Because everyone deserves the presumption of innocence – well, everyone except former President Donald Trump and his supporters, apparently – the word “allegedly” is used liberally when reporting on the Biden family’s financial scandal. However, for at least one aspect of this exploding fiasco, there is no alleging; there is only fact. Joe Biden has repeatedly claimed he had no knowledge of, or involvement in, his son Hunter’s dealings with Ukrainian energy company Burisma or any other overseas business activities. If information provided to the FBI by a trusted source is accurate, 17 telephone conversations between a senior Burisma executive and Joe and Hunter Biden were recorded. If that is the case, Joe Biden has been lying to the American people – not allegedly, but in fact.
Senior Burisma Exec Possesses the Smoking Gun?
On June 12, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa addressed the Senate, revealing new information from the FBI form 1023 that contains allegations of a bribery scheme. This “pay-to-play” was described directly to an FBI informant by the Burisma executive. “According to the 1023,” Grassley said, “the foreign national possesses 15 audio recordings of phone calls between him and Hunter Biden. According to the 1023, the foreign national possesses two audio recordings between him and then-vice president Joe Biden.”
Grassley also criticized the FBI for redacting parts of the 1023 despite it being an unclassified document. “More than that,” he observed, “the FBI made Congress review a redacted unclassified document in a classified facility. That goes to show you the disrespect the FBI has for Congress.”
Occam’s Razor
It is a more than reasonable assumption that the FBI source hasn’t simply fabricated this entire alleged bribery scheme in which the Bidens were paid millions of dollars primarily to make an investigation into Burisma go away. It follows, then, that the aforementioned Burisma executive indeed claimed to have recorded his telephone calls with the Bidens.
The problem-solving principle known as Occam’s razor teaches, in basic terms, that the simplest explanation is usually the right one. If someone claims to have tapes of recorded conversations, then those conversations likely took place, whether recorded or not. And what is the simplest reason for conversations between a vice president of the United States and the senior officer of a foreign energy company that recently appointed that VP’s son to its board of directors? Diplomacy? US government business? No, that doesn’t fit. Factor in the matter of $5 million payments made to both Joe and Hunter Biden – according to what the energy executive told the FBI source. Then also add in a known fact – that Joe Biden pressured Ukrainian officials to fire the prosecutor who was investigating Burisma. According to the Occam’s razor principle, Hunter’s $50,000-a-month Burisma directorship and the payment to him and his father are tied directly to the firing of the prosecutor – and all of that is linked to the phone calls.
If Democrat members of Congress truly believed, as they have often claimed, that no one is above the law, this would be catastrophically bad for Joe Biden. If the Justice Department were to scrutinize this whole affair with the same determination it has shown in going after Trump, then impeachment would be only the beginning of Biden’s problems. As more details emerge about what this FBI source had been told about the Bidens, the appearance is increasingly one of serious crimes having been committed. It is all still only alleged, though. Perhaps there is nothing more than a series of remarkable coincidences and a respected US businessman or woman who decided to tell the FBI a tall tale. What are the chances, though?
