Transcript of Biden Family Influence Peddling & Newsom Fights Trump | 12.3.24

The political fallout continues from President Biden's sweeping pardon for his son, Hunter.

Democrats betrayed the President as this great arbiter of morality and truth. They said that he somehow was a better standard bearer for protecting norms and the institutions of our country. And yet that wasn't true.

I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bickley. It's Tuesday, December third, and this is Morning Wire. In response to the pardon, the House Obersight Committee releases a comprehensive timeline of what they're calling the Biden family's foreign influence pedaling.

Joe Biden's legacy will be not only the worst President in US history, but also the most corrupt.

And Gavin Newsom seeks to direct tens of millions to Trump proofing California. What's the governor's plan to undermine Trump's agenda? We want to protect our state and protect our values.

Thanks for waking up with MorningWire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.

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On Monday, new details began to emerge regarding President Biden's unprecedented pardon of his son, Hunter.

Here to break down the implications and political fallout of the extraordinary move is Daily Wire Senior Editor, Kabbit Phillips. Hey, Kabbit. So Washington still reeling from this sweeping pardon. We gave our initial report on this yesterday, but More details coming out here. What's the latest?

Yeah, President Biden and his staff said countless times over the last year that they would respect the legal process and not intervene. But on Sunday, he did just that, offering his son Hunter a pardon that was really just historic in its scope. The document itself protects the younger Biden from being charged with any crimes, quote, which he has committed or may have committed or taken pardon during the period from January first, 2014 through December first, 2024, including but not limited to all offenses charged or prosecuted. Translation, he cannot be held legally accountable for anything he did over the last decade. Now, if the language of that pardon sounds vague, that is intentional. President Biden clearly wants to ensure that his son is totally protected, not just from looming federal charges, but future ones that have not yet been brought.

Just extraordinary and sweeping, as you said, and quite different from other pardons we've seen presidents offer in the past, correct?

Exactly. While past presidents have offered pardons for specific crimes and specific convictions, it's almost unheard of for a pardon to be this broad in scope. For example, according to Margaret Love, the former US pardon attorney, I have never seen language like this in a pardon document that purports to pardon offenses that have not apparently even been charged, with the exception of the Nixon pardon. But again, that was 50 years ago.

So like nothing we've seen before, say for maybe that famous Nixon pardon. In the time frame in that pardon, 2014, to 2024 is very important as well. Tell us about that.

Yeah, it's no accident that Biden offered clemency starting January first of 2014. That is right around the time Hunter secured a multimillion dollar post with the Ukrainian energy company Burisma. It was there that he allegedly began using his father's political influence to secure lucrative deals and meetings. Now, Republican investigators in the House have long said Hunter Biden broke federal law during his time at Burisma and other overseas companies. But he's yet to be charged by the DOJ or anyone else. And now he's essentially home free. For more on that, we spoke with Eric Eggers, Vice President of the Government Accountability Institute.

It's very specific. It starts in January of 2014, that's three months before Hunter Biden's business relationships with the Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma began. And that's when a lot of the legal issues may have emerged. So what Joe Biden has done is not just said Hunter Biden will not face any charges from what he's actually been accused of, but what many people suspect he's actually guilty of.

Hunter potentially now shielded from those serious Burisma allegations. What political fallout have we seen to this so far?

Well, Biden allies on the Hill have mostly defended the move, essentially arguing that any father would have done the same thing had they been in this situation. They tried to spin it as proof of Biden's compassion for a son struggling with addiction. Democrats also tried to place the blame for the pardon at Donald Trump's feet, arguing it was only necessary because he supposedly would have gone Hunter upon taking office. They called Republican outrage hypocritical, given Trump's own legal troubles. For example, here's Missouri rep Jasmine Crockett on MSNBC.

At the end of the day, we know that we have a 34-count convicted felon that is about to walk into the White House For their part, Republicans say the charges against Donald Trump, essentially bookkeeping errors, are far different than these gun, drug, and tax evasion charges for Hunter.

They were quick to point out that the federal case against the younger Biden was handled by President Biden's own DOJ, and the claims of political partisanship are simply ludicrous. In fact, if that initial sweetheart plea deal that was offered to Hunter by Biden's DOJ had not been blown up by a judge, the President's son would never have faced these more serious charges to begin with. Republicans also noted that Biden quite literally campaigned on a motto that, No one is above the law, a phrase that was plastered across his social media accounts and shared from the podium.

This nation was founded on the principle that there are no kings in America. Each, each of us is equal before the law. No one, no one is above the law.

It's worth noting there were also a number of Democratic leaders who did denounce the move, including Colorado Senator Michael Bennett, who said the pardon, put personal interest ahead of duty and further erodes Americans' faith that the justice system is fair and equal for all.

Trust in the justice system already really in crisis. Another major blow to it here. Kapa, thanks for reporting.

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Hunter Biden's pardon may bring an end to one saga, but it's not the last we'll hear about the Biden family's alleged corruption.

Here with a rundown of the Biden family's various scandals and entanglements as DailyWire Deputy Managing Editor Tim Rice. Hey, Tim. So with the big pardon of Hunter, there's been a lot more scrutiny, once again, on the Biden family corruption allegations. Can you walk us through these claims?

Yeah. When it comes to Biden family scandals, you could say that Hunter is just the tip of the iceberg. Republicans on the House Oversight Committee just released a comprehensive timeline on what they're calling the Biden family's foreign influence peddling. Their main takeaway, The Bidons and their associates have received over $20 million in payments from foreign entities, including companies based in Ukraine and China.

$20 million, a staggering number there. What exactly is going on here?

Essentially, ever since Joe Biden became vice President, Hunter Biden has allegedly used his father's clout and connections to make very lucrative and slightly shady business deals. Some of these may be familiar to our listeners, like Burisma Holdings, the Ukrainian energy company that named Hunter Biden to its board in 2014. Hunter and his business partner, Devon Archer, each made a million dollars a year just for sitting on the board. Hunter reportedly called DC to help take some pressure off Burisma's President, who was later charged with bribing Ukrainian officials. All told, the Bidons and their associates made 6.5 $5 million from Ukrainian business interests. They also made around $8 million from Chinese entities, in particular a government-backed company called CEFC China Energy. This is the case where Hunter's business partner asked to set aside a 10% equity stake for the big guy who many believe to be Joe Biden. These are also the people Hunter seemed to threaten via text by saying, I'm sitting here with my father. Hunter's uncle, Jim Biden, was also involved in these deals, and many of the communications obtained by the committee mentioned that Jim's brother would be attending certain meetings with Chinese executives.

And just for a final touch, the chairman of Cefc once gave Hunter Biden an $80,000 diamond over dinner in Miami.

Yeah, nice touch indeed there. And what was this for? What exactly was Hunter doing for Cefc?

It's not entirely clear. Hunter was technically a consultant whose main job was to help the company find investments. We know he helped Cefc explore a massive African land purchase and represented the company's CEO, Patrick Hoe, in a related bribery case. But even that's a bit murky because he didn't appear to do much actual legal work for Hoe, but he still got paid a $1 million retainer.

That payment is bound to raise eyebrows. Are there any other revelations from the Oversight Report we should keep an eye on?

Yeah, the Chinese and Ukrainian deals are obviously the big factors here. But the timeline is a good reminder that the Biden's apparent influence peddling operation started way back in 2015, and it started in Romania. Around a month after then-VP Biden hosted the Romanian President at the White House, an embattled Romanian businessman, Gabriel Papavichu, began making regular payments to Biden family associates, paying out around $3 million in total. According to the Oversight Committee, just over a million dollars of those payments eventually made their way to the Biden family.

Hunter may have caught a break here, but I think we can expect to hear more about the Biden family business once his father leaves office. It's a safe bet. Tim, thanks for reporting.

Thanks for having me.

California's governor, Gavin Newsom, has proposed spending $25 million to Trump proof his state.

Here to discuss is Daily Wire reporter, Amanda Prestigiacomo. Amanda, this is very reminiscent of 2016. Tell us about this resistance initiative from Newsom.

Yeah. So Newsom called a special emergency session for the California State legislature to be held on Monday. That was the same day new members were sworn into office. Newsom called for that session days after Trump won the White House. He's asking for $25 million to be allocated to the state's Justice Department, to the attorney general, in the form of a legal defense fund. That money will be used to sue the Trump administration in an effort to stop Trump's agenda. Newsom said on Sunday that California will take action if lives are threatened or rights and freedoms are targeted.

Now, what does he mean by lives threatened and/or freedoms targeted?

It's not entirely clear, but the governor has signaled that he'll sue Trump over transgender issues, climate measures, immigration, and abortion, among other things. Now, on all those issues, California is extremely far left. For example, it's a sanctuary state for illegal immigrants and minors who want to medically transition. And on abortion, that's legal through all nine months of pregnancy in some cases. Now, Trump has campaigned on ending policies that allow boys and men in female spaces in sports, so there could be contention there. And of course, on immigration, Trump has promised deportations, starting with illegal criminals. One thing is for sure, though, we can't expect a whole lot of lawsuits. When Trump served in 2016, California sued the administration more than 120 times. So on average, California sued Trump about every 12 days during Trump's first term. And by the way, the state spent $42 million on those lawsuits. Additionally, the state's AG, Rob Banta, has said that he's preemptively written briefs on numerous issues to battle Trump. Trump also sued California four times during his first term, and that was over the state's sanctuary state policies on immigration and on climate-related measures.

Now, are Democrats rallying behind Newsom on this? We've already seen there are some blue state governors who say they're going to work with Trump, at least on immigration.

Yeah, I mean, at first glance, it seems like most Democrats in California are behind this. This proposal is expected to pass, but there are a lot of critics. A Democratic strategist named Steve Meviglio, who's criticized Newsom for campaigning outside of California. He said this to CBS.

It's the governor trying to get attention to his agenda to fight Trump, which he sees as laying the path for his presidential future.

A Republican rep in California named Kevin Kyly said he'll work as hard as to Newsom proof the state. He wrote, Newsom is asking for $25 million to Trump proof California. He doesn't want to relinquish our national lead in gas prices, housing costs, taxes, homelessness, poverty, or illegal border crossings. Yes. Additionally, GOP state Senator Brian Jones has called the proposal a political stunt, which he said was intended to distract from Democrats significant losses in the 2024 election. But it's not totally clear if the mood is the same in 2024 as it was in 2016. California has lost more than 700,000 people since 2020. California has also shifted 10 points to the right since 2020. It'll be interesting to see how voters feel about resistance 2.0. Right.

It feels different than 2016, but we're just going to have to wait to see when Trump takes office, what the mood is. Amanda, thanks for reporting. You're welcome.

Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back this afternoon with more news you need to know.

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