#46 President Joe Biden

mace1229 said:

mrussel1 said:

mace1229 said:

I had a couple extra minutes today to look what was said about Hunter's laptop back in 2020. The only reason I didn't find it right away the first time is because my search results were buried with current news stories of it. Still only about the 10th hit from the top.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/09/hunter-biden-laptop-suppression-twitter-fbi-social-media/

"When President Donald Trump raised Hunter Biden’s laptop during the final 2020 presidential debate, Joe Biden dismissed it as a “Russian plant,” citing “five former heads of the CIA” who say it’s “a bunch of garbage.”

We now know this was patently untrue. The laptop was authentic. But at the time, almost no one in the news media questioned Biden’s false assertion. To the contrary, CNN questioned whether Trump had “spread Russian disinformation” during the debate by raising the laptop."

So everything on it is authentic? No way would Rudy or his team alter an email? No one else would either? Just curious why you would think Rudy and his team of morons would be above such a thing?

And what is it specifically on the laptop that proves Joe Biden committed a crime?

I never claimed that. I’ve said before I don’t think there’s a smoking gun in the laptop, or it would have been known within hours. I have no doubt they had a team of paralegals or whoever looking through every document. If they found something, they would have released it to the public.
I just made a simple comment the other day saying I remember some doubted the laptop was even real and was called borderline cultish behavior for saying that since I didn’t immediately provide proof. 

I don’t think Rudy is above altering or planting anything. But I don’t think he would, because it’d be hard to get away with. Isn’t there a digital fingerprint for documents and when they were created? So I would think it would be easy to verify if it’s been altered. And if not, remember he just has a copy of a hard drive, the FBI has the computer. Would be a little suspicious if they found something on the copy that wasn’t on the computer. 

Just backing up my claim that not everyone believed the authenticity of the laptop and hard drive. And, again, why wouldn’t you? Rudy coming up with a copy of Hunter’s hard drive to break a story does seem a little suspicious. Of course people are going to question it. But I was asked for proof people questioned it, so I found a link.

mrussel1 said:

mace1229 said:

mrussel1 said:

mace1229 said:

I had a couple extra minutes today to look what was said about Hunter's laptop back in 2020. The only reason I didn't find it right away the first time is because my search results were buried with current news stories of it. Still only about the 10th hit from the top.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/09/hunter-biden-laptop-suppression-twitter-fbi-social-media/

"When President Donald Trump raised Hunter Biden’s laptop during the final 2020 presidential debate, Joe Biden dismissed it as a “Russian plant,” citing “five former heads of the CIA” who say it’s “a bunch of garbage.”

We now know this was patently untrue. The laptop was authentic. But at the time, almost no one in the news media questioned Biden’s false assertion. To the contrary, CNN questioned whether Trump had “spread Russian disinformation” during the debate by raising the laptop."

So everything on it is authentic? No way would Rudy or his team alter an email? No one else would either? Just curious why you would think Rudy and his team of morons would be above such a thing?

And what is it specifically on the laptop that proves Joe Biden committed a crime?

I never claimed that. I’ve said before I don’t think there’s a smoking gun in the laptop, or it would have been known within hours. I have no doubt they had a team of paralegals or whoever looking through every document. If they found something, they would have released it to the public.
I just made a simple comment the other day saying I remember some doubted the laptop was even real and was called borderline cultish behavior for saying that since I didn’t immediately provide proof. 

I don’t think Rudy is above altering or planting anything. But I don’t think he would, because it’d be hard to get away with. Isn’t there a digital fingerprint for documents and when they were created? So I would think it would be easy to verify if it’s been altered. And if not, remember he just has a copy of a hard drive, the FBI has the computer. Would be a little suspicious if they found something on the copy that wasn’t on the computer. 

Just backing up my claim that not everyone believed the authenticity of the laptop and hard drive. And, again, why wouldn’t you? Rudy coming up with a copy of Hunter’s hard drive to break a story does seem a little suspicious. Of course people are going to question it. But I was asked for proof people questioned it, so I found a link.

So who didn't believe that laptop was an actual inanimate object in the possession of Rudy?  The question was the contents and authenticity of it. 

mace1229 said:

mrussel1 said:

mace1229 said:

mrussel1 said:

mace1229 said:

I had a couple extra minutes today to look what was said about Hunter's laptop back in 2020. The only reason I didn't find it right away the first time is because my search results were buried with current news stories of it. Still only about the 10th hit from the top.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/09/hunter-biden-laptop-suppression-twitter-fbi-social-media/

"When President Donald Trump raised Hunter Biden’s laptop during the final 2020 presidential debate, Joe Biden dismissed it as a “Russian plant,” citing “five former heads of the CIA” who say it’s “a bunch of garbage.”

We now know this was patently untrue. The laptop was authentic. But at the time, almost no one in the news media questioned Biden’s false assertion. To the contrary, CNN questioned whether Trump had “spread Russian disinformation” during the debate by raising the laptop."

So everything on it is authentic? No way would Rudy or his team alter an email? No one else would either? Just curious why you would think Rudy and his team of morons would be above such a thing?

And what is it specifically on the laptop that proves Joe Biden committed a crime?

I never claimed that. I’ve said before I don’t think there’s a smoking gun in the laptop, or it would have been known within hours. I have no doubt they had a team of paralegals or whoever looking through every document. If they found something, they would have released it to the public.
I just made a simple comment the other day saying I remember some doubted the laptop was even real and was called borderline cultish behavior for saying that since I didn’t immediately provide proof. 

I don’t think Rudy is above altering or planting anything. But I don’t think he would, because it’d be hard to get away with. Isn’t there a digital fingerprint for documents and when they were created? So I would think it would be easy to verify if it’s been altered. And if not, remember he just has a copy of a hard drive, the FBI has the computer. Would be a little suspicious if they found something on the copy that wasn’t on the computer. 

Just backing up my claim that not everyone believed the authenticity of the laptop and hard drive. And, again, why wouldn’t you? Rudy coming up with a copy of Hunter’s hard drive to break a story does seem a little suspicious. Of course people are going to question it. But I was asked for proof people questioned it, so I found a link.

So who didn't believe that laptop was an actual inanimate object in the possession of Rudy?  The question was the contents and authenticity of it. 

The first reply to my comment was asking what I meant and I clarified that I meant there were questions about not only tampering but also if a Hunter laptop even existed in the first place. You don’t have to scroll back far to see who spent a whole page disagreeing with that. The conclusion was that apparently I’m in a cult fpr thinking that and it’s my thing to talk about topics I know nothing about. But isn’t calling the laptop a Russian fake essentially denying it’s real? I think so.

WELKER: All right, we’re gonna move on to our next section which is national security. And I do want to start with the security of our elections and some breaking news from overnight. Just last night, top intelligence officials confirmed again that both Russia and Iran are working to influence this election. Both countries have obtained U.S. voter registration information, these officials say, and Iran sent intimidating messages to Florida voters. This question goes to you, Mr. Vice President, what would you do to put an end to this threat? You have two minutes, uninterrupted.

BIDEN: I made it clear. And I asked everyone else to take the pledge. I made it clear that any country, no matter who it is, that interferes in American elections will pay a price. They will pay a price. It has been overwhelmingly clear in this election — I won’t even get into the last one — this election, that Russia has been involved. China has been involved to some degree, and now we learned that, that Iran is involved. They will pay a price if I’m elected. They’re interfering with American sovereignty. That’s what’s going on right now. They’re interfering with American sovereignty. And to the best of my knowledge, I don’t think the President has said anything to Putin about it. I don’t think he’s talking to him a lot. I don’t think he’s said a word. I don’t know why he hasn’t said a word to Putin about it. And I don’t know what he has recently said, if anything, to the Iranians. My guess is he’d probably be more outspoken with regard to the Iranians. But the point is this, folks. We are in a situation where we have foreign countries trying to interfere in the outcome of our election. His own national security advisor told him that what is happening with his buddy — well, I won’t, I shouldn’t — I will — his buddy Rudy Giuliani. He’s being used as a Russian pawn. He’s being fed information that is Russian, that is not true. And then what happens? Nothing happens. And then you find out that everything is going on here about Russia is wanting to make sure that I do not get elected the next President of the United States because they know I know them, and they know me. I don’t understand why this President is unwilling to take on Putin when he’s actually paying bounties to kill American soldiers in Afghanistan, when he’s engaged in activities that are trying to destabilize all of NATO. I don’t know why he doesn’t do it but it’s worth asking the question. Why isn’t that being done? Any country that interferes with us will, in fact, pay a price because they’re affecting our sovereignty.

WELKER: President Trump, same question to you. Let me, let me ask the question. You’re gonna have two minutes to respond for two elections in a row now there has been substantial interference from foreign adversaries. What would you do in your next term to put an end to this? Two minutes, uninterrupted.

TRUMP: Well, let me respond to the first part, as Joe answered. Joe got three and a half million dollars from Russia. And it came through Putin, because he was very friendly with the former mayor of Moscow and it was the mayor of Moscow’s wife. You got three and a half million dollars. Your family got three and a half million dollars and you know someday, you’re gonna have to explain — why did you get three and a half? I never got any money from Russia. I don’t get money from Russia. Now, about your thing last night, I knew all about that, and through John — who is John Radcliffe, who is fantastic, DNI — he said, the one thing that’s common to both of them, they both want you to lose. Because there has been nobody tougher to Russia. Between the sanctions, nobody tougher than me on Russia. Between the sanctions between all of what I’ve done with NATO. You know, I’ve got the NATO countries to put up an extra 130 billion, going to $420 billion a year, that’s to guard against Russia. I sold — while he was selling pillows and sheets — I sold tank busters to Ukraine. There has been nobody tougher on Russia than Donald Trump. And I’ll tell you, they were so bad. They took over the, the submarine port. You remember that very well during your term, during you and Barack Obama. They took over a big part of what should have been Ukraine. You handed it to them. But you were getting a lot of money from Russia. They were paying you a lot of money and they probably still are, but now, with what came out today, it’s even worse. All of the emails, the emails are horrible. The emails of the kind of money that you were raking in, you and your family. And Joe, you were vice president when some of this was happening. And it should have never happened. And I think you owe an explanation to the American people. Why is it, somebody just had a news conference a little while ago, who was essentially supposed to work with you and your family, but what he said was damning. And regardless of me, I think you have to clean it up and talk to the American people. Maybe you can do it right now.

WELKER: Vice President Biden, you may respond and then I do want to follow up on the election security.

BIDEN: I have not taken a penny from any foreign source ever in my life. We learn that this President paid 50 times the tax in China, has a secret bank account with China, does business in China, and in fact, is talking about me taking money? I have not taken a single penny from any country whatsoever, ever, number one. Number two, this is a president — I have released all of my tax returns. 22 years. Go look at them. 22 years of my tax returns. You have not released a single solitary year of your tax return. What are you hiding? Why are you unwilling? The foreign countries are paying you a lot. Russia is paying you a lot. China is paying a lot. And your hotels and all your businesses all around the country, all around the world. And China’s building a new road to a new gas… a golf course you have overseas. So what’s going on here? Why don’t you release your tax return or stop talking about corruption?

WELKER: President Trump, your response.

TRUMP: First of all, I called my accountants — under audit. I’m going to release them as soon as we can. I want to do it, and it will show how successful, how great this company is. But much more importantly than that, people were saying $750. I asked them a week ago, I said, what did I pay? They said, sir, you pre-paid tens of millions of dollars. I prepaid my tax. Tens. Over the last number of years. Tens of millions of dollars, I prepaid, because at some point, they think, it’s an estimate. They think I may have to pay tax. So, I already prepaid it. Nobody told me that.

WELKER: Did your accountant tell you —

TRUMP: Excuse me. And it wasn’t written whenever they write this. They keep talking about $750, which I think is a filing fee. But let me just tell you, I prepaid millions and millions of dollars in taxes, number one. Number two, I don’t make money from China, you do. I don’t make money from Ukraine, you do. I don’t make money from Russia. You made three and a half million dollars, Joe, and your son gave you. They even have a statement that we have to give 10% to the big man. You’re the big man, I think. I don’t know, maybe you’re not. But you’re the big man, I think. Your son said we have to give 10% to the big man. Joe, what’s that all about? It’s terrible.

WELKER: Alright, gentlemen, I want to ask you both some questions about all of this. I’m gonna let you both respond, very quickly. You just said you spoke to your accountant about potentially releasing your taxes. Did he tell you when you can release them? Do you have a deadline for when you’re going to release them to the American people?

TRUMP: I get treated worse than the Tea Party got treated. A lot of people in there, deep down in the IRS, they treat me horribly. We made a deal, it was all settled, until I decided to run for president. I get treated very badly by the IRS, very unfairly, but we had a deal all done. As soon as we’re completed with the deal, I want to release it. But I have paid millions and millions of dollars. And it’s worse than paying. I paid in advance. It’s called prepaying your taxes. 

WELKER: I want to ask you both about questions regarding your potential foreign entanglements and questions that have been raised to give you both a chance to talk about this more broadly.

BIDEN: At some point I want to respond.

WELKER: Respond very quickly, and then I’ll get to my question.

Continued next post.

Merkin Baller said:

static111 said:

That transcript Hal posted reminds me.  Did they ever release all of Trump's tax returns?

Not that I'm aware of... meanwhile Biden has released decades worth of tax returns, and somehow he's the guy w/ something to hide in all of this. Trumps facing ninety-one (91) criminal charges, and as far as I know, Biden is facing zero (0) but yeah... Biden's the one to worry about because a "laptop exists". 

Weird how all that works.

Merkin Baller said:

So did Biden say the laptop story wasn’t true, or did he deny the existence of the laptop? 

Honest question because there’s a lot of hangup about semantics here…. Which in the end is a waste of fucking time considering there’s no evidence of criminality, but I digress: did Biden outright deny the existence of the laptop? 

What's the quote? 

BIDEN: Look, there are 50 former national intelligence folks who said that what this, he’s accusing me of is a Russian plan. They have said that this has all the characteristics — four– five former heads of the CIA, both parties, say what he’s saying is a bunch of garbage. Nobody believes it except him and his good friend Rudy Giuliani.

TRUMP: You mean, the laptop is now another Russia, Russia, Russia hoax? You gotta be–

BIDEN: That’s exactly what — That’s exactly what–

TRUMP: Is this where you’re going? This is where he’s going. The laptop is Russia, Russia, Russia?

He isn't saying Rudy's copy was tampered with, he's calling the computer a Russian plant. Rudy came forward about mid October 2020 with his story. The FBI didn't confirm they had the original laptop until about a month later. During that time there was speculation if the whole computer left behind by Hunter was true. 

The timing made it easy for a lot of accusations. Because what happened between October 2020 when Rudy went to The Post and a month later when the FBI confirmed they had the computer? The election taking place made for easy accusations that it was part of the cover up.

Now I don't personally believe the FBI tried to cover it up until after the election. But if the existence of Hunter's computer was never in question, there wouldn't be these accusations. 

The contents of the copied hard drive has always been in question as to its authenticity. But until the FBI confirmed they had the original, there was debate as to whether the original even existed. This debate took place in that window of time, and I interpret it as Joe denying the original computer belonging to Hunter and left behind exists. He blamed it on a Russian plant (this transcript says Russian plan, but others I've seen says "plant", and plant makes more sense). Hunter, when asked if the computer was his, said he doesn't remember dropping off the computer. Why would you ask him if its his in an interview if there isn't any question about it?

An excerpt from wikipedia states "PolitiFact wrote in June 2021 that, while "over time, there has been less doubt that the laptop did in fact belong to Hunter Biden", the laptop "was real in the sense that it exists, but it didn't prove much", as "[n]othing from the laptop has revealed illegal or unethical behavior by Joe Biden as vice president with regard to his son's tenure as a director for Burisma".[11]" I mean, to have less doubt means there was at one time more doubt, right?

In the initial months of the story, there was question as to if Hunter's abandoned laptop even existed, existed in the sense that it never actually belonged to hunter. There was a physical laptop, did it ever belong to Hunter was in debate at the beginning, i.e. did Hunter's laptop exist?

The Juggler said:

static111 said:

That transcript Hal posted reminds me.  Did they ever release all of Trump's tax returns?

That transcript reminds me of watching/hearing it live and vividly remembering how horrible a person Trump is just in the way he interacts with people.

Being off real social media and out of the spotlight the last few years has really done him well.