As vice president, Joe Biden allegedly took bribes along with his son Hunter. Republicans are now reporting evidence in the form of recordings of 17 phone calls. What are the consequences for the Bidens?
In the US, there is already talk of “Bribe-Gate”, a wordplay on “Watergate”, the mother of all political scandals, and “Bribe”. The accusation of bribery is aimed at punishing the Bidens as a family: father and son.
In 2016, as vice president, Joe Biden was alleged to have linked the payment of aid to Ukraine to the condition that a prosecutor be fired on the grounds of corruption. The prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, was also investigating the Ukrainian energy company BURISMA, where Hunter Biden sat on the board of directors.
Republicans claim there are taped recordings
This has been rumored for years. However, what Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley claimed recently in parliament is new: “The foreign national who allegedly paid off the Bidens apparently secretly recorded 17 tapes,” says Grassley. He was referring to Mykola Zlochevsky, founder of Burisma, who was allegedly under investigation by Shokin. The source of the recordings was reportedly an undercover FBI informant. “He wanted to secure himself with these tapes in case the bribery scandal were to come to light,” says Grassley.
What exactly is on the mysterious tapes, if they exist at all? During a Congressional hearing, Senator Ted Cruz asked the FBI’s deputy director Paul Abbate if the agency had the 17 recordings. “I cannot comment on ongoing investigations,” was the response.
Apparently, Republican Representative James Comer of Kentucky, who leads the investigation in the House of Representatives, knows more: “Joe Biden can be heard on two of the recordings, while Hunter Biden, the then BURISMA manager, can be heard on the rest.” All conversations centered around the conditions for the bribes: both Bidens are alleged to have received $5 million each.
Trump: Biden is the “most corrupt US president ever”
Donald Trump, who is currently under pressure due to the indictment in the document scandal, sees this as an opportunity to divert attention away from his own woes. Last week, he promised to appoint a real special investigator after re-election to investigate the “most corrupt US president ever” and the entire “Biden crime family”.
While the Republican half of America cannot get enough of “Bribe-Gate”, the Biden-friendly half is ignoring the issue. According to Comer, Biden acted in agreement with other nations, including the EU, when he pushed for the removal of the prosecutor – a coordinated action. The Congressman predicts that this defense line will not hold for long: “It will be increasingly difficult for Biden to explain this. Even the liberal media will eventually start questioning where the money came from.”
Comer’s party will now try to bring evidence of multimillion-dollar bribes and incriminating tape recordings to light through a parliamentary investigation committee.
