# Hunter Biden Laptop Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 22, 2020, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-biden-laptop-question/923587 "2020-10-22T11:17:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2020, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-biden-laptop-question/923587/101 "2020-10-23T21:31:08Z")
A question to those who think there might actually be heat to this story: Giuliani has this great dirt on Hunter Biden; why doesn’t he take it to Fox News? Why the NY Post, a fairly low-reputation newspaper? ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2020, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-biden-laptop-question/923587/102 "2020-10-23T21:34:31Z")
> [@Deeg](#): > > Giuliani has this great dirt on Hunter Biden; why doesn’t he take it to Fox News? Why the NY Post, a fairly low-reputation newspaper? Not that he didn’t try… [Fox News Passed on Hunter Biden Laptop Story Over Credibility Concerns](https://www.mediaite.com/tv/exclusive-fox-news-passed-on-hunter-biden-laptop-story-over-credibility-concerns/) I know, I know…Fox News having standards of credibility? When _did_ I wake up in Bizarro World? ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2020, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-biden-laptop-question/923587/103 "2020-10-23T21:41:59Z")
Exactly. If Fox News isn’t willing to print the story doesn’t that mean we should all consider it with dubious suspicion? I guess it could turn up something but right now it’s nothing but shadowy innuendos. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2020, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-biden-laptop-question/923587/104 "2020-10-23T21:42:30Z")
Of course not, but such dealings have to be executed with great care. I think there’s at least some reasonable concern in this case as to whether the Bidens exercised the best judgment. Optics aren’t everything, but they count for something, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2020, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-biden-laptop-question/923587/105 "2020-10-23T21:43:58Z")
Or that Joe Biden has any control over his adult son. I recall reading long before this fake scandal that Biden’s relationship with his son at around that time was strained at best. I looked at some of those emails and if you really read them it becomes obvious that the people they refer to as “the big guy”, “our guy”, “the chairman” is someone other than Joe Biden. The one I read was Ukraine oriented and had multiple references to “our guy“. If you read the whole long thing though it became obvious that “our guy” referred to a Ukrainian national because they kept talking about how critically important the 2014 Ukrainian election was to “our guy”. This Fox reporter analyzed all the emails and also determined that, in context, the emails weren’t referring to Joe Biden. > **[Conservatives' latest smear against Joe Biden gets debunked -- by a Fox News...](https://www.rawstory.com/2020/10/conservatives-latest-smear-against-joe-biden-gets-debunked-by-a-fox-news-reporter/)** > > The latest conservative effort to smear Democratic presidential nominee has now been debunked by a reporter at Fox News.On Thursday night, President Donald Trump invited Tony Bobulinski, an ex-business associate of Hunter Biden, to accuse Joe Biden... ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2020, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-biden-laptop-question/923587/106 "2020-10-23T21:50:04Z")
_Everyone_ was demanding that the Burisma prosecutor be fired as he was totally corrupt. That was even before. Hunter has a Yale law degree and served in the Commerce dept. His experience with Boies Schiller Flexner LLP was why he was hired. No doubt, having the last name of “biden” helped also, but Hunter was well qualified for what he was hired to do. wiki: **Viktor Mykolayovych Shokin** (Ukrainian: Віктор Миколайович Шокін) is a former [Prosecutor General of Ukraine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosecutor_General_of_Ukraine). Having previously worked as an investigator for the Prosecutor General Office, he served as Prosecutor General for a year between 2015 and 2016. He was removed from office in March 2016 by a vote in the [Ukrainian Parliament](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_Parliament) following pressure from the [European Union](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union), the [United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States), the [International Monetary Fund](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Monetary_Fund) and the [World Bank](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Bank).[[2]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Shokin#cite_note-FT-Envoys-2)[[3]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Shokin#cite_note-Irish_Times-3). The IMF, the World Bank, and even the EU all demanded he be fired. And what special experience do Mitch’s wife and trump’s son have that qualified them for their cushy jobs? ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2020, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-biden-laptop-question/923587/107 "2020-10-23T21:55:14Z")
Apologies for a tangential observation but I would love to talk to a Wall Street Journal reporter about the dynamics between his newsroom and the editorial gang. It must be something to witness. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2020, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-biden-laptop-question/923587/108 "2020-10-23T21:58:11Z")
wiki: _ **Viktor Mykolayovych Shokin** ([Ukrainian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_language): Віктор Миколайович Шокін) is a former [Prosecutor General of Ukraine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosecutor_General_of_Ukraine). Having previously worked as an investigator for the Prosecutor General Office, he served as Prosecutor General for a year between 2015 and 2016._ _He was removed from office in March 2016 by a vote in the [Ukrainian Parliament](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_Parliament) following pressure from the [European Union](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union), the [United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States), the [International Monetary Fund](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Monetary_Fund) and the [World Bank](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Bank).[[2]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Shokin#cite_note-FT-Envoys-2)[[3]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Shokin#cite_note-Irish_Times-3)_ Yeah, Joe Biden, in the office that “isnt worth a bucket of warm piss” is so powerful, he can get a man removed from office and the IMF, the World Bank, and the EU had nothing to do with it. Sure. 🤣 🤫 🤔 ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2020, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-biden-laptop-question/923587/109 "2020-10-23T21:58:18Z")
Good thing that no deal happened then. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2020, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-biden-laptop-question/923587/110 "2020-10-23T22:06:01Z")
Not only why, but HOW does a legally blind computer repair dude manage to read emails whilst not able to recognise or identify a customer?? ---
**Author:** ![agzem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a8b319/32.png) [@agzem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/agzem)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2020, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-biden-laptop-question/923587/111 "2020-10-23T22:46:47Z")
This may be of interest to the commenters in this post: "… “This morning lawyers for Tony Bobulinski informed the [Senate committees] that the FBI asked his client to sit for an interview today in addition to providing copies of his phones,” Johnson [said in a statement](https://twitter.com/CBS_Herridge/status/1319652554985361409). “Mr. Bobulinski has agreed to honor his commitment to sit for an interview in the near future with the Committees.” > **[FBI to Interview Hunter Biden Business Partner | National Review](https://www.nationalreview.com/news/fbi-to-interview-hunter-biden-business-partner/)** > > The FBI has asked Tony Bobulinski, former business partner of Hunter Biden, to sit for an interview on Friday, Senator Ron Johnson (R., Wis.) told reporters. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2020, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-biden-laptop-question/923587/112 "2020-10-24T01:23:39Z")
And this: [https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-biden-family-legacy-11603409528?mod=djemalertNEWS](https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-biden-family-legacy-11603409528?mod=djemalertNEWS) The Wall Street Journal was given copies of all the messages Bobulinski turned over to the FBI. This is the stuff he’s going to testify about, If the reporting here is accurate, This could be an issue. Among the snippets of E-mails detailed in the article: > [@](#): > > As the deal takes shape in 2017, Mr. Bobulinski begins to question what Hunter will contribute besides his name, and worries that he was “kicked out of US Navy for cocaine use.” Mr. Gilliar acknowledges “skill sets [sic] missing” and observes that Hunter “has a few demons.” He explains that “in brand [Hunter is] imperative but right know [sic] he’s not essential for adding input.” Mr. Bobulinski writes that he appreciates “the name/leverage being used” but thinks the economic “upside” should go to the team doing the actual work. Mr. Gilliar reminds him that those on the Chinese side “are intelligence so they understand the value added.” > > This dispute almost derails the deal. Hunter is hardly visible through most of the work, until final contract negotiations ramp up in mid-May. He brings in his uncle Jim Biden for a stake. (Mr. Gilliar in a text message soothes Mr. Bobulinski with a promise that Jim’s addition “strengthens our USP”—unique selling proposition—“to the Chinese as it looks like a truly family business.”) Hunter in texts and emails wants offices in three U.S. cities, “significant” travel budgets, a stipend for Jim Biden, a job for an assistant, and more-frequent distributions of any gains. As for annual pay, he explains in an email that he expects “a hell of a lot more than 850” thousand dollars a year (the amount Mr. Bobulinski, the CEO, is getting), since his ex-wife will take nearly all of it. … > [@](#): > > Hunter, in his own angry texts, makes clear that his contribution is his name. He rails at Mr. Bobulinski that the CEFC heads are “coming to be MY partner to be partners with the Bidens.” He reminds him “that in this instance only one player holds the trump card and that’s me. May not be fair but it’s the reality because I’m the only one putting an entire family legacy on the line.” Mr. Gilliar privately tells Mr. Bobulinski to show flexibility, since “I know why [CEFC Chairman Ye Jianming] wants the deal and what makes it enormous, It’s the family name.” Anyway, what set Mr Bobulinski off is that the deal collapsed, but subsequently he learned that the Chinese paid off the Bidens by opening a $5,000,000 account then giving credit cards to Hunter, Jim Bifen, and his wife, which they used to rack up over $100,000 in charges: > [@](#): > > The deal fell through on the Chinese end in the summer of 2017. CEFC was supposed to supply $10 million; it never arrived. This is where the Johnson report comes in. The Senate report notes that CEFC wired $5 million to a company called Hudson West in August 2017. The report says an associate of CEFC Chairman Ye in September opened a line of credit under Hudson West’s name, and Hunter, Jim Biden and Jim Biden’s wife, Sara, were given credit cards associated with the account, and bought items totaling more than $100,000. > > The report says Hudson West also sent $4.7 million in “consulting fees” to Mr. Biden’s law firm over the course of a year. Mr. Bobulinski suspects Hunter and Jim had found an easier way to cash in on their name, one that didn’t involve pesky partners and complex deals. He sent a furious text to Jim Biden after the release of the Senate report, accusing Hunter and Jim of “lying” to their partners and secretly taking money from CEFC. The FBI last year subpoenaed Hunter’s laptop. A call to Hunter Biden’s attorney was not returned by our deadline. If this is correct, the deal didn’t so much ‘fall through’ as it went underground, cutting out the unnecessary people and shoveling money directly to the Bidens, which were the only people who actually mattered. Again, there is a witness to this, with documentation and a willingness to testify under oath. That doesn’t mean it’s all true, or that it will matter even if it was, but it certainlg seems to corroborate everything we kiow so far. At the least, it should put to bed any idea that Hunter was sought out for his skills. They not only knew he didn’t have any, but they knew he had personal issues and was a risk. And they still wanted him badly enough to go to great effort to pay him off. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2020, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-biden-laptop-question/923587/113 "2020-10-24T01:27:33Z")
> **[Kimberley Strassel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimberley_Strassel)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > Kimberley Ann Strassel (born July 24, 1972) is an American conservative columnist and author who is a member of the Wall Street Journal editorial board. She writes a weekly column, "Potomac Watch", which appears on Fridays. > Strassel grew up in Buxton, Oregon, and she graduated in 1990 from Banks High School in nearby Banks. She graduated with a B.A. from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs in 1994 after completing a senior th... You think maybe her opinions are a bit, I dunno, _biased_? ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2020, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-biden-laptop-question/923587/114 "2020-10-24T01:31:42Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > You think maybe her opinions are a bit, I dunno, _biased_ ? Possibly, which is why I added the qualifications. But if the WSJ has all the documents and they don’t say what she says they do, she’d be in big trouble, And I doubt this would have been printed, even on the opinion page, if the documents didn’t line up with what she says. Anyway, we don’t have to take her word for it - Bobulinski will be testifying. Think of this more as a heads-up for what might be coming. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2020, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-biden-laptop-question/923587/115 "2020-10-24T01:40:30Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > {…} And I doubt this would have been printed, even on the opinion page, if the documents didn’t line up with what she says. {…} Why, it’s as trustworthy as a Trump Tweet! ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2020, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-biden-laptop-question/923587/116 "2020-10-24T01:47:13Z")
About the Burisma thing: There is a genuine discrepancy here. One side says that the prosecutor was fired for NOT looking into Burisma. Others, including Shotkin himself, say he was actually fired because he was going after Burisma. The guy was only on the job for a little over a year. If he actually did go after Zlochevsky’s assets two months before he was fired as **azgem** ’s link says, then that would tend to corroborate his account and not those who say he was fired for not looking into Burisma. The Ukraine government is murky and corrupt all around. I could believe either side of this, so I wouldn’t call the firing of the prosecutor a slam dunk for Biden corruption. However, the mere fact that Hunter was getting paid what he was, while his father was point man on Ukraine and without any skills to offer highly suggests corruption and influence peddling, with or without the prosecutor issue, although that’s the only real tie to Joe Biden. Everyone knew that Hunter Biden was a drug-addicted loose cannon who wasn’t much good for any real work. They did flips and twists to pay him huge money anyway. At the very least, allowing his family to run around earning millions by trading on his name and access to power shows very bad judgement on Joe Biden’s part. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2020, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-biden-laptop-question/923587/117 "2020-10-24T02:12:19Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > At the very least, allowing his family to run around earning millions by trading on his name and access to power shows very bad judgement on Joe Biden’s part. Nonsense. ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2020, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-biden-laptop-question/923587/118 "2020-10-24T02:23:44Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > At the very least, allowing his family to run around earning millions by trading on his name and access to power shows very bad judgement on Joe Biden’s part. I admit I would be disappointed if Biden started acting like Trump, even if only a little bit. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2020, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-biden-laptop-question/923587/119 "2020-10-24T02:52:45Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > About the Burisma thing: There is a genuine discrepancy here. One side says that the prosecutor was fired for NOT looking into Burisma. Others, including Shotkin himself, say he was actually fired because he was going after Burisma. One side includes the governments of the US, UK, Europe, the IMF, and more, including the public record and contemporary news accounts. The other side includes Shokin, Rudy Giuliani, and a few Ukrainian grifters, with no evidence. That Interfax Ukraine report tells us virtually nothing - UK has been asking Ukraine (and Shokin) for documents to support their investigation into Zlochevsky and his UK assets for years, with no cooperation at all. A cursory slap on the wrist in Ukraine (if it even happened), reported by a Russian agency, doesn’t mean Shokin suddenly started cooperating with international investigators. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2020, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-biden-laptop-question/923587/120 "2020-10-24T02:55:19Z")
_However, the mere fact that Hunter was getting paid what he was, while his father was point man on Ukraine and without any skills to offer highly suggests corruption and influence peddling, with or without the prosecutor issue, although that’s the only real tie to Joe Biden._ As i pointed out and offered links to prove Hunter did indeed have special skills. Hunter Biden was a expert in the very type of law they needed help with. and what is meant by "while his father was point man on Ukraine "? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-biden-laptop-question/923587.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hunter-biden-laptop-question/923587.md?page=7)