Senate report: Obama officials knew Hunter Biden's Burisma tie was 'problematic'
Jim Hanson, president of security studies, on concerns about the business dealings of Joe Biden's son.
There was a widespread blackout of television coverage surrounding the damning revelations from the GOP-led Senate report on Hunter Biden's foreign financial ties.
The Senate Homeland Security and Finance committees on Wednesday released an interim report on their monthslong joint investigation into Hunter Biden’s role on the board of Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma Holdings and his alleged “extensive and complex financial transactions.”
However, in addition to new findings regarding Biden's ties to Burisma, the report states that Senate investigators found millions of dollars in “questionable financial transactions” between Hunter Biden, who is a son of Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden, and his associates and foreign individuals, including the wife of the former mayor of Moscow as well as individuals with ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
According to the report, an investment firm co-founded by Hunter Biden, Rosemont Seneca Thornton, “received $3.5 million in a wire transfer” from Elena Baturina, the wife of the former mayor of the Russian capital.
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The report goes further and alleges that not just Hunter Biden but other members of the Biden family “were involved in a vast financial network that connected them to foreign nationals and foreign governments across the globe.”
In one instance, the report stated that Hunter Biden “opened a bank account” with a Chinese national linked to China’s communist government, which “financed a $100,000 global spending spree” for the former vice president’s brother, James Biden, and his wife, Sara Biden.
Apparently, these new revelations were not newsworthy to many of the major news networks. CNN and all three nightly news programs on ABC, CBS and NBC completely avoided the subject. MSNBC host Rachel Maddow was the only host on the entire network to address the Senate report but spent those roughly two minutes of coverage downplaying it.
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Much of the day's on-air coverage was dedicated to the charges against a Louisville police officer involved in the tragedy that led to Breonna Taylor's death. Both CNN and MSNBC along with the three broadcast networks managed to give far more airtime to Cindy McCain's not-so-surprising endorsement of Joe Biden.
The news outlets that covered the report, however, portrayed the Senate Republicans' findings as if there were no new revelations.
The New York Times ran the headline, "Republican Inquiry Finds No Evidence of Wrongdoing by Biden." Politico similarly ran, "GOP senators' anti-Biden report repackages old claims" as did BuzzFeed News' "Republicans' Hunter Biden Report is Filled With Old, Unsubstantiated Allegations and Debunked Theories."
The Washington Post went even further to exonerate the former VP with its headline, "GOP senators' report calls Hunter Biden's board position in Ukraine 'problematic' but doesn't show it changed US policy."
Critics also pointed out that many of the written reports neglected to mention the Senate report's key findings regarding Hunter Biden's $3.5 million Russian wire transfer and his business ties with Chinese nationals.
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The media's efforts to largely downplay the Senate report stands in stark contrast with the endless coverage the press dedicated to the infamous Trump Tower meeting involving President Trump's son Donald Trump Jr. and Russian nationals during the 2016 election, which garnered much attention amid the Mueller probe.
The 87-page report released on Wednesday went into greater detail about Hunter Biden's ties to Burisma, stating that Obama administration officials “knew” that Hunter Biden’s position on the board of Burisma was “problematic” and that it interfered “in the efficient execution of policy with respect to Ukraine.”
Hunter Biden joined Burisma in April 2014 and, at the time, reportedly connected the firm with consulting form Blue Star Strategies to help the natural gas company fight corruption charges in Ukraine. During the time Biden was on the board the company’s board, then-Vice President Joe Biden was running U.S.-Ukraine relations and policy for the Obama administration.
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Hunter Biden’s work for Burisma received heightened scrutiny amid President Trump’s impeachment last year.
Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
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