Washington is all aflutter over an alleged quid pro quo deal that President Trump is rumored to have tried to strike with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a routine phone call on July 25. The story goes that Trump tried to pressure Zelensky to investigate Hunter Biden’s allegedly corrupt business dealings in exchange for continuing foreign and military aide.
This evidence-free accusation started Democrats fulminating about impeachment for pressuring a foreign power to dig up dirt on the son of a possible Democratic nominee. Of course, they have kept their ire firmly under control when it comes to Obama CIA Chief John Brennan enlisting the assistance of several foreign intelligence services and operatives to try to derail the 2016 Trump campaign. And let’s not forget when the Democratic National Committee also pressured Ukraine to look for dirt on candidate Trump.
One beneficial effect of the flap is that it is forcing the reluctant press to examine the issue at hand, namely whether Joe Biden used the office of the vice presidency to help further his son’s business enterprises. There is no reason to believe that if Hunter Biden’s name was Hunter Smith, and that if he was not hitching rides with his dad on Air Force Two, he could have landed his big payday from Ukrainian natural gas giant Burisma Holdings, or pull in a $1.5 billion deal with the Bank of China. His good fortune is wholly connected to the fact that his father was the vice president. He is a product of Biden privilege. Joe and Hunter know how to sell the brand.
Phase III of the anti-Trump coup rolls on. Let’s see if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has the guts to actually hold an impeachment vote in the House on her unilateral announcement of an “official inquiry” — whatever that means.
