{"id":146095,"date":"2023-02-12T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-12T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mediaintel.asia\/?p=913621"},"modified":"2023-02-12T08:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-02-12T00:00:00","slug":"gops-new-biz-probes-may-burst-baloony-joe-bidens-bubble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/2023\/02\/12\/gops-new-biz-probes-may-burst-baloony-joe-bidens-bubble\/","title":{"rendered":"GOP\u2019s new biz probes may burst baloony Joe Biden\u2019s bubble"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"MediaIntel.Asia\"<\/a><\/div>\n

With China\u2019s spy balloon crossing the American heartland unmolested and GOP leaders simultaneously starting probes of his family\u2019s corruption, Joe Biden is entering a new phase of his presidency. The worst case scenario is that all his chickens are coming home to roost.
\nThe spy balloon\u2019s appearance and that of two additional objects shot down by the military oddly highlight the importance of the House probes. The possibility that Biden has been compromised by profiting from son Hunter\u2019s lucrative foreign entanglements, especially with China, is drawing extra attention to how the president reacts to the Communist regime\u2019s aggressive surveillance.
\nSo far, his weak-tea response is raising even more suspicions. In fact, it\u2019s fair to say he has done or said nothing that would allay concerns and everything to aggravate them.
\nIt started with his administration\u2019s bizarre radio silence as the balloon crossed over Alaska and entered mainland airspace. Only after a civilian spotted it over Montana did the White House acknowledge what it knew all along.
\nLater it emerged the president and his team played hush-hush because they didn\u2019t want a dispute with China to get in the way of a planned visit there by Secretary of State Tony Blinken.
\nFile that one under appeasement. The visit was canceled only out of embarrassment, but it\u2019s not clear if Blinken planned to condemn the balloon or simply pretend it didn\u2019t happen. My bet is on the latter.
\nWho\u2019s in charge here?
\nBiden seemed to take credit for taking down the balloon after four days of inaction as the balloon made its way across the country. Manuel Balce Ceneta\/AP
\nWorse, even after the White House acknowledged the balloon, officials allowed it to mosey eastward for four more days, no doubt sucking up vital information, before the Air Force finally shot it down off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday, Feb. 4. It was then that Biden took credit for giving the shoot-down order the previous Wednesday, but said the military decided to wait until it was over water to avoid civilian ground casualties.
\nWho\u2019s in charge here? And what did China gain by that four-day delay?
\nIt\u2019s also instructive that among the White House\u2019s first lines of defense was a claim from an anonymous source to favored media that similar balloons surveilled America during the Trump years. When the former president and top officials in his White House insisted the claim was false, the Pentagon \u201cclarified\u201d that objects it previously marked as unidentified were now deemed to be balloons.
\nThe lack of clarity \u2014 and honesty \u2014 led to expectations Biden would give the incident extended attention in last last Tuesday\u2019s State of the Union speech. Some analysts predicted he would focus on it early as a sign of strength and aim to create a bipartisan show of unity.
\nInstead, he waited until late in the evening and then, without mentioning the balloon directly, declared that \u201cif China threatens our sovereignty, we will act to protect our country. And we did.\u201d
\nReally? Is it protecting America\u2019s sovereignty to allow an adversary a full week of unhindered spying? It\u2019s safe to say China will not return the favor.
\nTwo days later, in an interview with Telemundo, Biden took a new approach, insisting the incident was \u201cnot a major breach.\u201d
\nHuh? Even top Democrats are not buying that view as they join Republicans in demanding more information.
\nMeanwhile, the GOP probes into the Biden family business are directly aimed at the \u201cbig guy.\u201d Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, head of the Oversight panel, repeated his vow to investigate the president\u2019s role and whether it \u201coccurred at the expense of American interests.\u201d
\nClassified documents were found in Biden\u2019s Delaware home. Joe Biden
\nComer, in a Post op-ed, also drew a possible connection to the growing pile of classified documents turning up in Biden\u2019s homes and offices, asking: \u201cDid foreign business partners, through Hunter Biden, have access to these improperly stored documents?\u201d
\nHis demand that Hunter turn over records about the foreign deals was swiftly rejected by Hunter\u2019s legal team. Absent a settlement, expect a subpoena followed by a long court fight.
\nFor his part, the president professed not to be worried about the probes.
\nThe media narrative
\nIn an interview with PBS anchor Judy Woodruff, he said \u201cThe public is not going to pay attention to that.\u201d
\nHe added that the country wants the GOP House to act on public problems but \u201cIf the only thing they can do is make up things about my family, it\u2019s not going to go very far.\u201d
\nMy first reaction was amazement that he was baiting the bear by accusing the GOP of spinning tall tales when there is so much compelling evidence the president was in on the schemes.
\nQuestionable images and information was discovered on a laptop in 2020 deemed to be Hunter Biden\u2019s. The Washington Free Beacon
\nOn second thought, I realized Biden\u2019s answer wasn\u2019t so much a challenge to Comer as it was a statement of faith that Big Media and Big Tech would shield him again, just as they did when The Post broke the laptop story in 2020. Woodruff\u2019s softball approach on PBS was typical.
\nInstead of asking smart questions about the evidence that implicates the president, she briefly summarized the probes as being about \u201caccess\u201d before asking, \u201cHow do you plan to deal with that?\u201d
\nThat\u2019s a lap dog at work. Unfortunately, she\u2019s like the vast bulk of the Washington press corps. Consumed with \u201coptics\u201d and how something \u201cplays,\u201d their questions often make them sound like amateur campaign advisers.
\nConsider that even though they belatedly admitted Hunter\u2019s laptop is authentic, The New York Times, Washington Post and others have not taken the logical next step of pursuing the numerous exchanges mentioning the president.
\nNor has there been much media interest in following up with Tony Bobulinski, the ex-family partner who first exposed Joe as the secret \u201cbig guy\u201d in a China deal.
\nRather, on the rare occasions when they even refer vaguely to any evidence, Woodruff types inevitably downgrade them as Republican charges. That way, they slyly echo Dems\u2019 talking points that the allegations are just crazy conspiracy theories that prove the GOP can\u2019t be trusted with power.
\nThe result is that Comer, Rep. Jim Jordan and other GOP inquisitors will have to break through the Praetorian Guard to get the public\u2019s attention. It can be done if they find enough evidence, but polls show it won\u2019t be easy.
\nMany in US tuned out
\nBoth Hunter and Joe Biden are under investigation. Teresa Kroeger
\nWhile 72% of all respondents told Fox News last December it is important to investigate Hunter\u2019s foreign businesses, only 39% think he committed a crime and 31% say he did something unethical but not illegal.
\nThe results are similar for Joe Biden: 35% believe he committed a crime, with 27% thinking he acted unethically but not illegally.
\nHowever, among Democrats only, the numbers are much more lopsided. Just 11% believe Hunter did something illegal, and only 8% believe Joe did, Fox reported.
\nThose numbers take on an added dimension when you remember that most people who work in media and tech companies are committed Democrats. Their duel affiliation is no secret to the White House, which helps explain the president\u2019s confidence he and his family will beat the rap.<\/p>\n

This data comes from MediaIntel.Asia's Media Intelligence and Media Monitoring Platform<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With China\u2019s spy balloon crossing the American heartland unmolested and GOP leaders simultaneously starting probes of his family\u2019s corruption, Joe Biden is entering a new phase of his presidency. The worst case scenario is that all his chickens are co…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":253,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[144,785,194,1542,484,1367,1332],"tags":[10416,10426,2210,10320,10321,3544,3929,10315,2240,8399,10336],"class_list":["post-146095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-china","category-new-york","category-news-chinese-law","category-technology","category-united-states","category-usa","category-white-house","tag-air-force","tag-alaska","tag-america","tag-biden","tag-communist","tag-donald-trump","tag-espionage","tag-media-intelligence","tag-military","tag-spy","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/253"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146095"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146095\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":146096,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146095\/revisions\/146096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}