Joe Biden obviously engaged in an influence-peddling scheme, and there is certainly compelling evidence that he engaged in outright bribery–pay for policy.

Biden met with, dined with, and spoke on the phone with Hunter Biden’s clients, and in return for cash paid to Hunter, they got regular access to the White House. Burisma officials even got the White House to collaborate with the company on press statements, and Joe Biden bragged that he pressured Ukraine–by waving a billion dollars in their face–to fire a prosecutor who was investigating Burisma, on whose Board his son Hunter sat.

Joe Biden’s business partner told Congressional investigators that Joe Biden’s influence was the product that he and Hunter were selling.

🧵With Viktor Shokin back in the news, it's important to resurface the sworn affidavit from Shokin that@jsolomonReports
reported in September of 2019. Here we break down some key parts. pic.twitter.com/Oi0udrS2CR

— Oversight Project (@OversightPR) September 12, 2023

Millions of dollars flowed into shell companies controlled by Hunter, were distributed to family members of Biden for doing precisely zero work (what work could a grandchild do for Burisma and the Chinese Communist Party?), and to top it all off Hunter Biden used the money to pay for some of Joe Biden’s expenses. They even shared a bank account.

The Associated Press looks at this and says that there is “no evidence” that Joe Biden and Hunter were engaged in an influence-peddling scheme.

There are eye witnesses testifying on the record.

Maybe you think they’re lying? Fine. Agree to disagree.

But “without evidence” from the AP is an actual embarrassment. https://t.co/bNjej95jan

— J.D. Vance (@JDVance1) September 12, 2023

“No evidence.”

Not “no proof.” Not “there is an alternative and more compelling explanation for these facts.”

Simply no evidence at all. Nada. No reason even for the tiniest suspicion of anything other than the obvious fact that Joe Biden loves his son. What a good father. We should all be more like him.

🚨 No evidence? 🤔

Here are 20+ examples of Joe Biden’s involvement in his family’s influence peddling schemes that enriched the Bidens.👇https://t.co/h7l8LIcFUm

— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) September 13, 2023

The reason the Associated Press, which is the backbone of the entire news industry, feeding its facts and stories into just about every newsroom in the country, sees no evidence because they refuse to look at or report the undeniable evidence before them. Not even the New York Times goes quite as far as the Associated Press, conceding that Joe was “at times too deferential to his son.”

That’s another version of “Joe just loves his son,” but at least they concede that some things Slow Joe has done are a bit sketchy.

…If President Biden "deferred" to his son in selling influence and access, it is neither reassuring nor exculpatory. Rather it is the latest effort of scandal implosion. https://t.co/WwoRzM2iHO

— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) September 13, 2023

Jonathan Turley has a compelling and I believe correct theory of what the new Democrat strategy is: a controlled implosion in which Hunter is made to pay a (very small) price for his peccadillos, since avoiding some fallout is now impossible since the collapse of the plea deal, while avoiding damage to everybody else involved.

The problem is that embarrassing evidence is mounting by the day. That includes the recent disclosure new open influence peddling by Hunter, referencing access to his father.  Some emails show Hunter using trips with his Dad to arrange meetings with business associates like Magnani. Indeed, in one exchange with Magnani, Hunter complains that he is not getting responses on his business dealings, objecting

“I have brought every single person you have ever asked me to bring to the F’ing White House and the Vice President’s house and the inauguration and then you go completely silent,. I don’t know what it is that I did but I’d like to know why I’ve delivered on every single thing you’ve ever asked – and you make me feel like I’ve done something to offend you.”

The cringeworthy email only adds to the embarrassment not of Hunter Biden but the media struggling to control the damage from the scandal.

This is what amounts to “no evidence,” according to the Associated Press. No evidence at all.

I expect Hunter’s financial crimes will be excused while his gun charge–so undeniable and the source of the implosion of the plea deal–will go lightly punished. And, as you already know, President Biden is not implicated in that crime, while he is with every other.

They've found nearly 200 Suspicious Activity Reports from Treasury adding up to at least $10 million that were laundered through 20 LLCs or more controlled by Bidens while the Bidens never explained what that money bought, but sure @AP, go with "without evidence." https://t.co/zyJSr0xTud

— Ed Morrissey (@EdMorrissey) September 13, 2023

What, exactly, would constitute “evidence?” The answer is nothing, because the MSM firmly believes that they are the truth, and their truth is that any accusations against Biden are to be debunked. No evidence, because they are the people who determine what evidence is. And as they constantly argue, including in court, they should also be given the power to literally shut up anybody who disagrees with them.

How many think pieces have you read explaining why only the Elite should have access to the ability to disseminate information? About the only thing they don’t want to censor is sex acts for children. That is unAmerican. But “misinformation?” That must be censored.

The 'no evidence' crowd is like a million Baghdad Bobs speaking in unison. https://t.co/R2WV5FO62J pic.twitter.com/YK6o69UGBO

— Tom Bevan (@TomBevanRCP) September 13, 2023

It is impossible to overstate the important role the Associated Press plays in information distribution. The New York Times largely sets The Narrative, but the Associated Press is the circulatory system through which almost all news gets distributed around the world. When they filter out information, it gets buried. Often it never gets seen.

Do you think your local paper or even the networks have correspondents strategically placed around the world gathering information? They don’t. They outsource that task to the AP for the most part.

And the AP simply denies the evidence exists and chooses what to report.

All semblance of integrity in the media has collapsed. It started long ago, first subtly, then not so subtly, and since Donald Trump was elected they became open shills for the Democrats.

WH’s @IanSams46: Biden attended Hunter’s business meetings because he “loves” him pic.twitter.com/gSZD5pcda7

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) September 13, 2023

Baghdad Bob would be proud. Just as he could deny that Americans were in Baghdad in front of American troops in Baghdad, the Associated Press can have a mountain of evidence that Joe and Hunter engaged in an influence peddling scheme in front of them and claim they see nothing.

Who are you going to believe–me or your lying eyes?

In the story “The Emperor New Clothes” a child blew up the fiction propagated by the Emperor’s cronies that the Emperor was wearing a suit of the finest cloth. Nobody had the will to speak the truth.

In that story the people eventually acknowledged the truth. The MSM is betting that this time around everybody will persist in “believing” the lie.

Perhaps they are right, and we are truly lost. If we are, blame the MSM. They are far worse than the Democrats, whose actual job is to be shills for their Party.

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