OPINION:
Two major congressional investigations are underway.
The first is looking into the Biden family’s potentially criminal moneymaking activities.
The second is investigating the federal law enforcement efforts to protect the Bidens from scrutiny while trying to destroy former President Donald Trump.
The striking thing to me is that President Biden is at the heart of both stories.
Mr. Biden is the center of the moneymaking schemes. His son Hunter is just a bagman for the family enrichment program.
No one gave Hunter Biden money because of his skills, and no one is paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for his paintings because he is the next Van Gogh or Monet. If his name were Hunter Jones, he would likely be an unemployed, starving artist (or in jail).
The president is also at the center of corrupting the federal law enforcement system. While Hunter is the one being protected, he has no real ability or influence to get federal agencies to break their own rules — or in many cases, obstruct justice on behalf of protecting President Biden and his family.
And it is increasingly apparent that this is exactly what is happening.
Two IRS whistleblowers recently testified that the Department of Justice stymied the investigation into Hunter Biden’s potential tax crimes. According to their testimony, political appointees and high-ranking DOJ officials refused to bring some serious charges against Hunter.
DOJ reportedly barred IRS investigators from reviewing crucial communications related to their case. They even sabotaged IRS efforts to interview Hunter during the investigation by tipping off his father’s political transition team.
Then, of course, the same DOJ offered Hunter a sweetheart, no-jail-time plea deal for refusing to pay taxes on more than $1.5 million for two years and lying on a federal firearms purchasing form.
Naturally, DOJ officials — including Attorney General Merrick Garland — have dismissed these allegations of bias and protectionism as politically motivated and fake. Much of the elite corporate media has happily accepted this position.
They ignore that the IRS is under the Department of the Treasury — a separate agency of the federal government. Its law enforcement powers are, by design, separate from those of DOJ and the FBI. The corporate media happily accepts the DOJ — and therefore Biden White House — view of the world.
This isn’t isolated behavior from the Biden-loyal establishment.
Recall, long before the IRS investigation began, a cabal of former intelligence officials tried to convince the country that the information on Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop (which revealed a great deal of his potential lawbreaking) was Russian disinformation. We now know that those 50 former officials were, at best, profoundly wrong — and at worst, intentionally trying to deceive the American people. The elite corporate media prefers the first version of the narrative.
There’s been little to no official inquiry into why Hunter Biden received the gift of a diamond from a Chinese oligarch, why the widow of the former mayor of Moscow paid him $3.5 million, or why he was appointed to the board of a Ukrainian oil and gas company with no experience in that (or any) field. There’s no big federal investigation into the millions of dollars that Biden family members have received from people in Kazakhstan, Romania, Russia, Ukraine and China.
Hunter should have probably been arrested years ago — and for far more than tax evasion. It is easy to get lost in the numerous stories of shady deals, extravagant gifts and foreign influence schemes.
That’s why we must remember one important truth: None of this is about Hunter Biden.
The Biden DOJ isn’t protecting Hunter out of any compassion for a recovering drug addict — or even simply because he’s a member of the first family. The president isn’t even trying to protect his own reputation.
The truth is that Joe Biden used influence peddling as vice president — and probably as a senator — to enrich his immediate family and his allies — and to ensure that he would have a comfortable life outside of the office. Through much of this, Hunter was his bagman.
If all of Hunter Biden’s dirty dealings became public, everyone would learn just how involved “the big guy” was every step of the way.
President Biden is not protecting his son. He’s protecting himself.
• For more commentary from Newt Gingrich, visit Gingrich360.com.
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