Republicans, like Rep. James Comer, couldn’t step on more rakes during his impeachment investigation if he tried. The chair of the House Oversight Committee, just last month, called Tony Bobulinski “one solid guy.” Turns out that “solid guy” had deep ties to a Russian oligarch that repeatedly tried to influence the Trump administration. Bobulinski’s testimony ended up flopping in front of the entire committee. If his shady past wasn’t enough, Tony Bobulinski’s legal representation included Stefan Passantino, a man who former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson claimed attempted to pressure her to remain loyal to President Trump prior to her testimony to the House January 6th committee. Let’s add witness tampering to the list of red flags surrounding Tony Bobulinski. Meanwhile, more witnesses have come forward to the House Oversight committee to deny wrongdoing by President Biden in his son’s business deals. Republicans refuse to accept those allegations, while also ignoring admissions from the former President’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who this week claimed Affinity Partners was a shell entity while he waited to figure out what he wanted to do – the day after leaving public office. Turns out Jared Kushner was just waiting for $2 billion dollars in Saudi sovereign wealth money to magically drop from the sky. Dreams really do come true.
Bobulinski Had Endless Red Flags, But That Didn’t Stop James Comer From Calling Him “One Solid Guy” And Providing Him A Platform To Spew Lies
Daily Beast: “GOP’s Star Witness In Hunter Biden Probe Has Ties To Russian Oligarch”
- James Comer Claimed Tony Bobulinski Was “One Solid Guy.” “‘Of all of the guys that were involved in the Hunter Biden orbit, Tony Bobulinski appears to me to be the one solid guy that tried to do the right thing and was honest,’ Oversight Chair James Comer (R-KY) told Lou Dobbs earlier this month.” [Daily Beast, 2/13/24]
- Impeachment Witnesses Have Disputed Unproven Claims Made By Bobulinski Calling Them “Wishful Thinking” And “Unicorns And Rainbows.” “Other impeachment witnesses have also directly disputed Bobulinski’s unproven claims about the Bidens, including a former business partner who characterized Bobulinski’s allegations to FBI agents as “wishful thinking” and “unicorns and rainbows.” [Daily Beast, 2/13/24]
- Bobulinski Was Tied To Russian Oligarch, Viktor Vekselberg, Who Repeatedly Sought To Influence The Trump Administration. “What Bobulinski seems less inclined to discuss—given his failure to respond to repeated inquiries for this story—are his past connections to [Viktor] Vekselberg, a prominent Russian oligarch who sought repeatedly to influence Trump’s administration, including with payments to promote a proposal that would allow the Kremlin to retain control of the illegally occupied Crimean peninsula.” [Daily Beast, 2/13/24]
- Hunter Biden Sent Texts In 2017 Regarding Bobulinski’s Relationship With Vekselbeg, “The Russian Guy I Said I Wanted Nothing To Do With.” “Hunter Biden, by contrast, said he wanted to steer clear of Vekselberg, describing the oligarch as “that Russian guy I said I wanted nothing to do with but you guys met with anyway,’ and ‘[t]he one who is all tied up in knots over sanctions.’” [Daily Beast, 2/13/24]
New Republic: “Republicans’ Star Hunter Biden Witness Has A Very Shady Past”
CNN: “Former Biden Family Business Associate Recycles Unproven Allegations To House Panels”
Huffington Post: “Republicans Finally Talked To The 1 Biden Impeachment Witness Who Agrees With Them”
Politics USA: “James Comer’s Star Biden Impeachment Witness Totally Flops”
STEFAN PASSANTINO, TONY BOBULINSKI’S LAWYER, HAS A HISTORY OF WITNESS TAMPERING IN FAVOR OF FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP
Tony Bobulinksi Was Represented By Stefan Passantino In His Interactions With The House Oversight Committee. “The Democratic minority leader of the House Oversight Committee engaged in ‘character assassination’ and leveled ‘false allegations’ related to Tony Bobulinski’s testimony in President Biden’s impeachment inquiry, a lawyer for the former Biden family business associate said Wednesday. Attorney Stefan Passantino highlighted the ‘abusive conduct and disingenuous mischaracterizations’ of Bobulinski’s testimony in a scathing letter to Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the ranking member of the Oversight Committee, obtained by The Post.” [New York Post, 2/14/24]
- Former White House Aide Cassidy Hutchinson Alleged That Attorney Stefan Passantino, Who Was Her First Lawyer, Pressured Her To Remain Loyal, Protect Former President Trump, And Influence Her Testimony To The House January 6th “In appearing before the Jan. 6 committee last year, Cassidy Hutchinson, the former White House aide who recounted President Donald J. Trump’s conduct in the lead-up to the attacks on the Capitol, shared how her original lawyer had tried to influence her testimony. While represented by that lawyer, Stefan Passantino, Ms. Hutchinson was less forthcoming to the committee. But after hiring a different lawyer, she provided more damaging details about Mr. Trump and said that Mr. Passantino had pressured her to remain loyal and protect the former president.” [New York Times, 3/6/23]
- Several Dozen Prominent Legal Figures Filed A Complaint Seeking Stefan Passantino’s Disbarment Over Allegations Of Crimes Of Subornation Of Perjury, Obstruction Of Justice, Witness Tampering, And Bribery. “Now, several dozen prominent legal figures, including past presidents of the American Bar Association and the District of Columbia Bar, are seeking to revoke Mr. Passantino’s license to practice law. The move reflects intensifying scrutiny over whether Mr. Passantino, a former Trump White House ethics lawyer whose legal fees were covered by Mr. Trump’s political action committee, violated his own professional duty, along with a host of other ethical requirements, by putting the interests of a third party over that of his client. In a 22-page complaint filed on Monday with D.C.’s Board on Professional Responsibility, prominent lawyers accused Mr. Passantino of the crimes of subornation of perjury, obstruction of justice, witness tampering and bribery. The latter referred in part to Ms. Hutchinson’s allegation that his advice to say little to the panel was accompanied by assurances that she would get a ‘really good job in ‘Trump world.’ ‘The Office of Disciplinary Counsel should promptly initiate an investigation of Mr. Passantino’s conduct and, if the facts described above are confirmed, seek his disbarment,’ said the complaint, filed by the group Lawyers Defending American Democracy.” [New York Times, 3/6/23]
Remember The FBI Informant Who Was Key To The Impeachment Investigation? He Just Got Indicted For Lying
HEADLINE: “Former FBI informant charged with lying about Biden business
- “Special counsel David Weiss — who has previously filed criminal charges against President Biden’s son Hunter — announced new charges Thursday against a former FBI informant who officials say lied about the Bidens’ business dealings.” [Washington Post, 2/15/24]
- “The indictment returned by a grand jury in Los Angeles accuses Alexander Smirnov of making a false statement and creating a false and fictitious record. The charges amount to a stark rebuke of conservatives, particularly Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, who touted Smirnov’s claims as he and other Republican lawmakers tried to build a corruption case against the president and his family.” [Washington Post, 2/15/24]
HEADLINE :” Ex-F.B.I. Informant Is Charged With Lying Over Bidens’ Role In Ukraine Business”
HEADLINE: “FBI Informant Charged With Lying About Joe And Hunter Biden’s Ties To Ukrainian Firm”
HEADLINE: “FBI Informant Indicted For Lying About Joe And Hunter Biden Alleged Business Dealings”
HEADLINE: “Special Counsel Charges FBI Informant With Lying To The Bureau About Hunter And Joe Biden”
HEADLINE: “FBI Informant Charged With Lying About Joe And Hunter Biden’s Ties To Ukrainian Energy Company”
HEADLINE: “DOJ Accuses One Of GOP’s Key Biden Impeachment Witnesses Of Lying”
HEADLINE: “Justice Department Charges FBI Informant With Falsely Alleging Joe Biden Paid Bribes”
More Witnesses Come Forward To The House Oversight Committee To Deny Wrongdoing By President Biden
Huffington Post: “‘Nothing Has Changed’: Another Witness Tells Gop She Saw No Corruption By Joe Biden”
- Blue Star Strategies CEO Karen Tramontano Told The House Oversight Committee That She Was Unaware Of Any Involved By President Biden In His Son’s Business Deals. “The head of a Democratic lobby shop that represented a Ukrainian energy firm told lawmakers on Monday she was unaware of any involvement by President Joe Biden in his son Hunter’s business deals. Republicans sought a transcribed interview with Karen Tramontano, CEO of Blue Star Strategies, as part of their impeachment inquiry against Biden. Their chief accusation is that the Ukrainian gas company Burisma bribed Biden for a favor back when he was vice president during the Obama administration. ‘Neither Hunter Biden nor then Vice President Joe Biden had any financial or other involvement in my firm’s work with Burisma,’ Tramontano told lawmakers, according to an opening statement obtained by HuffPost.” [Huffington Post, 2/12/24]
Meanwhile, Jared Kushner Set Up A Shell Company That Was Eventually Turned Into A Private Equity Company Backed By Billions Of Saudi Funds
Axios: “Kushner’s Affinity Partners Still Looking For Middle East Deals”
- Jared Kushner Said He Set Up Affinity Partners As A “Shell Entity” And That He “Didn’t Know What We Were Going To Do Exactly” With It. “Context: At the BFD, Kushner said the pivot to private equity wasn’t a plan, even though the entity, Affinity Partners, was incorporated soon after his departure from the White House. Miami-based Affinity Partners is backed by $2 billion from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. What they’re saying: ‘That was just a name that I set up as a shell entity,’ Kushner said. ‘I didn’t know what we were going to do exactly,’ he said.” [Axios, 2/13/24]
Associated Press: “Jared Kushner, Former Trump Adviser, Defends Business Dealings With Saudi Arabia”