“Follow the money” was his seminal phrase, a mantra. Judge John Sirica told Watergate prosecutors to navigate by that North Star. If you want to find the criminal, follow the money. That is why Joe Biden, and half a dozen of his relatives, are in serious trouble.
Back in the 1970s, John Sirica – a lifetime Republican, former professional boxer, prosecutor, and graduate of hard knocks – determined his country mattered more than politics.
As a DC judge, he drew the Watergate straw, listened, constantly asked questions, and sought “the whole truth,” sensing an historic lapse of integrity. Of course, he was right.
Unlike many, he refused to allow lifetime political loyalties to influence his thinking. He just kept asking – on behalf of all Americans – why, where did the money originate, where go?
When things did not make sense, began pointing to the White House, Sirica did not shy. If anything, he got more vigorous. He conducted his own inquisition of witnesses.
Eventually, after he handed down 40-year provisional sentences to those guilty of crimes on par with many that have recently gone unprosecuted – including cover-up crimes – the dam broke.
The “money” led to the White House, a cover-up by the President, his senor staff, Attorney General John Mitchell, and others within the law enforcement and intelligence communities.
Eerie is the way crimes committed then resemble what we see today, especially cover-up crimes, those flowing from the human desire to be uncaught when caught – red-handed. Revelations are minimized, denied, lied about. Questions are stonewalled, whistleblowers delegitimized, reputations dragged through the mud – by caught party pretending what occurred did not.
So often, as with the Bidens, including the President himself, you see early minimization, denials, lies and obfuscation – then herculean efforts to pretend people do not see what they see.
The evidence is now incontrovertible, and grows by the week, is impossible to ignore.
Joe Biden – despite bold denials, disingenuous defenses of his son, forgetfulness, wandering away from the mic, having his Attorney General contradict cross-corroborating government whistleblowers and co-conspirators – was central to a pattern and practice of inducing or threatening foreign entities to pay money for access, action, or inaction, a criminal enterprise.
Beyond an apparent combined violation of 18 USC 201, or federal anti-bribery laws, and crossover RICO violations, built on this conspiracy to commit the crimes, he may also be liable for acts more heinous, including trafficking in access, actions, and information with foreign countries, including China, Ukraine, and Romania.
To say that these last paragraphs are breathtaking, almost too hard to digest, is to say what most think or hope. No one wants to find a US president – at any time, of any party – guilty of high crimes, but “facts are stubborn things” and lawbooks are what they are.
If you have time, consider the mountain of evidence, for which we now need a wiring diagram, that ties Joe Biden as vice president to trips helping his son secure lucrative contracts with foreign nationals for which the son was never qualified, the record of countless meetings and calls between father and son, father or son and these foreign nationals, documented payments – in writing and corroborated by credible testimony – of multimillion dollar payments ending up in at least 17 Biden bank accounts, deposits below suspicious transaction, CTR, and CMIR levels.
Consider the growing body of evidence in documents compelled by Republican oversight personnel from Treasury and Justice (thousands), then the damning Biden texts, visitor and phone logs, recorded testimony, and ask to whom all this points – Joe and Hunter Biden.
Finally, consider what we do not yet know, but where this may lead, to a second tier of politically active persons who knew about the scheme, are still quiet or deny knowing, but had to know.
In all likelihood, that includes current and former White House – vice presidential and presidential – aides, perhaps also State, Main Justice, FBI, and Intelligence Community personnel, the current Attorney General, and possibly Obama era leaders, if not Hillary Clinton and former President Obama themselves.
Too much? Think on this for a moment, objectively. How could a then-vice president – whose movements, communications, travel, and banking were monitored, have done all this without those parties knowing?
This, in the end, is why the scandal is too big to break, too big to prosecute, too damning for Democrat leaders to admit, and why we must revert to Judge Sirica’s mantra and moral example.
Time has come to “follow the money,” say what we know, prosecute those guilty of provable crimes, including those involved in what seems a brazen multi-year cover-up, even if that means inducting current and former high leaders, presidents, vice presidents, and attorneys general.
Surely somewhere in America today, we have prosecutors and judges who revere what Judge John Sirica stood for, who will put country over party, truth over willful ignorance, and make the hard choice – career risking – decisions. We need that level of integrity. This is the time.
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, attorney, and naval intelligence officer (USNR). He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (2018), and is National Spokesman for AMAC.
Very well written and thought-out article RBC. Yes, if the DOJ and FBI had not become totally corrupted at the top of their management chains, getting to the nitty gritty of the Biden family influence peddling scheme would take the FBI less than a month to accomplish. Then again, when Obama essentially turned a blind eye to Joe’s activities while Obama was in the Oval Office was his V.P., that kind of sent a very clear and unmistakable message to the rest of the Executive Branch departments and agencies to look the other way. Democrats protecting other Democrats from accountability is kind of the SOP in Washington, D.C..
In practical terms, the FBI’s own forensics and cyber teams could completely expose all the financial details from Joe’s 23 LLCs and the numerous bank accounts set up by Hunter and his business partners to mask the money flows from the governments and individuals bribing old Joe in less than a month. After all, that is what both units of the FBI have decades of experience in and the best means to get it done quickly. It’s not like Hunter and his business partners were geniuses who constructed some insanely elaborate means to ensure the money could never be traced. If anything, the more we learn about how this scheme was cobbled together, the more it shows how poorly constructed it was to provide plausible deniability and cover to old Joe.
The Clintons were far more intelligent in setting up their pay to play operation as a foundation to provide a way to dress up their illegality in a way that would technically stay within the confines of the law, as long as you completely disregarded the obvious intent of the whole thing and where 85 percent of the money collected actually went. To pay for the Clintons’ living expenses and lifestyle after Bill was no longer POTUS. The Bidens were nowhere near as creative or intelligent as the Clintons in how they executed their pay to play operation. Then again, relying on a crack head as the primary point of contact to identify governments and people willing to pay for favors from Joe and then have the same dope individual act as the bagman kind of highlights the level of brain power at work here.
Sadly, neither the DOJ nor the FBI are going to lift one finger to do their jobs regarding the Biden family pay to play operation. As for a Judge stepping up to issue the requisite search warrants for bank accounts and corporate records, that requires someone in the DOJ or FBI actually doing their job. As I said, I don’t see AG Garland authorizing any such actions by the FBI and I certainly don’t see the leadership of the FBI being interested in doing any real investigation of the matter. The wagons in Washington are firmly circled to protect the Biden family. Truth, justice and integrity are sorely lacking in the upper ranks of all the Executive Branch departments and agencies. Nice sentiment though. I agree we need a return of fair and honest governance in the cesspool that is Washington, D.C..
Once again, Thank You, for the clarity of acts which should shame any rational being for deliberately keeping his or her head in the sands of the elitist fools who are running this country with dirty funded iron fists.
Good luck, Mr. Charles, but you’re dreaming if you think justice will prevail in today’s political, social, & cultural environment. People now lack the integrity, courage, moral fiber, & love of country that existed in Judge Sirica’s day. Patriots, heroes & God loving people who sustain a free, strong, & democratic country are in woefully short supply. Forgive my pessimism, but the ridiculous & dangerous fool elected to the Office of President of the United States by even bigger fools validates my point. How I wish I am wrong, but there seems little to stop the juggernaut of evil that has pervaded our most influential institutions.
Is there a person in DC that is not on the pay roll or anyone willing to expose the depth of the corruption and rot? Crime became the norm because those committing it know there is no one who would dare to address it and they are not that subtle about it either Trump is the thorn that must be removed Watergate is kinder garden stuff in comparison
The crimes and coverups have been going on for at least a decade. There are too many people involved to keep going. Witnesses will come forward as more becomes known, if only to save themselves. But we do need honest judges who are not beholden to a party. There must be a few, or am I an optimist?
At the bottom end of the relevant digestive tract will lie all the evidence needed to make our case, as the article intends. Car off to DC Federal District Cour twhat lies there steaming in the light of day and you will see clearly the whole truth.
At that point, at the convening of the trials of these perps, will the facts of the matter be found.. The problem then will become: How to make a District of Columbia jury do its duty. Any suggestions? Now’s the time to see about that.
Yes. At some point the unequal application of justice now will be too much. There will be outrage. It is hard to see when that will be, but it will be felt.
Nothing is too big to break, we Americans are tougher than that. It’s why it MUST be broken. This article sounds like it was taken from the Dan Bongino show, frankly. It’s too little, and too late.