> 00:04:43,399 as you should, all of the allegations against anybody, be they Donald Trump, 55 00:04:43,519 --> 00:04:47,079 Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, Hillary Clinton, you would have to read, 56 00:04:47,399 --> 00:04:50,759 you know, hundreds of pages, and nobody has time for that, 57 00:04:51,319 --> 00:04:57,040 and nobody can trust the media to be the intermediary there anymore either. And 58 00:04:57,079 --> 00:05:00,959 so on top of having to follow all of the the regular issues in a 59 00:05:00,959 --> 00:05:05,879 presidential election cycle, and as the presidential election cycle actually affects races around the 60 00:05:05,959 --> 00:05:12,040 country, as different candidates, lawmakers weigh in on what's right, what's wrong, 61 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:15,480 where to go from here, et cetera, et cetera. There's just 62 00:05:15,560 --> 00:05:18,759 an incredible volume of information. And I know this is like a little bit 63 00:05:18,759 --> 00:05:21,560 of a tangent, but it's been on my mind lately, so I wanted 64 00:05:21,639 --> 00:05:26,399 to put it out there that this is one of the most overwhelming. This 65 00:05:26,519 --> 00:05:32,480 is probably the most overwhelming American news cycle that certainly in my memory. You 66 00:05:32,519 --> 00:05:36,839 know, each one of these the Mueller probe started to feel like Whitewater. 67 00:05:36,879 --> 00:05:41,160 We started to feel a lot of or see a lot of similarities or parallels 68 00:05:41,199 --> 00:05:45,399 being drawn intentionally to Whitewater. But oh my gosh, now we have four 69 00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:51,639 different indictments, and the Fannie willis one includes how many different people, nineteen 70 00:05:51,720 --> 00:05:57,720 different people, the former president himself included. And then when you add into 71 00:05:57,759 --> 00:06:01,319 that the fact that there is now a special council into the president's son and 72 00:06:01,480 --> 00:06:05,519 actually really into the president himself. Not to say that that's not to say 73 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:10,800 that we trust the special council will follow the evidence where it leads, because 74 00:06:10,839 --> 00:06:14,800 we've seen that actually not happening. That's part of the controversy here is what 75 00:06:14,839 --> 00:06:18,720 the FBI didn't investigate despite where the evidence was leading from the IRS and other 76 00:06:18,759 --> 00:06:23,959 places when it comes to Joe Biden himself. But we now on top of 77 00:06:23,959 --> 00:06:28,000 all the indictments against the former president, on top of the fact that there's 78 00:06:28,120 --> 00:06:32,360 a land war in Europe, on top of the fact that inflation is completely 79 00:06:33,040 --> 00:06:35,720 real way just have been down over the course of the Biden administration. Gas 80 00:06:35,759 --> 00:06:41,480 prices are really high, inflation is uneven. I mean, there's there's an 81 00:06:41,519 --> 00:06:44,680 argument that it's down overall, but certainly you won't feel like it's down. 82 00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:46,600 If you pump a lot of gas, you won't feel like it's down. 83 00:06:46,639 --> 00:06:49,199 If you're trying to buy a used car, you won't feel like it's down. 84 00:06:50,160 --> 00:06:55,360 If you're you know, participating in any number of any number of sectors 85 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:58,360 in the economy. So we have all of this going on, all of 86 00:06:58,399 --> 00:07:02,120 these indictments and now a special investigation, another special and council investigation. It's 87 00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:05,360 easy to get Special Council fatigue. But one of the things I really liked 88 00:07:05,600 --> 00:07:11,199 talking to Sarah talking to Chris on this edition of the show is just how 89 00:07:11,319 --> 00:07:15,639 much a conversation can kind of help the facts interact with each other, come 90 00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:18,720 alive and congeal into a narrative, which, at least for me, is 91 00:07:18,879 --> 00:07:25,079 really helpful. So if you have questions about the show, for the show, 92 00:07:25,160 --> 00:07:28,480 for Chris and me, we're going to be taking questions before the summer 93 00:07:28,600 --> 00:07:30,920 ends. It's always a fun thing that we like to do, so you 94 00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:33,800 can email those too. Radio at the Federalist dot com feedback. We love 95 00:07:33,800 --> 00:07:36,800 it, We read all of it. We appreciate you so much, and 96 00:07:38,160 --> 00:07:42,800 I hope that you enjoy and find this conversation with Sarah and Chris as valuable 97 00:07:42,920 --> 00:07:48,800 as I did. I'm started willing today because I'm joined by the Bedford family, 98 00:07:48,879 --> 00:07:54,319 Christopher Bedford and Sarah Bedford. Sarah is an investigative reporter with the Washington 99 00:07:54,360 --> 00:07:58,920 Examiner. Chris, as everyone knows by this point, is the executive editor 100 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:01,920 over the Common sense to say, this has been a long promised podcast because 101 00:08:01,959 --> 00:08:05,759 Chris has been saying, we got to get Sarah, and we've got to 102 00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:11,560 get Sarah about it about an hour beforehand. He's he really has been saying, 103 00:08:11,439 --> 00:08:20,920 he's been for years, all right, but actually, whether you some 104 00:08:20,959 --> 00:08:24,519 people might be surprised to learn that Chris landed a pretty impressive woman, and 105 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:28,759 that is very true when it comes to especially baking, but reporting as well. 106 00:08:28,120 --> 00:08:33,440 Sarah is one of I think the best reporters in all of Washington, 107 00:08:33,519 --> 00:08:41,519 DC, and she's been covering the Hunter Biden legal saga very closely and has 108 00:08:41,559 --> 00:08:43,759 a new story out. So, Sarah, can you tell us just a 109 00:08:43,759 --> 00:08:46,960 little bit about what you've been following, what you've been looking at particularly sure, 110 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:50,840 I mean a big part. So I'm relatively new to the story. 111 00:08:50,919 --> 00:08:54,200 Right I covered more politics and staff leading up to the mid terms such, 112 00:08:54,279 --> 00:09:00,440 so I've really been really did you where were you? Sara story at CNN, 113 00:09:00,440 --> 00:09:03,279 which is always fun to use. We don't have to talk about that. 114 00:09:05,120 --> 00:09:09,200 And you hear over here he's using her NPR voice. You know, 115 00:09:09,240 --> 00:09:13,360 you're all lives. We're actually sitting here in a circle. You can't see. 116 00:09:13,360 --> 00:09:15,399 I feel like we need some drums and a joint. Yeah, he 117 00:09:15,759 --> 00:09:20,120 suggested the Hunter. Okay, Sarah, so you said you're relatively new to 118 00:09:20,159 --> 00:09:24,519 the story. I'm cutting Chris off. It's okay. I've learned to tune 119 00:09:24,559 --> 00:09:28,600 about I think a big part of what is valuable right now is sort of 120 00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:33,720 recontextualizing some of the pieces of evidence that have been out there for a while, 121 00:09:33,080 --> 00:09:35,639 because we have so much new material just in the past few months. 122 00:09:35,759 --> 00:09:41,320 Right, So, some of the emails that were discovered on Hunter Biden's laptop 123 00:09:41,399 --> 00:09:45,799 years ago that I think a lot of Democrats and the corporate media want to 124 00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:48,519 dismiss as being old news, have a lot more significance in light of what 125 00:09:48,559 --> 00:09:52,919 we've learned from the I R. S whistleblowers and the Devin Archer testimony and 126 00:09:54,039 --> 00:09:58,200 even from the plea deal that fell apart. So a lot of the reporting 127 00:09:58,240 --> 00:10:03,679 that we've been doing the Examiner has been focused on, you know, recasting 128 00:10:03,679 --> 00:10:09,000 the significance of those pieces of evidence given everything we know now. So that's 129 00:10:09,039 --> 00:10:11,759 what I love about the reporting I'm doing. That's what I love. I 130 00:10:11,799 --> 00:10:16,559 know, like everyone's gonna say always complementing his wife, but but really truly 131 00:10:16,639 --> 00:10:18,919 like this story you have out today on James Biden and the Biden family. 132 00:10:20,879 --> 00:10:22,679 It ties together a lot of the evidence that's come out over the last couple 133 00:10:22,679 --> 00:10:28,759 of years in like a drip drip fashion from the committee and also from different 134 00:10:28,200 --> 00:10:33,600 legal proceedings and from documents. You've gotten your whole hands on, and sometimes 135 00:10:33,759 --> 00:10:37,399 you see these neck beards on the internet who are like, all right, 136 00:10:37,440 --> 00:10:41,519 saw that in an email page three hundred and ninety two sixto months ago. 137 00:10:41,919 --> 00:10:43,759 But the reality is, like, if you look at this story, it 138 00:10:43,799 --> 00:10:48,399 does it's a narrative that really ties together a lot of disparate things. The 139 00:10:48,159 --> 00:10:52,480 Biden family keeps on trying and Democrats can their allies and the media keep on 140 00:10:52,519 --> 00:10:54,559 trying to say, this is all this unrelated stuff here, and you're like, 141 00:10:54,600 --> 00:11:01,200 all right, so your defense here of Hunter Biden's millions and millions and 142 00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:05,679 millions of dollars in foreign corruption on registered is that he was high on crack. 143 00:11:05,919 --> 00:11:09,720 Strange defense. I would have gone with he had skills every my first 144 00:11:09,759 --> 00:11:13,519 line of defense, like he earned that money legitimately, he didn't even try 145 00:11:13,559 --> 00:11:15,840 that. They're like, yeah, he was high, Okay, well your 146 00:11:15,879 --> 00:11:18,480 story points out, well, what about James Biden? Was James Biden high 147 00:11:18,480 --> 00:11:24,080 on crack cocaine? Was Jill high on crack cocaine? Or Joe Biden's daughter's 148 00:11:24,159 --> 00:11:28,200 high on crack? Doctor Jill, doctor Jill? Excuse me? The teacher. 149 00:11:28,320 --> 00:11:35,799 I love teachers. It seems to pull apart all of their defenses just 150 00:11:35,840 --> 00:11:39,320 by saying, hey, this is this is not just a Hunter Biden, 151 00:11:39,399 --> 00:11:41,919 you know, going off on a bender and making millions in China. My 152 00:11:43,039 --> 00:11:46,039 god, I wish I had penders like that. But it's a whole family 153 00:11:46,080 --> 00:11:50,200 operation. Can you kind of flush that out a little bit? Yeah, 154 00:11:50,240 --> 00:11:54,480 I mean, so James Biden was really deeply involved in some of these foreign 155 00:11:54,519 --> 00:11:58,440 deals that Hunter Biden was was striking while his father as vice president, including 156 00:11:58,799 --> 00:12:01,679 you know, one of the most lucrative deals, which was in China with 157 00:12:01,720 --> 00:12:09,639 a company called CEFC. And that's really relevant because I think inadvertently prosecutors laid 158 00:12:09,639 --> 00:12:15,519 out a roadmap to where Hunter is most legally vulnerable, interesting by putting, 159 00:12:16,240 --> 00:12:22,159 you know, some of the most serious alleged offenses into the plea agreement and 160 00:12:22,200 --> 00:12:26,000 then attempting to give him immunity for everything that they'd spelled out in that plea 161 00:12:26,080 --> 00:12:31,440 agreement. This China deal with CEFC was one of the only deals, along 162 00:12:31,440 --> 00:12:35,759 with Beizma, that was really deeply delved into in that plea agreement. And 163 00:12:35,759 --> 00:12:41,480 so one wonders if that's because the Justice Department, you know, his allies 164 00:12:41,519 --> 00:12:43,240 and the Justice Department sort of knew that that's where he had the most legal 165 00:12:43,279 --> 00:12:50,240 exposure because the attempted immunity was there for the China deal and for the Beisma 166 00:12:50,279 --> 00:12:52,720 deal, which is now time barred. Statute of limitations is run out at 167 00:12:52,759 --> 00:12:56,799 least from the tax component of the work for Beizma. And is that really 168 00:12:56,799 --> 00:13:01,240 recent that the statute of limitations right now, like within the last couple of 169 00:13:01,279 --> 00:13:03,240 years. It is, it's long after the beginning of I mean keep in 170 00:13:03,240 --> 00:13:09,799 mind that this IRS investigation began in twenty eighteen and at that point they were, 171 00:13:09,799 --> 00:13:13,879 you know, less than five years removed from four years removed excuse me 172 00:13:13,960 --> 00:13:18,960 from some of the financial crimes committed with regards to Barisma, but they all 173 00:13:18,480 --> 00:13:22,919 financially a legendary crimes. But that they let that statute run. And the 174 00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:28,039 concern I think that you don't hear often enough from Republicans is that they're the 175 00:13:28,159 --> 00:13:33,879 statutes are about to run on some of the other things that occurred while Biden 176 00:13:33,960 --> 00:13:37,440 was vice president, and if weis drags his feet much longer, and we're 177 00:13:37,440 --> 00:13:41,240 talking about months, not years, he could be shielded from consequences for all 178 00:13:41,320 --> 00:13:45,039 of that stuff. And they're not just dragging their feet, I guess from 179 00:13:45,200 --> 00:13:48,879 reporting and they're like actually blocking it. So when they get to the parts 180 00:13:48,200 --> 00:13:52,159 in the FBI interviews where he start, they still talk about James. There's 181 00:13:52,200 --> 00:13:56,759 no follow up questions because that's the brother of the president. It seems to 182 00:13:56,799 --> 00:14:00,200 be the DOJ. Blue seems to me the DUJ has a blocked on. 183 00:14:00,799 --> 00:14:03,320 We're only allowed to talk about the crackhead, but we're actually not allowed to 184 00:14:03,320 --> 00:14:07,440 talk about the crackhead because he's an addict. I always thought the addiction argument 185 00:14:07,480 --> 00:14:11,960 actually strengthens the influence pedaling narrative, because if he was just an addict, 186 00:14:13,120 --> 00:14:16,639 then there could be no other reason for him receiving that money other than to 187 00:14:16,759 --> 00:14:20,960 purchase influence. If you argue that he was sort of uniquely qualified as a 188 00:14:20,039 --> 00:14:26,039 lobbyist or Yale trained lawyer, maybe a charitable reading, you could argue that 189 00:14:26,080 --> 00:14:31,759 he was earning that money independently. But the addiction undermines that argument, and 190 00:14:31,799 --> 00:14:37,519 so does the involvement of his uncle and his aunt right and ultimately his brother's 191 00:14:37,600 --> 00:14:43,200 widow. And according to James Comer, he hasn't produced evidence to support all 192 00:14:43,200 --> 00:14:46,759 of this, but as many as potentially nine Biden family members collecting money in 193 00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:50,519 some form or fashion from these associated networks of shell companies. You know, 194 00:14:50,799 --> 00:14:56,759 the Hunter Biden argument doesn't bear out when you look at how many other bidens 195 00:14:58,080 --> 00:15:01,720 were earning money. They all have different pfessional and educational backgrounds. The only 196 00:15:01,759 --> 00:15:05,759 thing connecting them is their ability to peddle access. Right. And there's also 197 00:15:05,840 --> 00:15:11,799 this idea, there's notion that you have Hunter Biden stoned out of his mind 198 00:15:11,600 --> 00:15:18,159 in conversations with CEFC, which is a fairly it's an energy conglomerate and trying 199 00:15:18,200 --> 00:15:20,919 to it's not like some small little you know what, it's not some small 200 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:26,360 little uh stas pointing and gesturing at Christy's about to pour himself rum is a 201 00:15:26,399 --> 00:15:33,080 whisky room. It spourbon. I won't reveal what time of day it is, 202 00:15:33,480 --> 00:15:39,440 but oh, he just passed as his wife. Guys like you don't 203 00:15:39,480 --> 00:15:43,440 take a taste and makes guys like but he's stoned out of his mind in 204 00:15:43,480 --> 00:15:48,159 conversations with with Patrick Hoe, with CFC right like people who are like enormously 205 00:15:48,360 --> 00:15:54,559 prominent foreign nationals, with all the national security information that could have been passing 206 00:15:54,679 --> 00:15:56,440 forth, like the mind reels with the right. Well. And I think 207 00:15:56,440 --> 00:16:02,440 it's interesting because in two different prosecutions, one of them. Patrick Coe's criminal 208 00:16:02,519 --> 00:16:06,440 case got a lot of media attention in twenty eighteen, and also just last 209 00:16:06,480 --> 00:16:11,159 month and the indictment of Gal Luft, the US government acknowledged that, for 210 00:16:11,320 --> 00:16:15,720 the purposes of FARRE the Foreign Agents Registration Act, they considered CEFC an agent 211 00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:22,759 of China, which says a lot about how the US intelligence community believed that 212 00:16:22,879 --> 00:16:30,360 CEFC was an adversarial organization. People involved with them in America have been implicated 213 00:16:30,440 --> 00:16:34,960 in now two big criminal cases because of the malicious work that CEFC was doing. 214 00:16:36,519 --> 00:16:41,320 And yet this is a company that was paying at least two three bidens 215 00:16:41,759 --> 00:16:47,720 on the payroll. And you know, we're talking about recontextualizing emails that have 216 00:16:47,840 --> 00:16:49,159 been around for years. You know, one of them that I wrote about 217 00:16:49,240 --> 00:16:56,039 today show that Joe Biden and Joe Biden were office mates with some of the 218 00:16:56,120 --> 00:17:02,320 CEFC officials with from a They were office mates. Is this the Georgetown office, 219 00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:06,200 Yeah, it's it's here House of Sweden, It's Tarante. Yeah. 220 00:17:07,119 --> 00:17:12,240 They the soon to be president was sharing an office with Chinese executives from a 221 00:17:12,279 --> 00:17:17,319 company that the government considered to be a foreign agent. And I just feel 222 00:17:17,359 --> 00:17:21,279 that that is potentially one of the one of the deals that could put the 223 00:17:21,319 --> 00:17:23,039 Bidens in the most peril. And I don't wonder if that's why it was 224 00:17:23,119 --> 00:17:27,039 included in the police bargain, because there was an attempt to provide immunity for 225 00:17:27,160 --> 00:17:30,640 that. So I have a question about that because we've been looking at this 226 00:17:30,880 --> 00:17:33,160 and I've talked about this in the podcast how my Kitchen table has been like 227 00:17:33,200 --> 00:17:37,480 ground zero for a lot of investigative work, like I'm cooking dinners and Sarah's 228 00:17:37,480 --> 00:17:41,119 investigating Hunter Biden weeks. We talked about a lot. But the kind of 229 00:17:41,240 --> 00:17:42,720 feeling is like, well, why would the vice president have done this in 230 00:17:42,759 --> 00:17:48,519 the first place when this level of corruption? And I thought Jeff Ingersoll from 231 00:17:48,519 --> 00:17:49,960 the an Energy for the Daily Caller had a great point and he said, 232 00:17:49,960 --> 00:17:55,920 well, when this all started, he was leaving office. His boss had 233 00:17:55,960 --> 00:17:59,279 passed over him for the nomination to Hillary Clinton. Right, Donald Trump was 234 00:17:59,319 --> 00:18:02,359 going to lose the twenty sixteen election. Hillary Clinton was going to be president 235 00:18:02,400 --> 00:18:04,279 for eight years. He would have been untouchable. He was getting older. 236 00:18:04,680 --> 00:18:07,839 No Democrats are going to go after him. Now it's time to make some 237 00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:11,640 money. But what struck me in this piece and that makes sense, like 238 00:18:11,640 --> 00:18:15,200 because why would someone who intends to be president be dealing deals with Chinese nationals. 239 00:18:15,599 --> 00:18:18,920 We struck me about this piece as it opens up with this great line 240 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:22,880 from Jim Biden, James Biden saying, this is going to be a light 241 00:18:22,960 --> 00:18:26,799 quote life changing event for the Biden family. He described this deal with China, 242 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:30,720 millions of dollars could have been made, they were made. Millions more 243 00:18:30,799 --> 00:18:33,319 could have been made. But and this was in twenty seventeen, so Donald 244 00:18:33,359 --> 00:18:38,680 Trump was president. There was a potential path forward for Joe Biden, and 245 00:18:38,799 --> 00:18:42,720 I wonder, why do you think they were moving forward with this? It's 246 00:18:42,759 --> 00:18:45,240 just because there was so much money to be made. Maybe he wouldn't be 247 00:18:45,319 --> 00:18:49,920 president if more millions had come in. Oh was that a question to me? 248 00:18:51,200 --> 00:18:56,000 Yeah, I actually do think that this woman needs some bourbon take a 249 00:18:56,119 --> 00:19:00,319 day. Wow. I didn't think I'd be beer pressured on him. Morning 250 00:19:00,079 --> 00:19:07,440 podcast. The viewers don't know what's morning. Sometimes I wonder if you know 251 00:19:07,559 --> 00:19:11,720 what you married, And I asked myself that all the time. I do 252 00:19:12,079 --> 00:19:15,680 think that that's an astute point because if you if you do go back and 253 00:19:15,720 --> 00:19:18,839 look at the context of when Joe Biden was making what could reasonably be construed 254 00:19:18,880 --> 00:19:23,960 as reckless decisions at best about exposing himself to these business deals. It was 255 00:19:25,039 --> 00:19:27,880 not at all clear that he wasn't going to run for president, and a 256 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:33,240 lot of ex politicians cash out doing legally dubious Clintford, at least ethically do 257 00:19:33,400 --> 00:19:38,400 exactly which you covered back in twenty fifty. I'm having like a renaissance to 258 00:19:38,559 --> 00:19:45,680 think that two big stories involving uh, you know, alleged corruption from Democrats 259 00:19:45,720 --> 00:19:49,160 would have searchable databases of emails that you could just spend days reading through. 260 00:19:49,599 --> 00:19:52,759 I feel like I'm a member of the Biden family, like I know all 261 00:19:52,759 --> 00:19:56,680 about everything, the soccer games, the broken arms, we get some of 262 00:19:56,759 --> 00:20:00,440 the money that we're to my corrupt are so in the story you reported out 263 00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:06,799 today, I'm curious about the office sharing arrangement. Is there any evidence that 264 00:20:07,519 --> 00:20:11,960 there was there was a business relationship, or even tangentially that there may have 265 00:20:11,079 --> 00:20:15,480 been a business relations What are we talking about recontextualizing old emails. There's a 266 00:20:15,599 --> 00:20:19,359 very infamous email that's gotten a lot of airtime on Fox News and such where 267 00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:27,119 there was a discussion of the way the structure of the fund dealing with Cfcskabolensky, 268 00:20:27,480 --> 00:20:32,680 James Gillar, James Biden, Hunter Biden a ten held by age for 269 00:20:32,720 --> 00:20:36,839 the Big Guy email that was in the context of this deal around this time. 270 00:20:37,079 --> 00:20:40,400 What could the structure of this deal look like if it goes through? 271 00:20:41,160 --> 00:20:44,119 Would Joe Biden want a piece of that? And there's a lot of speculation, 272 00:20:44,880 --> 00:20:48,480 reasonably so, that the big guy was Joe Biden. But Rob Walker 273 00:20:48,839 --> 00:20:52,240 is the only business partner that the FBI managed to interview on December eighth, 274 00:20:52,279 --> 00:20:56,160 twenty twenty, so called Day of Action, when the Hunter Biden investigation was 275 00:20:56,240 --> 00:21:00,400 finally supposed to go overt, as they say, after months of being slow 276 00:21:00,480 --> 00:21:04,240 walked in the name of the upcoming twenty twenty election. But as we now 277 00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:08,759 know, because of the irs whistleblowers, Hunter Biden's legal team, the Biden 278 00:21:08,880 --> 00:21:15,160 transition team, and the Secret Service headquarters all were tipped off the night before, 279 00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:22,000 which gave all of the witnesses the opportunity to hide from investigators. So 280 00:21:22,119 --> 00:21:26,160 there was they out of twelve planned interviews on that day, December eight, 281 00:21:26,319 --> 00:21:30,039 twenty twenty, the FBI managed to get one because everyone else knew they were 282 00:21:30,079 --> 00:21:33,720 coming. During this interview, Rob Walker did confirm that the big guy was 283 00:21:33,799 --> 00:21:40,119 Joe Biden and that there were hypothetical discussions about cutting Joe Biden into that deal 284 00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:44,480 if he were to not run for president. That's a huge piece of information 285 00:21:44,559 --> 00:21:47,680 that they were able to get. Imagine what they could have learned if they'd 286 00:21:47,680 --> 00:21:51,039 been able to interview all of the witnesses that they wanted to interview that day. 287 00:21:51,640 --> 00:21:53,519 And what else do we know? Actually? On that note about Hunter 288 00:21:53,640 --> 00:21:57,000 Biden, we have that text from Hunter to Naomi Biden. I think it 289 00:21:57,079 --> 00:22:00,920 was to Naomi Biden basically saying, you know, you won't have to give 290 00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:04,000 away hopefully you won't have to give away an X amount of your money to 291 00:22:04,640 --> 00:22:10,039 Pops or something like that. So we had a half year wages to Pops 292 00:22:10,079 --> 00:22:12,920 like I did. Okay, So yea refresh me on what else we know 293 00:22:14,039 --> 00:22:18,119 about evidence that Joe Biden actually may have been profiting from these deals himself. 294 00:22:18,880 --> 00:22:25,160 Well, very little right now, right, and that is that, you 295 00:22:25,240 --> 00:22:29,200 know, lack of evidence is what Democrats keep pointing to, and I think 296 00:22:29,559 --> 00:22:32,359 correctly at this point, to say there's not enough to move forward with an 297 00:22:32,359 --> 00:22:36,400 impeachment inquiry. There's not enough that ties Joe Biden to the business enterprise. 298 00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:41,880 There's lots of circumstantial evidence, right, There's these conversations that Joe Biden clearly 299 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:45,640 had with business partners about more than just the weather, right, and a 300 00:22:45,720 --> 00:22:48,240 lot of the emails suggest that Hunter Biden, you know, and we know 301 00:22:48,319 --> 00:22:53,079 that from witnesses as well, frequently invoked his father's name either to threaten people, 302 00:22:53,680 --> 00:22:57,279 and you know, towards the end of it, right here, like 303 00:22:57,440 --> 00:23:02,559 that is right next to me, I've found another one's in this story where 304 00:23:02,960 --> 00:23:06,839 he's threatening CEFC towards the end of their business relationship to reimburse him for all 305 00:23:06,920 --> 00:23:10,519 his travel and they had a crazy amount of first class travel and he says, 306 00:23:11,039 --> 00:23:14,279 you know, if you don't pay me, I'm gonna take you to 307 00:23:14,359 --> 00:23:18,960 court in Delaware. And I know every judge in Delaware, so be afraid. 308 00:23:18,759 --> 00:23:22,440 Well, it wasn't true when it came time for his flea deal. 309 00:23:22,599 --> 00:23:26,640 As a federal judge, that's a different But the point is, you know, 310 00:23:26,799 --> 00:23:30,279 there isn't a paper trail at this moment connecting Joe Biden to the business. 311 00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:34,160 The House Oversight Committee, which has been doing some really interesting work with 312 00:23:34,440 --> 00:23:40,480 bank records and the suspicious activity reports from the Treasury Department has not yet pursued 313 00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:45,279 any of the Biden families records yet, and that could mark. I think 314 00:23:45,400 --> 00:23:48,960 it's something of a turning point when they finally get around to that. If 315 00:23:48,960 --> 00:23:52,240 you're a curious cop and you're looking at a guy who left the Senate is 316 00:23:52,279 --> 00:23:56,400 one of the poorest senators that there were, and then you're looking at all 317 00:23:56,440 --> 00:24:00,920 these deals were made, all this money that's made, all these text message 318 00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:03,920 is saying that money's going to the big guy, that half my wagers are 319 00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:10,240 going to Pops, And you see him buying this beautiful Delaware beach house and 320 00:24:10,319 --> 00:24:11,440 all those different things, you start to wonder. I mean, if you're 321 00:24:11,519 --> 00:24:15,640 just like a slightly curious cop. If a cop was looking at me and 322 00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:18,759 we're thinking that I had some kind of coruption. He saw me making massive 323 00:24:18,799 --> 00:24:22,200 purposes that seemed completely outside of my realm, and I just said, that's 324 00:24:22,240 --> 00:24:25,240 due to a confidential book deal. I don't think they buy it. I 325 00:24:25,279 --> 00:24:27,720 think they did it. And it's often also attributed to speaking fees. So 326 00:24:29,160 --> 00:24:30,400 well, okay, so I was gonna ask you about this. I was 327 00:24:30,400 --> 00:24:33,519 gonna ask you about this in reference to what we were talking about when it 328 00:24:33,599 --> 00:24:38,400 came to your Clinton Foundation reporting when you looked at I know it was a 329 00:24:38,440 --> 00:24:42,079 while ago, but when you were looking at how the Clintons, specifically Hillary 330 00:24:42,119 --> 00:24:52,039 Clinton, benefited from speaking and foreign relationships after Hillary Clinton left the State Department, 331 00:24:52,680 --> 00:24:57,799 are there similarities in what we see from the Biden's trying to enrich themselves 332 00:24:57,839 --> 00:25:03,720 after Joe Biden leaves presidency. There's yeah, there's definitely. I mean I 333 00:25:03,880 --> 00:25:06,480 used to have a routine with the Hillary Clinton staff where I would just have 334 00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:10,079 like three tabs open, and you would go look through the list of because 335 00:25:10,119 --> 00:25:14,519 she eventually listed a list as the people who paid her for speaking gigs in 336 00:25:14,559 --> 00:25:18,279 between your secretary of State, and you would find a name there, and 337 00:25:18,319 --> 00:25:21,359 then you would go through the Clinton Foundation donor list and see if they appeared 338 00:25:21,400 --> 00:25:23,240 there, and then you'd run it through the emails and then see what, 339 00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:29,839 you know, discussions involved that person, and oftentimes they would show up in 340 00:25:30,079 --> 00:25:33,680 all three tabs, right, They'd show up in all three realms, which 341 00:25:33,759 --> 00:25:36,880 puts the lie to this idea that we also heard from Hillary Clinton that the 342 00:25:37,319 --> 00:25:41,799 philanthropic work was completely separate from her political life and from her corporate speaking fees, 343 00:25:41,839 --> 00:25:47,319 that these were three separate spheres and that no work in any one area 344 00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:49,519 could have affected the other, and that made it ethical. But often you 345 00:25:49,680 --> 00:25:55,799 saw the same people showing up in every sphere of her life. And that's 346 00:25:56,400 --> 00:25:59,480 very similar to the way the Biden sort of operated, right, And it's 347 00:25:59,480 --> 00:26:03,440 sort of a kinder the egg thing. Right. Was Joe Biden involved in 348 00:26:03,599 --> 00:26:06,519 Ukraine because his son was involved in business there, or more likely was his 349 00:26:06,559 --> 00:26:10,880 son involved in business there because Ukraine was in his father's business portfolio. But 350 00:26:11,319 --> 00:26:17,720 you do see a lot of overlap between I mean his father's foreign policy portfolio, 351 00:26:17,839 --> 00:26:21,079 you know, So I think you did see a lot of overlap there, 352 00:26:21,119 --> 00:26:23,720 the same sort of cast of characters. And again, at the end 353 00:26:23,720 --> 00:26:29,960 of the day, especially with regards to Ukraine, Joe Biden took actions that 354 00:26:30,599 --> 00:26:34,119 ultimately benefited his son's company. Right right at day. This has been debonds 355 00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:40,920 at the very very best. It was an incredible lapse of judgment and completely 356 00:26:41,039 --> 00:26:45,960 unethical behavior, even if it wasn't, as Republicans suspect, a lot more 357 00:26:45,039 --> 00:26:48,200 nefarious than that. So I got a question for it because I think we've 358 00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:51,759 been here, you've got a different take on this reminderstanding than a lot of 359 00:26:51,759 --> 00:26:55,119 the people have been talking about on Fox News, for example, the Special 360 00:26:55,160 --> 00:27:00,240 Council. What my general work feeling on special councils is appointing one is like 361 00:27:00,359 --> 00:27:03,279 usually the kind of bone headed thing the Republicans do, because special councils so 362 00:27:03,400 --> 00:27:07,480 quickly get out of control and you can't really contain them, and it's become 363 00:27:07,519 --> 00:27:11,279 difficult. But a lot of folks you hear on right wing media are saying 364 00:27:11,599 --> 00:27:14,839 the Special Council is a cover up. This is a person who has already 365 00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:18,160 shown an unwillingness to go after the Bidens, has already stone walled us and 366 00:27:18,160 --> 00:27:22,920 a couple of different things, has already come up with a plea deal which 367 00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:26,359 ended up being rejected when it was when it came under scrutiny. This guy 368 00:27:26,519 --> 00:27:30,839 is corrupt. But why do you think a special counsel was appointed finally? 369 00:27:32,079 --> 00:27:37,440 And what and where do you think that might be going? My opinion, 370 00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:41,759 and this has changed this past week. I have a new working theory if 371 00:27:41,799 --> 00:27:45,720 you look at the timeline of events between the collapse of the Plea deal, 372 00:27:45,759 --> 00:27:51,640 which was July twenty six and the announcement of David Weiss as a special counsel, 373 00:27:51,839 --> 00:27:55,839 which was last Friday, six days ago. Wow, I know these 374 00:27:55,880 --> 00:28:02,200 weeks summer weeks subscribed by was like a month ago. What happened behind closed 375 00:28:02,240 --> 00:28:04,640 doors? According to court filings that we have this week appears to be that 376 00:28:04,839 --> 00:28:11,079 the Hunter Biden legal team started threatening to expose what happened during negotiations of that 377 00:28:11,160 --> 00:28:17,240 plea deal. Oh boy. Chris Clark is Hunter Biden's lead defense attorney and 378 00:28:17,359 --> 00:28:21,720 this week filed a petition to withdraw as his lead defense attorney in order to 379 00:28:21,839 --> 00:28:29,480 serve as a witness in what they said was expected litigation or over the formation 380 00:28:29,559 --> 00:28:33,079 of the plea deal. Then in the filing that David Weiss put forward, 381 00:28:33,759 --> 00:28:40,279 I believe yesterday or on Tuesday, David Weiss mentioned that, you know, 382 00:28:40,359 --> 00:28:44,920 the Hunter Biden legal team says they're going to bring forward notes and testimony about 383 00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:48,279 the formation of the plea deal. And we're not saying that we did promise 384 00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:53,920 broad immunity. But even if we did, it's not binding in court because 385 00:28:53,960 --> 00:28:57,039 it wasn't what we said when we were in front of the judge. And 386 00:28:57,359 --> 00:29:00,599 now we're saying something now we're taking the deal away. So I wonder, 387 00:29:00,759 --> 00:29:03,480 But I didn't say and I didn't mean it but I said it, but 388 00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:06,559 I didn't. Even if I said it, I didn't mean it is essentially 389 00:29:06,640 --> 00:29:08,640 what wife said in this court failing. So I wonder if there is going 390 00:29:08,720 --> 00:29:12,759 to be some sort of fight where Hunter Biden's legal team is going to lean 391 00:29:12,880 --> 00:29:18,279 into yes, we got preferential treatment, but because that happened, this should 392 00:29:18,279 --> 00:29:22,839 be binding and it's not our fault. And so I wonder if the formation 393 00:29:22,880 --> 00:29:26,640 of that plea deal is going to get dug up. And maybe potentially David 394 00:29:26,720 --> 00:29:30,759 Weiss was maybe going to shield himself from a little bit of that. He's 395 00:29:30,799 --> 00:29:34,200 kind of covered his butt at this point. It seems that either way. 396 00:29:34,240 --> 00:29:37,759 I don't know if that's the reason why he became a special counsel, but 397 00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:41,240 that seems to be where the Biden legal team is heading. And if you 398 00:29:41,359 --> 00:29:45,880 look at the timeline, on a Monday, the Hunter Biden legal team rejects 399 00:29:47,039 --> 00:29:51,440 the new offer from David Weiss. On a Tuesday, according to Merrick Garland, 400 00:29:52,759 --> 00:29:56,599 David Weisse goes to the Attorney General and says I need to be a 401 00:29:56,680 --> 00:30:03,599 special counsel, and on a Friday, that decision is announced and contemporaneously simultaneously, 402 00:30:04,039 --> 00:30:08,160 the Justice Apartment formally withdraws the plea deal. So all of those things 403 00:30:08,319 --> 00:30:14,640 happened along the same timeline. It's hard not to see them as related because 404 00:30:14,759 --> 00:30:21,079 nothing really changed about the investigation except the Hunter Biden defense team's position from friendly 405 00:30:21,200 --> 00:30:26,359 to adversarial. Doesn't that seem to bode poorly for Hunter where their plan was 406 00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:32,440 to basically burn the now special Council wise and maybe wise to say no, 407 00:30:32,519 --> 00:30:34,559 I'm going to burn you. Well, I think that's interesting, right, 408 00:30:34,559 --> 00:30:38,799 because one of the things that the IRS whistleblower said was that it was very 409 00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:45,240 unusual the number of meetings that Hunter Biden's defense was afforded through the course of 410 00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:49,039 this investigation. Right that maybe a defense attorney, a defense team might be 411 00:30:49,119 --> 00:30:53,160 granted one or two meetings with prosecutors as they sort of they get a chance 412 00:30:53,240 --> 00:30:59,640 to come before the US Attorney's office once or twice and make the argument why 413 00:30:59,680 --> 00:31:03,200 they're their client should be innocent before the chargers are formerly filed. That's typically 414 00:31:03,240 --> 00:31:07,200 what happens, according to these iOS whistle blowers, But the number of meetings 415 00:31:07,279 --> 00:31:11,920 that the Hunter Biden legal team got was unprecedented in these investigators views, and 416 00:31:11,759 --> 00:31:17,480 so up until that July twenty sixth hearing. Maybe it was the case at 417 00:31:17,559 --> 00:31:21,319 Hunter Biden and the U. S Attorney's Office were sort of working in concert, 418 00:31:21,559 --> 00:31:25,079 and then a few things changed. The whistleblowers came forward, right, 419 00:31:25,759 --> 00:31:30,400 and the judge sort of exposed the sleight of hand that the Justice Department was 420 00:31:30,519 --> 00:31:34,599 trying to pull off by sticking inn immunity agreement in a diversion deal, which 421 00:31:34,640 --> 00:31:38,359 typically doesn't require a judge's sign off. Maybe they were just hoping she wouldn't 422 00:31:38,400 --> 00:31:45,160 look too hard. And so now that that's changed, right for the Biden 423 00:31:45,200 --> 00:31:48,720 fan, that's a small straight everyone knows each other. She's a federal judge, 424 00:31:48,759 --> 00:31:52,079 though, that's different. And yeah, Chris, think it's still hurt. 425 00:31:52,119 --> 00:31:56,400 She had Delawares, an unpopular person at the local water in The point 426 00:31:56,480 --> 00:31:59,279 is it seems like, for the first time in years, Hunter Biden's defense 427 00:31:59,319 --> 00:32:05,519 attorneys are on hostile terms with the US Attorney's Office now the Special Council's office, 428 00:32:05,839 --> 00:32:09,839 and that could change the dynamic moving forward. Chris, can you bring 429 00:32:09,880 --> 00:32:14,160 Sarah every Thursday? Yeah? So I was just we have wrapped this up 430 00:32:14,200 --> 00:32:16,000 way earlier than I want to because of time constraints and Sarah, some of 431 00:32:16,119 --> 00:32:19,319 us have to work for a living so that we can lead some of us 432 00:32:19,359 --> 00:32:22,119 just get to talk other ones about the investigative work that people expend. So 433 00:32:22,480 --> 00:32:27,000 can you please come back on this podcast because we haven't even gotten to my 434 00:32:27,200 --> 00:32:31,079 favorite part of this investigation, which is said Whitey Bulger's nephew hasn't involved in 435 00:32:31,119 --> 00:32:37,200 all these Biden business dealings. One of my favorite parts. Know what's above 436 00:32:37,279 --> 00:32:39,720 board? Yeah, Wulgier is our respectable family farmer, Speaker of the House, 437 00:32:43,200 --> 00:32:49,640 the King of Massachusetts. All right, we need to have please bring 438 00:32:49,720 --> 00:32:52,440 Sarah every Thursday. Oh my gosh, thanks guys. I'll consider it. 439 00:32:52,599 --> 00:32:57,319 This is so much better than usual. All right, Well, you've been 440 00:32:57,359 --> 00:33:00,240 listening to another edition of The Federalist or Radio Hours today by Christopher Bedford, 441 00:33:00,240 --> 00:33:05,319 who was executive editor over at the Common Sense Society and the Lovely Sarah Bedford 442 00:33:05,440 --> 00:33:09,880 is an investigative reporter at The Washington Examiner. I'm Emiliashinski depends on the day. 443 00:33:10,200 --> 00:33:14,519 We'll be back soon with more. Until then, belovers of freedom and 444 00:33:14,680 --> 00:33:28,160 anxious for the fray. I heard the fame for the reason, and then 445 00:33:28,240 --> 00:33:29,440 it faded away.