Presidential Son Trades on Famous Name!

Hunter Biden and Neil Bush

I’ve tried to stay updated on the general contours of the Hunter Biden saga. Not the Fox News fever dreams of the “Biden Crime Family” or the Twitter Files outrage at the mainstream media delaying the NY Post story 24 hours or the lurid laptop pictures that Marjorie Taylor Greene likes so much.

I have followed the charges brought by now-special prosecutor David Weiss accusing Hunter Biden of two counts of failure to pay income taxes and a diverted charge of gun possession by a drug user. (This latter charge will likely not survive in light of an appeals court decision last week declaring such laws unconstitutional, drawing upon the SCOTUS Bruen decision.)

Then there’s the larger question about Hunter’s activities in Ukraine and China. His service on boards of foreign companies raises questions about at least the appearance of impropriety. That appearance of wrongdoing is what is motivating the above-mentioned fever dreams. As David Leonhardt put it in his newsletter on Friday:

The Hunter Biden case has become the latest example of America’s dueling realities.

If you’re a Republican, there is a good chance you believe that Democrats and the mainstream media are deliberately minimizing a scandal that calls into question President Biden’s honesty and threatens his presidency. I know some conservative readers of The Morning feel this way because they’ve written to me to say so.

If you’re a Democrat, you likely believe that this so-called scandal is a transparent attempt to distract from Donald Trump’s far worse behavior. You may see the Hunter Biden obsession as the latest in a line of conservative conspiracy theories, joining Barack Obama’s birthplace, John Kerry’s Vietnam War record and the suicide of Vince Foster.

Leonhardt helpfully links to a summary of the Hunter story that appeared in the New York Times back in January by Adam Entous, Michael Schmidt, and Katie Benner. It summarizes Weiss’ work on the charges mentioned above as well as telling the story of Hunter’s foreign involvements, tax problems, divorce, and drug issues. It’s a helpful piece because it is a full reporting without the breathless claims repeated daily since the Republicans took control of the house oversight committee.

Investigators have pored over documents related to and questioned witnesses about his overseas business dealings. They include his role on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company led by an oligarch who at the time was under investigation for corruption — a position that Hunter accepted while his father, as vice president, was overseeing Obama administration policy in Ukraine.

They also include his equity stake in a Chinese business venture, and his failed joint venture with a Chinese tycoon who had courted well-connected Americans in both parties — at one point he gave Hunter Biden a large diamond as a gift — but was later detained by Chinese authorities.

I have three responses to the international part of the story. First, I agree with what NY Representative Dan Goldman told Jake Tapper yesterday:

If Hunter Biden has committed crimes, he should be charged with them. I'm a Democrat saying that. You don't hear any currently elected Republicans saying that if Trump committed crimes he should be charged w/ them & held accountable. That's a critical distinction.

My second issue is that the Hunter-abroad story uncovers what is an underreported yet standard practice in global capitalism. What exactly do corporate board members do to earn the money they are paid? Are they making real decisions or are the influencers who act on behalf of the corporations interests?

It makes me think of some of the responses after the New York civil action taken against the Trump Organization. The former president can claim that this was a selective prosecution in that, while the company’s actions regarding financial statements were technically illegal, they were also standard practice in the New York real estate market.

There’s so much about the inner workings of our economic entities that remain behind some cloak of darkness. When something comes to light, we are temporarily outraged about the specific while not looking closely at the standard general practice.

Hunter Biden, Neil Bush

Third, I got thinking about other stories of scandal involving presidential relatives. I knew about Billy Carter’s troubles and Roger Clinton’s troubles. But I had a vague recollection that Neil Bush had some issues involving the Savings and Loan scandal back in the 1980s when his father, George HW Bush, was president. So I went to Wikipedia to see if I remembered correctly. The story I found was remarkable. Not only were there serious concerns about Neil, son of a president and brother of another, but the concerns bear an astounding parallel to Hunter Biden.

Not satisfied to simply take Wikipedia’s word, I checked out one of the resources to the entry. It was a December 2003 story (during W’s first term) in the Washington Post titled “The Relatively Charmed Life of Neil Bush”.

I can’t do justice to the article here. I’d have an unbelievable number of block quotes because the whole thing is amazing. I encourage you to clink on the link and then come back to my analysis.

He worked in oil exploration but he was the money guy. The story quotes one of his partners:

“Neil knew people because of his name," one partner, Evans Nash, said later.

Among the people Neil knew were two high-powered Denver real estate barons -- Bill Walters and Ken Good. Walters was a flamboyant Rolex-wearing, Rolls-driving mogul known as "the Donald Trump of Denver." Good owned the largest home in Colorado, a $10 million mansion with a special plumbing system that pumped Scotch, gin and vodka throughout the house.

After listening to Bush's sales pitch, Walters invested $150,000 and set up a $1.75 million line of credit for JNB at a bank he owned. Good invested $10,000 and pledged loans worth $1.5 million. Good also lent Bush $100,000 to gamble in the commodities market and said Neil didn't have to pay it back unless he made money.

The company never found any oil.

Neil served on the board of directors of the Silverado savings and loan at the same time that his partners had investments there. That conflict of interest drew the attention of the Office of Thrift Supervision and was later a focus of the S&L congressional investigations.

He later started a methane exploration company in Montana, putting up $3,000 of his own money against $2.5 million(!) from other investors. Surprise, it went belly-up. But Neil wound up landing a job at a communications company that had raised over $300 grand for GHW’s presidential campaign.

Neil founded an educational software company and received investments from people in Taiwan and the Middle East. The track record on the educational software was mixed at best.

Oh, and did I mention that he went through an ugly divorce, notifying his wife that he was leaving her via email? And that he then married a volunteer for Barbara Bush’s charity? And that his ex-wife made allegations that Neil was the father of the woman’s youngest child (which caused the woman’s ex-husband to sue Neil’s ex-wife for defamation)?

Also, I forgot to mention the prostitutes that would visit Neil when he was in Thailand or Hong Kong! The only thing missing from the Hunter parallel is the cocaine addiction (as far as I know).

Is it surprising that presidential offspring trade on their famous names? For that matter, as someone observed on a podcast this weekend, it would be worth looking into board memberships held by the adult children of Senators and long-term Representatives or Cabinet members. (Was it surprising the Rudy Giuliani’s son worked in the White House?)

If the House Oversight Committee was really interested in dealing with this issue — as opposed to scoring political points — they could construct legislation governing the role of political scions similar to the limitations on revolving door lobbyists.

Again, I’m with Dan Goldman on this one. If Hunter broke laws or failed to register as a foreign agent, he should be held appropriately accountable.

But for goodness sake, let’s not act Hunter Biden’s case is some once-in-a century claim of corrupt behavior.