this post was submitted on 24 Oct 2023
379 points (97.5% liked)

politics

19159 readers
4956 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Republicans announced Friday that they had uncovered a “direct payment” to President Joe Biden — exactly the kind of evidence they’ve sought linking Biden to his family’s foreign business deals.

But the March 2018 payment came from Joe Biden’s brother James, not a Ukrainian oligarch or Chinese tycoon, and the check was marked as a “loan repayment.”

Still, House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.), who obtained the records via subpoena, said the $200,000 check looks suspicious for the president.

“Does he have documents proving he lent such a large sum of money to his brother,” Comer said in a video, “and what were the terms of such financial arrangement?”

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] rockSlayer@lemmy.world 144 points 1 year ago

2018

Ah yes, when he held the extremely influential and prestigious governmental office of checks notes former vice president

[–] spaceghoti@lemmy.one 103 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Okay. If this was an example of influence peddling, let's pursue it. Let's also investigate the billions of dollars the Saudis invested into Kushner while he was operating from the White House.

[–] TechyDad@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Don't forget the copyrights that Ivanka had approved while her father was in the Oval Office. She had unsuccessfully tried to get those for years and they were worth millions, but they mysteriously got approved once daddy was President.

But the GOP thinks all this is totally fine while screaming "HUNTER BIDEN."

[–] SnowboardBum@kbin.social 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Don’t forget the copyrights that Ivanka had approved while her father was in the Oval Office.

Yeh, don't see this one talked about enough.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] fresh@sh.itjust.works 17 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I’m not in favor of investigating things frivolously when there is no reason to think there’s any wrongdoing.

[–] oleorun@lemmy.world 37 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Apparently Congress is tho.

[–] spaceghoti@lemmy.one 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Only while Republicans hold the majority.

[–] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 24 points 1 year ago (1 children)

and only when the target is a democrat

[–] lolcatnip@reddthat.com 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Hey that reminds me, did they ever figure out how many babies Hillary Clinton ate in Benghazi?

[–] bquintb@midwest.social 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Bet it's on Hunter Bidens lappytahp

[–] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

The Laptop thats in the child sex dungeon of a pizza place?

[–] spaceghoti@lemmy.one 25 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I get that. This is another nothingburger from Republicans to create the illusion that they've found criminal activity on the part of the President. They're very conspicuously not mentioning how this took place in 2018 while Biden was a private citizen and hadn't announced his candidacy for President.

But if they really want to follow evidence of clear influence peddling with breathtaking bribes, they could look closer at Jared and Ivanka during their tenure in the White House.

[–] CileTheSane@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 year ago

This is another nothingburger from Republicans to create the illusion that all political investigations are nothing burgers. The hope is the next time a Republican in being charged for actual crimes people will dismiss it as nothing more than the Joe Biden investigation. 'It's just what political parties do'.

[–] Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de 65 points 1 year ago

Republican's couldn't grasp the concept of anyone paying off a debt.

[–] Fades@lemmy.world 64 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Yeah 200 thou is so much money he needs to prove it was actually loan repayment.

Now if it was 2 million dollars from the Saudis…. Well that’s totally different!

[–] sudoshakes@reddthat.com 59 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] lolcatnip@reddthat.com 30 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Only off by 1000x. A tiny mistake, really.

[–] CileTheSane@lemmy.ca 14 points 1 year ago

What is the difference between 1 million and 1 billion?

About 1 billion.

[–] fluckx@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago

Are you undervalueing your assets again for tax purposes!?

[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

It's understandable, there's just so many zeros.

[–] badaboomxx@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago

Or 130 thousand of funnel money to pay for a ..... thing.

[–] balderdash9@lemmy.zip 51 points 1 year ago (1 children)

These allegations apply way more to Trump than Biden. The hypocrisy is real

[–] CileTheSane@lemmy.ca 35 points 1 year ago

That's why they're making such weak accusations: to make people tired of the whole exercise so that when credible accusations are made against Trump "moderates" can say 'both sides! this is just what political parties do against their opponents' and ignore the strength of the evidence.

[–] Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world 37 points 1 year ago

“Does he have documents proving he lent such a large sum of money to his brother,”

My guess would be a cancelled check for $200,000. This should not be considered all that unusual for a guy worth roughly $10 million.

Comer said in a video, “and what were the terms of such financial arrangement?”

None of his freaking business.

[–] Rapidcreek@reddthat.com 35 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The crime appears to be that President Biden didn’t charge his brother interest.

[–] misterundercoat@lemmy.world 18 points 1 year ago

Crime against capitalism, the worst kind of crime

[–] ElBarto@sh.itjust.works 30 points 1 year ago (1 children)

One day they're gonna get one of these right and not know how to deal with it.

[–] shadowspirit@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago

Objection your honor, conjecture.

Oh shit, my bad this is the court of public opinion.

We must start holding our politicians accountable.

[–] eran_morad@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago

lol, these fucking idiots.

[–] Pratai@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 year ago
[–] DemBoSain@midwest.social 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (6 children)

Who writes a personal check for $200,000? It's been a really long time since I've written a check, but I think that 3rd '0' would trigger my anxiety, I would start sweating on the 4th, and the 5th one would make me break down and cry.

[–] JJROKCZ@lemmy.world 38 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It’s nothing to the rich, they lend each other what we consider crazy sums all the time but to them it’s not a big deal since they have more than they’ll ever need. Joe isn’t fuck you rich, but he’s certainly comfortable enough that floating a sibling a house worth of cash isn’t out of question

[–] originalfrozenbanana@lemm.ee 12 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I didn’t know for sure but $200k sounded cheap for house money. I looked it up - the median home price in the us is about 350k. Jesus.

[–] spaceghoti@lemmy.one 12 points 1 year ago

Not in 2017. I had to look it up, but the U.S. median home price in 2017 was $235,000.

[–] JJROKCZ@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

200k gets you a pretty decent place in some parts of the country even today, but in 2017 it was a nice house in many parts of the country

[–] hglman@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

That money is used as the down payment on a commercial loan.

[–] eran_morad@lemmy.world 22 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I wrote a $450K check when I bought my house.

[–] RagingRobot@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago

We have a wealthy land owner over here. I bet they can even vote

[–] SkepticalButOpenMinded@lemmy.ca 21 points 1 year ago

To be fair, even middle class people lend or give each other big sums of money when it’s family. It’s hard to afford a down payment, pay for college, or start a business without help from family.

[–] SatanicNotMessianic@lemmy.ml 11 points 1 year ago

I mean, I did it and quite a bit more when I bought a house. That down payment check was the largest I ever wrote.

[–] TurboDiesel@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

I mean at Biden's level you don't. You call your financial advisor and have them shuffle money around and print the check.

[–] Spacemanspliff@midwest.social 8 points 1 year ago

They see 1,000,000 the way most folks see 1,000.

How many is this now? Got to be close to triple digits

[–] xc2215x@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

Knowing them not a huge shock.

load more comments
view more: next ›