Issues & Insights (issuesinsights.com)
. . .The GOP erred by not playing hardball. It should have demanded cameras and when Biden’s handlers refused, asked over and over “what is Hunter Biden trying to hide?” . . .
"After initially, and arrogantly, evading an appearance before Congress, President Joe Biden’s son testified Wednesday in a deposition the public was unable to watch. Voters deserve better. The testimony should have been fully open to the media, with microphones hot and cameras rolling.
"Right from the top of Biden’s opening statement, the first son denied that he involved his father in his business.
“ 'Not while I was a practicing lawyer, not in my investments or transactions domestic or international, not as a board member, and not as an artist. Never.”
"In a wholly expected development, the media protected him as if he were one of their own.
"Also entirely expected were his denials, and the contradictions of other witnesses’ statements. Not one person in this country anticipated otherwise, even those who are only superficially keeping up with the story.
"There are limits to what can be gleaned from the black-and-white of a transcript or “readout,” and the favorable-to-the-administration media reports of the six-and-a-half hour testimony. Americans should have been able to see the Biden family unctuousness at work, to judge for themselves how much the word of a Biden means. Hunter’s smug disposition and his telling body language are material to the upcoming election. An open forum would have been informative to on-the-fence voters.
"The smokey back-room conditions allowed the Democrats to freely put their misleading and rancid spin on the deposition. The ever-puerile Rep. Eric Swalwell of California claimed that “after six-plus hours of Hunter Biden testifying, we learned absolutely nothing,” and therefore “the Biden impeachment investigation is over and we just witnessed its last breath.”
"But Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Georgia Republican, said that “when pressure was placed on Hunter Biden he swung back to being, you know, a poor, pitiful addict. And then when he wanted to brag about things he was the smartest and most successful businessman in the room.”
"So which characterization is more accurate? We of course lean toward Greene’s description, because we’ve watched the Big Guy, Joe Biden, lie and lie and lie for decades, to bluster and exult in his own superiority. But who can say for sure without seeing the testimony for themselves?" . . .
This pressure will cause Hunter to lapse back into his addictions and Democrats will blame Trump and Republicans. Think not? TD
229-Page Hunter Biden Deposition Transcript Released "Hunter Biden spent 6 hours testifying on Capitol Hill Wednesday and giving obtuse answers to questions from a joint panel from the House Oversight and House Judiciary Committee." . . .