Sean Hannity and right-wing media claimed the ‘Biden crime family’ took millions in bribes. Their narrative just fell apart

CNN Business· Roy Rochlin/Getty Images
Analysis by Oliver Darcy, CNN
Fri, Feb 16, 2024, 5:38 AM MST4 min read


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“The Biden crime family.”

It has been one of the most dominant narratives in right-wing media and the GOP, used endlessly to demonize President Joe Biden — but on Thursday, it imploded in spectacular fashion.


For some time now, Fox News and the broader right-wing media machine have accused Biden and his son Hunter of engaging in an illicit $10 million bribery scheme to enrich themselves and sell out America. The tale, as it goes, claimed that an executive at the Ukrainian energy company Burisma paid for access to then-Vice President Biden to improperly wield his influence and help squash an investigation led by a Ukrainian prosecutor into the company.

Evidence of the bribery scheme has always been thin, at best, with most authoritative news outlets treating the claims with incredulity. But MAGA Media personalities like Sean Hannity quickly shifted into hyperdrive last year when a supposedly “highly credible” FBI informant claimed to have smoking gun evidence of the conspiracy.

The emergence of a confidential FBI informant coursed through right-wing media, where talking heads and outlets spotlighted the claims as damning evidence of criminal wrongdoing. It spawned scores of articles. Hundreds of Fox News segments. Republican lawmakers like James Comer and Jim Jordan, eager to bathe in the media spotlight, appeared on radio and television programs to stoke the conspiracy flames and demand investigations.

Hannity’s program served as the primary vehicle for driving the narrative to the GOP base. On his Fox News program alone, the claims formed the basis for a staggering 85 segments in 2023 alone, according to data from the progressive watchdog Media Matters. Hannity indicated to his millions of nightly viewers that Biden had been “compromised,” using the informant claims to declare the president was “very credibly accused of public corruption on a scale this country has never seen before.”

Meanwhile on Capitol Hill, Comer, who chairs the powerful House Oversight Committee, used the claims being extolled in right-wing media to accuse the FBI of engaging in a coverup and attempted to construct a corruption case against Biden. Those actions were then celebrated in right-wing media. And on and on the feedback loop went.

The problem? The informant, Alexander Smirnov, made the whole story up, federal authorities said Thursday, arresting the 43-year-old at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas.

Special counsel David Weiss, who served as a Donald Trump -appointed U.S. attorney before assuming his current role, charged Smirnov with lying to the FBI and falsifying records. Smirnov, an indictment said, provided “false derogatory information” about Biden to the law enforcement agency. His “story to the FBI was a fabrication, an amalgam of otherwise unremarkable business meetings,” it said.

“In short, the Defendant transformed his routine and unextraordinary business contacts with Burisma in 2017 and later into bribery allegations against [Joe Biden], the presumptive nominee of one of the two major political parties for President, after expressing bias against [Joe Biden] and his candidacy,” the indictment continued.

The charges dealt a blow to the narrative Fox News had championed on its air and Republicans had pressed in Congress. But the same network that had hyped Smirnov’s claims against “the big guy,” suggesting they formed the basis of a monumental scandal that would overshadow Watergate in the history books, suddenly showed little interest in the story.

In the hours after the Weiss indictment, there was scant coverage of the development on Fox News. Most notably, Hannity didn’t bother to mention to his loyal audience that the narrative he had been tirelessly peddling to them had fallen apart. Instead, like the rest of the right-wing network’s dishonest stable of prime time talk hosts, he ignored the story.

The stunning demise of the claim is just the latest in a larger pattern from Fox News and the broader right-wing media ecosystem in which it operates.

Time and time again, MAGA Media figures have hyped dishonest narratives and conspiracy theories to their sizable audiences, only to look away when they later collapse. Just last year, Fox News paid a record $787.5 million for its promotion of election lies. It never ran a retraction on its air and executives have maintained that they are proud of the network’s 2020 coverage.

It’s a record that plays on repeat. By the time the truth can catch up to the bogus claims spreading in right-wing media, the narrative has already been set and the outlets have moved on to the next supposed scandal.



https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sean-hannity-wing-media-claimed-123805902.html

 

But that's all those Trumptards have is a "narrative" Repukes know how to tell a good yarn don't they.

 

Ignoring the facts that the biden crime family has some 20 shell companies that have no business plan, no product, no apparent clients and get paid MILLIONS from foreign entities.
That money then pays biden kids who are not even employees.
Nope, classic money laundering but no story to tell.

 

Let Comer speak for himselfJames Comer
https://justthenews.com/accountabil...-fbi-informant-discredited-renewing-red-flags
"To be clear, the impeachment inquiry is not reliant on the FBI’s FD-1023. It is based on a large record of evidence, including bank records and witness testimony, revealing that Joe Biden knew of and participated in his family’s business dealings," he said. "Just this week, we had another witness confirm Joe Biden was the brand being sold by the Bidens around the world."
"When asked by the committee about their confidence in the confidential human source, the FBI told the committee the confidential human source was credible and trusted, had worked with the FBI for over a decade, and had been paid six figures," Comer went on. "The FBI’s actions in this matter are very concerning. The FBI had this form for years and it appears they did nothing to verify the troubling claims contained within the record until Congress became aware of and demanded access to them."

 

View attachment

 

Yes they do. But the problem is they keep trying to do it in the age of video tape. Which doesn't work when they try and change their stories.



'That doesn't make much sense': Analyst shreds Comer's latest Biden accusations

Tom Boggioni
February 19, 2024 11:29AM ET



U.S. Rep. James Comer (R-KY), Chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, attends a media event at the National Press Club on January 30, 2023 in Washington, DC. Comer outlined his committee's agenda for the upcoming Congress including his plan to investigate President Biden's son Hunter Biden and his overseas business deals. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)




House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY), fresh from the FBI's arrest of one of his key witnesses in his pursuit of President Joe Biden, is now concentrating his energies on a pair of Hunter Biden emails that are reportedly a lot less than the Kentucky Republican is trying to make them out to be.

At issue is Comer's assertion that two Ukraine-related documents noted in special counsel Robert Hur's report on Joe Biden's storage of classified documents — including a 2014 email that Comer claims contains details of classified information — are smoking guns that his Republican-dominated committee needs to investigate.

But, as columnist Glenn Kessler points, they would only be possible if time travel existed.

Kessler's reporting points out the timeline is out of whack and, as he put it, the claim "doesn’t make much sense."

"The 2014 email — which supposedly contained classified information — was written 20 months before these [talking point] documents were produced," he wrote in the Washington Post.

"That doesn’t make much sense. How could the email have been informed by classified information that did not yet exist?" he wrote before adding, "Until now no one has suggested these emails contained classified information."

As for Comer's assertion that a "secret" phone call about Ukrainian government reforms should be investigated, Kessler noted that call was made public the same day it occurred.

Hur's report also made the case there was nothing suspicious in the subject drawing Comer's interest, with the special counsel's office writing, "There may be technical or nuanced reasons to maintain the classification of the call, but no reasonable jury could conclude the call or its contents were national defense information after the end of the Obama administration."


As for Comer's claim to reporters, "Hunter Biden sent some suspicious emails especially to Ukraine that look like government documents, that meet the criteria of what would be considered a classified document,” Kessler wrote that also falls apart under close scrutiny, with the writer calling it "hyperbolic."

"It would be incorrect to suggest that the Ukraine documents in the Hur report indicate Hunter Biden had access to classified information or distributed classified information to 'our enemies' in exchange for cash," he wrote before pointing out, "These documents simply are on the same subject — Ukraine. But as we have shown, the Hur report says they are not especially secret or important."

You can read more here.



https://www.rawstory.com/comer-biden-2667314998/

 

So apparently american haters copy n paste was intended to discredit comers response to the arrest of an FBI informant.
It doesn't
Fail.
Again.

 

'Backfired on them tremendously': GOP blamed for causing arrest of their key Biden witness

Sky Palma
February 20, 2024 11:07AM ET



House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY), joined by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)




Despite their attempts to find ammunition against President Joe Biden with their investigations into his business dealings, House Republicans' efforts have "backfired on them tremendously," namely with the arrest of ex-FBI informant Alexander Smirnov for making false claims about Biden and his son Hunter.

As columnist Hayes Brown pointed out, Smirnov's indictment shows he was warned repeatedly to “provide truthful information to the FBI,” but he still provided “false derogatory information” about the Bidens.

"If not for the Republicans trying to bring down President Biden, Smirnov many never have been charged," Brown wrote for MSNBC.com. "A former IRS official had claimed to the House that David Weiss, the U.S. Attorney for Delaware, had been rebuffed when he’d asked to be appointed as a special counsel to better pursue his criminal investigation of Hunter Biden.

"Even though Weiss told them that wasn’t true, Republicans still howled that the Biden administration was trying to protect Hunter Biden. So Attorney General Merrick Garland went on and made Weiss a special counsel in August. That increased his authority, which he used to bring charges against Smirnov."


Smirnov's indictment was just an addition to the list of the GOP's self-inflicted wounds after they rushed to launch an impeachment inquiry into Biden "which drew attention to the negligible evidence they possessed. Their witnesses gave them nothing useful, and the upcoming deposition of Hunter Biden is unlikely to reveal any bombshells.

"The sensible thing to do at this point would be to call it quits and admit that there’s nothing more to be gained from going down this rabbit hole. But that would involve Republicans admitting to their voters that there was nothing to their promises to prove Biden is a criminal and satiate their base’s call for his arrest. More likely, though, they’ll double down and insist that Smirnov is being silenced for his bold truth-telling."



https://www.rawstory.com/biden-comer-2667322530/

 

Just because Comer was stupid enough to accept perjured testimony that said what he wanted to hear, one time, that doesn't mean he could be fooled by the same trick again. He couldn't possibly be that stupid, right?

We have to give credit to Comer for learning from experience. There's no way he would be going around claiming to have evidence that hasn't be corroborated and is able to stand up in court, after the Smirnoff disaster. He knows that anyone with two brain cells to rub together will be very suspicious of anything he claims. Anyone who supports Comer's efforts can repeat any of his newly revised statements without feat of looking like a gullible rube in the near future.

 

Shell companies with no known product or service.
Bank accounts set up in classic laundering structure.
Foreign agents making hunters car payments.
Paychecks to grandkids for.... something.

Nope. Nothing to see here.

 

Still obtuse.
Trump can be convicted of fraud with no victim.
Convicted af sexual abuse based on no evidence at all, not even a date of the assault.

Biden can't explain MILLIONS in payments from foreign agents to grand children in a classic money laundering scheme, but "still no crime".

What a despicable does is politics.
What a deplorable does is criminal.

 

Try applying for a refi mortgage declaring your house is worth a million. Don't forget a little disclaimer at the bottom. That'll get you off the hook. "Hey, no victim! What's your beef?"
"You know, when you're famous, you can grab anyone by the pussy!" He's innocent, I tell you, innocent! She's a whack job....(now a rich whack job.)
They almost had Biden, didn't they? Too bad their star witness got indicted.... but don't give up on Hunter.

 

Try to focus.
When one applies for a loan, like a mortgage, the bank doesn't much care what you think your collateral is worth.

They'll decide that for themselves. And their evaluation is the only one that matters. You see, they want to be assured that if you default, they'll get their money back.

So, no victim there even if you say your collateral is worth triple what the bank says.

The defamation case and the fraud case are being appealed. Get back to us when the appeals are done.

Shooter thinks they'll get tossed.

Biden is indeed off the hook.
For now.
He'll get 25th should he win in 2024.
And we'll all lose cause, kamala.

 

Google = accurate information (usually)
"Is it fraud to lie on a loan application?" This didn't take much effort, actually, the autofill on my computer anticipated the question after just a few words. This was at the top of the page:
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), making false statements on loan applications is a white-collar crime and is punishable by up to 30 years of imprisonment.

Do you just make shit up figuring I won't check and just believe you?

Here's some more info for you to digest:
What are the most common lies made on loan applications?
Now that you know the risks when you lie on your loan application, here is a list of the most common misrepresentations made on loan applications. Use this list to avoid the following pitfalls and ensure that you are being straightforward with your application:

• Lying about your income
• Failing to report outstanding debt
• Falsifying employment status
• Making false residency claims
• Exaggerating the value of your assets
• Lying about the purpose of the claim

As with anything involving finance, you should never lie about the information you submit in your loan application. And if you think a particular loan would be too difficult to repay, remember that the consequences will be severe if you try to inflate or falsify your financial credentials. Facing this type of charge or investigation, it is wise to seek the guidance of an experienced white collar crimes attorney.

 

As they say, so often: "Mark This Spot"

 

Not ever a good idea to lie on a loan application.
Especially about your ability to repay the loan. Which is part of why the bank wants to know what the value of your ASSETS are.
You know, like other properties, and cars and jewelry and stuff.
But they'll still do their own evaluation of your COLLATERAL. Cause if you default thats what they'll go after first.

Sorry. Shooter made the mistake of thinking you understood the distinction.
He won't make that mistake again.

But shooter is glad you know how to use google. That's one he also assumed. At least he got half of this right.

 

That cat of yours is thicker than I thought. Maybe he didn't get far in school. Look...
Ability to repay a loan = collateral
jewelry + cars and stuff do not = ability to repay and the lender doesn't give a shit about the car you drive or the watch you wear. Really? You think they do?
Sure, they'll do their own evaluation but if you intentionally lie on the application by inflating the value of your assets (including the property being mortgaged with is used as collateral), then you are breaking the fucking law.
And don't forget what they say about rudeness....it is the weak man's imitation of strength. Enough said?

 

Lets try it this way. A guy tells his girlfriend hes worth $MILLIONS. She checks, he isn't worth anything close to even $1MILLION. She doesn't care, they later finish their relationship, amicably.

Then the state steps in and claims fraud and its the injured party. Even though the state had zip to do with any part of the relationship. The girlfriend isn't complaining, even defends the guy.

But, because he once said "grab em by the pussy" he is targeted by the state.

Now, lying on a loan and in a relationship are two different things, got that.

But trump took care of that part with a very complete disclaimer statement.

Sorry. The state has grossly overreached shooter thinks and will get taught that lesson on appeal.

Not sure where you got rude from shooters last post. Shooter will strive to remember liberal sensibilities are ......... more sensitive ....... in the future