I had thought that I would write about the number of cabinet members, White House staff, and others who were closely associated with Donald Trump and his four years in the White House as to their opinion of him and his qualifications to go back to the White House sit behind the Resolute desk and be the President of the United States. I had thought that would be my first blog.  Believe me, that is a lot of material, lol.

However, instead of that,  I had a conversation a few days ago with an individual that I know who has been a highly successful individual in his career, very intelligent, self-made in many ways who said that up until just a few weeks ago there was no way that he would ever vote for Donald Trump until all the evidence came out on the corruption of the Biden crime family.  And now he will vote for Trump.  He mentioned the “$30 million gained by the Biden family through corruption” that seems to have been bantered around within the Internet and online and by media.  Money allegedly generated through corrupt acts with foreign governments

You know I have to admit I desired to respond to him in the conversation, but I didn’t go at length because quite frankly we’re not going to change anyone’s minds, more than likely no matter what the facts are.

Facts do matter. Truth matters.  And the facts about the money Hunter Biden (and business associates) generated during the eight years that Joe Biden was in the position of vice president of the United states do matter.  Facts matter.

As to the information released by the Congressional Oversight Committee led by Representative Comer?  One has to look at the released bank statements. It seems Representative Comer and the Oversight Committee have multiplied the actual number, maybe multiple times.  The facts are that Hunter Biden and his business associates, which included an uncle and Devon Archer his business partner, set up 12 LLC’s – limited liability corporations – through which they passed money from one corporation to another – not to launder the money but to move the money where they wanted it to be invested. That’s a common practice.  My sons and I, business partners have done the same.  If Hunter and his business partners moved $1,000,000 from one LLC to another LLC to another LLC that was just one million in total.  However, in the released statements by the oversight committee, they seem to have added the same one million three times to report it as $3 million.  My view is the reported $30 million that Hunter Biden allegedly generated while his father was in the vice president’s position is probably greatly overstated by Comer and the committee for political purposes, as it that would surprise anyone. 

Did hunter Biden trade on his father’s name to generate income?  Absolutely!  There’s no doubt about that in my opinion.  After all we’ve got Hillary and Bill Clinton’s daughter graduating from her university and immediately walking into a job at $970,000 a year.  How many college graduates are able to do that?  Or we could talk about Jenna Bush, President Bush’s daughter, who got a degree from college to teach elementary education and at once went into a job paying $250,000 a year with one of the major networks.  Now both of those children probably are high quality, do a great job but they benefited from who their parents were.   I know people I went to high school with that had done the same thing.  Is that a crime? How many actors in Hollywood are in their positions simply because their parents were successful actors?  That’s life, but the Republicans right now want to make that an alleged crime because they can gain political points with a large number of people.  They want to create a “guilt by association” between Joe Biden and his son Hunter.  As Representative Comer admits, they have no direct evidence of Joe Biden associated with any business activity of Hunter’s.

Well, be that as it may – the discussion with my friend begged  me to  want to say to him “what about Ivanka and Jared?”  What I am now going to relate to, each and every case is factually backed up by reports, often from conservative media.

At a high level Jared and Ivanka’s financial disclosures say they made $157 million dollars while Trump was in office.  In just four years.  However, there are also reports Ivanka and Jared benefited in excess of six hundred and forty million dollars in business arrangements/partnerships/contracts they received during the four year Trump administration and while they both held official positions in the White House.  Is any of this being investigated by the Oversight Committee and Representative Comer?  Of course not!

So, now let’s look at details. 

As reported by Forbes magazine (and other media) Ivanka Trump was given an official position in the White House in March of 2017.  The day before the appointment Ivanka filed for trademark approvals with the Chinese government.  These were for her wedding and apparel lines. In early May of 2018, ZTE, a Chinese electronics maker, said that it had halted “major operating activities” after being penalized by the United States Department of Commerce for breaking sanctions and selling electronics to Iran and North Korea.  Yet, in mid-May, President Trump surprisingly reversed course when he showed a willingness to rethink the punishment and vowed to work with Chinese President Xi Jinping to prevent the collapse of the ZTE, which employs 75,000 people, with Trump tweeting, “Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!” That same month, May of 2018, amid tense trade negotiations between China and the United States, China approved seven Ivanka trademarks.  It is reported the 18 trade marks approved by China were worth over 64 million dollars.  Again, all of this while Ivanka held an official position in the White House.

From financial statements released by Ivanka and Jared through 2017, Ivanka reported earning over $15M through “consulting” contracts she had with the Trump Organization (which she, on paper, had left).  The income was reported as “consulting” with the Trump Organization on the Washington DC hotel.  In addition, as a partial owner of the hotel, she received $5M in profits.  During the Trump years in office, it is reported that over 80% of the revenues from the Trump Hotel came from foreign governments, Republican party activities, or from Washington lobbyists.

While Ivanka was profiting from her relationship with her father, Jared was even busier. Jared became an official employee of the White House in March of 2017.  In October of 2017 Kushner was reported to have a stake in a company called Cardre, which offered “investment vehicles” for the Trump administration’s “Opportunity Zones” program in 2018. Kushner’s original stake in Cardre was originally valued at $5 million, by 2019 this value had risen to fifty million dollars a tenfold increase in value. Jared also cultivated relationships in the mid-east as he was given the responsibility to lead diplomacy efforts there (although he had no experience in foreign diplomacy).  Jared developed, as reported by the Washington Post and Forbes magazine, a close relationship with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, MBS.  On October 2, 2018, Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post reporter, was murdered and dismembered by agents of Saudi Arabia.  US intelligence sources have named the crown prince as the one that ordered his murder.  In Bob Woodward’s recorded conversations with Donald Trump, Trump stated he “saved MBS (crown prince) ass” from Congressional scrutiny.  It was reported that Jared Kushner personally advocated for MBS in the White House with Trump.  And this paid off handsomely for Jared and Ivanka.   Soon after leaving the White House Jared formed an investment group (he had never led any type of investment organization), Affinity Partners.  Within six months of his leaving the White House Jared’s investment company received TWO BILLION DOLLARS from the Saudi Sovereign Wealth Management Fund.  These funds were objected to by the managers of this fund, multiple times rejected.  These objections were overcome by none other than the Crown Prince, MBS, himself.

It is not disputed, due the release of financial records, that Jared and Ivanka made $157 million dollars while Trump was in office, and while they both had official jobs within the White House.   Again, there are reports they received financial benefits that exceeded six hundred million dollars in that four years.  And it is not disputed that Jared’s investment firm received the $2 billion from the Saudis’, or another billion from two other mid-east nations (THREE BILLION IN TOTAL).

Biden family corruption?  $30 million.   The Congressional Oversight Committee and Representative Comer admitting they have no direct connection between Hunter Biden’s business activities and Joe Biden?  “Guilt by association”?  Biden Crime Family? 

All of that just makes me shake my head given all of the factual evidence of how the Trump family used the White House as their personal piggy bank.  Literally hundreds of millions, billions of dollars over just the four years Trump was in office.  Facts matter, truth matters…….