I asked this question on Thursday — now that you had the New York Times admitting that the Hunter Biden laptop was authentic, something that should have been done long ago, back in 2020 when the NY Post broke the story — would the media step up and press the Biden Administration about all the problems and issues that were laid out in the laptop, particularly all the potential conflicts of interest because of the connections to China, Russia, and Ukraine?
The White House did all they could to deflect when the news hit on Thursday, so I wasn’t holding out a lot of hope that anyone would continue to grill the White House on some of the serious conflicts that the issue posed. There were more direct questions on Friday about conflict of interest. A fascinating bit of information was found about Joe Biden.
Perhaps it’s not surprising the pointed questions came from NY Post reporter Steve Nelson. Again, notice the body language and all the blinking from White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki — she doesn’t want to answer these questions.
Psaki sweats while she is grilled about Hunter Biden’s business dealings, and about concerns about conflict-of-interest. pic.twitter.com/SjhBw9xjOC
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 18, 2022
Nelson asked Nelson three questions. The first was whether Biden had stayed out of the DOJ probe into his son. Psaki said he was. Then Nelson raised the Senate report about Hunter Biden’s company, Rosemont Seneca Thornton, allegedly receiving $3.5 million from Russian billionaire Yelena Baturina, one of the richest women in Russia whose late husband used to be the mayor of Moscow. Nelson also raised a point that is not as well known — the report that Joe Biden himself had a subsequent meeting with the same woman for dinner in 2015 in Georgetown.
“This Yelena Baturina, she has not been sanctioned yet by the U.S. government. How is President Biden navigating conflicts of interest when it comes to sanctioning people who have done business with this family and can you explain to us what this $3.5 million was for?” Nelson asked.
“I don’t have any confirmation of the accuracy of that report, so I have no more further details,” Psaki declared.
You can’t possibly know the exact accuracy of this report. Joe Biden either met her, or he didn’t. For what purpose did he meet her? That’s not a Hunter question; that’s a Joe Biden question. Psaki was unwilling to give an answer or be open.
The $3.5 million was also not addressed by her. Nelson claims that Baturina was not sanctioned. At a time when we’re in a critical position with Russia regarding the war in Ukraine, these questions are all the more important. And if he refuses to answer what the meeting was about, then we have to assume he’s hiding something critical.
Psaki asks what would be Biden’s conflicts of interest, as though she doesn’t know. Nelson tried to distract her from other reporters but she insisted on trying to find out if Hunter Biden had been involved with the Chinese business.
“We have received not even basic transparency about who bought out his stake, when this happened and how much money changed hands,” Nelson said. “Did he actually divest, and if so, can you agree to basic transparency?”
“He’s a private citizen, he doesn’t work for the government,” Psaki said. “I’d point you to his representatives.”
In other words, Psaki thinks we don’t even deserve to know if he divested, or if there are continuing conflicts with China. It is shameful that she dismisses the issue.
I hope the voters notice the dismissive way that she treats the American public’s right to know here, and give them a resounding answer at the ballot box in November. After putting the people under oath, Congress must demand answers.
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