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Monday, October 19, 2020

MAJOR APOLOGY: I Go There

Thanks to the commenters--see below--who took the time to correct me on a faulty timeline. I confused Giuliani's "detailed outline" of Biden Crime Family dealings in Ukraine--which Giuliani provided to DoJ in January, 2020, nine months ago--with the date that the FBI obtained the Hunter Biden hard drive. As the commenters have pointed out, it appears that the FBI obtained that original hard drive--not a copy--in about December, 2019. It was Giuliani who only obtained the material recently. I've revised this post and used the red font to indicate where the changes were made.

This correction doesn't actually change the legal ramifications of anything I say below.


I've been listening to Mark Levin's interview of Rudy Giuliani from last night, here. As I've made clear, I've been loath to get into the reports of disturbing sexual material on the Hunter Biden hard drive, for a number of reasons. However, during the Levin - Giuliani interview, there is a brief segment in which Rudy dances around the issue a bit. Nevertheless, while he hedges his statements with legal provisos, he leaves no doubt that the material on the hard drive involves clear criminal conduct. That doesn't leave too much to the imagination, in the total context. Thomas Lifson, in a blog at American Thinker--Hold on to your hat: Hunter's hard drive roll-out this week is going to unleash a whirlwind--quotes some Wayne Allen Root tweets that leave even less to the imagination. These are public figures making public statements that are clearly actionable if untrue. Further, Giuliani is credible--I presume that he would never make statements as explicit as those I'll describe without having his behind totally covered.

Now, before I get to my transcript of the Levin - Giuliani interview, let me go over some ground that we've already covered. You need to be clear that Giuliani talks about two separate issues in his response to Levin. Those two issues are quite separate from an investigative standpoint. They are also separated by nine months in time and may involve different evidence--evidence that may differ in probative value. 

First, Giuliani makes the statement that, back in January, he informed AG Bill Barr of a "very detailed outline" of all the Ukraine related material he (Giuliani) had gathered. Barr, in Giuliani's account (which I accept), advised Giuliani to provide the "very detailed outline" to "a particular US Attorney" to investigate. Giuliani then concludes by stating that that US Attorney "hasn't done a darn thing." 

So, that "detailed outline" was drawn up nine months before the hard drive was obtained, and was not constructed using the hard drive. Whether the hard drive contains copies of documents that Giuliani may have now seen from the hard drive is another issue.

Obviously, while Giuliani is super experienced as a prosecutor and a high DoJ official, it's entirely possible that DoJ and the FBI are, in fact, investigating those Ukraine matters--but in ways that are not apparent to Giuliani. We don't know. That's the bottom line.

On the other hand, the statement that Giuliani makes about the Hunter Biden hard drive material--a totally separate issue involving evidence that was made available to the FBI back in about December 2019--has a specific catch to it. That catch is that the evidence on the Hunter Biden hard drive involves acts recorded on video/photos that would have required the FBI to take action "to protect people"--if possible. That's a very different matter than the "very detailed outline." What Giuliani describes is a case where the FBI would not--if they were in a position to act, which is not certain--have the luxury of conducting an extended investigation. They would need to act ASAP, if it comes to protecting people from harm. Again, the FBI has had that evidence for the better part of 10 months. We don't know what they have done or not done, nor what they would have been able to do. We will presumably receive more details soon regarding the nature of the evidence and the nature of the criminal conduct recorded on the hard drive, and will be able to draw further conclusions regarding the FBI's action or inaction in that regard.

It's important to remember that in all this Giuliani is acting as a political operative, and is represented by his own attorney who advises him. He's a former prosecutor, which means he's not acting as a prosecutor at this point in time. That also means that he's not privy to what the current prosecutors are doing.

With that, my transcript, with a brief intro:


Mark Levin

Rudy Giuliani

First Giuliani describes some of the Biden Crime Family's "business" related dealings with foreign countries, and states that there is so much China related material that his team hasn't totally gotten a handle on it all--"it's probably overwhelmed with Chinese business dealings". Giuliani then runs down a list of "a lot of" countries with which the Biden Crime Family was involved, but adds that 30-40 per cent involves China and that they're discovering new "situations" everyday as they continue their analysis of the hard drive material. Then there is this exchange:

LEVIN: Why do you think Christopher Wray and the FBI hasn't gotten on top of this?

GIULIANI: I don't understand that at all, Mark. I'll tell you why, being a prosecutor and [in] the Justice Department, you'll understand this. If you look at the photographs--and I can't explain this explicitly, maybe I'm not sure I'm allowed to say it on television--there are a couple of things on there that the FBI agents would have to follow up on. They would have to follow up on it--to protect people. And I don't understand it. And you have a hard drive that is clearly his, and there is no evidence the FBI did any investigation of it.

Nor is there any evidence that the FBI did any investigation of a very detailed outline I gave them of all the evidence in Ukraine back in January. I gave that at the direction of the Attorney General to a particular US Attorney to investigate and he hasn't done a darn thing.


ADDENDUM: I need to be totally clear here. In order for the FBI to take action to "protect people" from harm, the FBI needs to identify the people who are at risk. Moreover, in order to take action, they need to have jurisdiction. If the people at risk can't be identified, or are located--for example--in China, the FBI will not be in a position to act. These are factual matters concerning which we lack the details that would be necessary to make a judgment at this time.


29 comments:

  1. You need to go through Adam Housley’s Twitter posts. He’s been all over this. The FBI has known of the John Paul Mac Isaac hard drives since late late year. Adam posted a detailed explanation about all of that: https://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2020/10/yes-the-hunter-biden-emails-are-authentic-by-larry-c-johnson.html

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  2. Will not be in the position to act? Federal Law on this is pretty straight forward, and appears to be pretty swift by the wording. It seems some people are starting to smell a cover-up. https://www.justice.gov/criminal-ceos/citizens-guide-us-federal-law-extraterritorial-sexual-exploitation-children

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    1. This is not as straight forward as you believe.

      Note that Rudy doesn't speak of prosecution--not per se--but of action to "protect persons." If HB's actions are as alleged, there's no question that he can be prosecuted--and that would be one way to "protect persons." But there are other considerations. Here's what I'm getting at.

      As best as I can determine, HB traveled to China in 2013. The allegations I've seen would tend to indicate that China is where the crimes occurred. I simply don't know whether he has traveled there again and engaged in criminal acts. If we could see the hard drive we would know--but we don't.

      It's possible, however, that the FBI could currently be investigating the other crimes of the Biden Crime Family. While they could arrest and prosecute HB for these past crimes, they could also hold off doing so--so as not to jeopardize the larger investigation. As long as HB did not attempt to travel to a location where he would be presumed to intend to commit more such crimes, the FBI/DoJ could hold off on that prosecution without failing in their obligation to "protect persons."

      All of these considerations are dependent on facts that we don't yet have--it's important to keep that in mind. Of course, Giuliani is under no obligation to keep anything under wraps, regardless of what the FBI may or may not be doing. The possibility of these facts coming out is simply the risk that the FBI--one way or another--will have taken.

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  3. "Again, the FBI has had that evidence for perhaps less than a month...."

    Not sure I understand this. The FBI has been in possession of the LT/HD since December 2019.
    Tom S.

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  4. Lauren Witzke , running for Senate in Delaware, just tweeted: Rudy Giuliani in Delaware at local Police Dept.

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  5. IIRC the computer guy, in a recent interview, explained that he found pictures/videos of "illegal activity" and "inappropriate behavior," but he explicitly qualified that by saying he had NOT seen "child porn" on Hunter's computers.

    From what we've seen so far, it safe to say there are likely photos of "drug activity" on the HD, -- illegal acts -- but not prosecutable without supporting evidence to prove the drugs are actual illegal drugs, which the photos cannot provide.

    It would not surprise me if there are photos/videos of "inappropriate behavior" with minors on the HD, but again, unless there are actual explicit illegal acts recorded, it isn't prosecutable. Some young girl sitting on his lap as he leers at her is inappropriate, but not a crime. And it isn't Child Porn.

    My bigger argument with regard to the claim that there are videos showing Hunter engaging in sexual activity with minors boils down to this: who would knowingly perform such acts in front of a camera, given Biden's family's political profile? And why would he have such videos on HIS own computer, putting himself at peril?

    It makes no sense. Moreover, such a false narrative helps Joe by deflecting attention from how his actions related to Hunters (play-to-play, influence peddling, money laundering,) by focusing it on the alleged mal-behavior of a troubled, drug addict son. This suggests these rumors are part of a discreditation scheme.

    Lastly, if such stuff were on the HD the FBI got almost a year ago, something would have happened long before this. If children were in danger, there would have been search warrants served on Biden's home, car, etc., to look for info on identities of the minors.

    But none of that has happened; ergo, the premise that such videos exist on the HD of Hunter engaged in sexual activity with minors is likely false.

    I'm staying focused on Joe ...

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    1. Normally law enforcement is only required to take action to "protect people" from criminal acts. That's why I believe Rudy is clearly implying criminality. But you're right--since we're not privy to the actual facts and are relying on second or third hand accounts--we can't really be sure. So we still need to be circumspect. See also my response to a comment above.

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    2. Never underestimate how depraved someone can be, especially someone out of his mind on drugs. Whatever is on his laptop, if they were kept there deliberately by Hunter, they may have been videos taken for Hunter to relive over and over again.

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    3. “who would knowingly perform such acts in front of a camera, given Biden's family's political profile? And why would he have such videos on HIS own computer, putting himself at peril?“

      The mind of an addict is not rational and keeping such videos is precisely what a sex addict would do. Just sayin.

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    4. Absolutely. It's the criminal mindset.

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    5. Famous Canadian serial killer couple Karla Homolka and Paul Bernardo videotaped Bernardo raping and killing his victims.
      I believe Karla gave up where they could be found...talk about lack of forethought!

      Frank

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  6. My guess is that Wray is sweating bullets right now. The FBI ran several sting OPs against the Trump Campaign, his family, and continuing into his presidency. Did Trump turn the tables and run one back at them? Wray will be fortunate if resignation on November 4th is the worst thing to happen to him. If you really wanted to reform the FBI and clear out the corruption, what better way to start than with a ground-shaking indictment.

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  7. It would seem to me, as a layman, that the FBI, having had the LT/HD since December, should be (have been) subpoenaing a huge raft of documents from all of the Biden's many "enterprises", not to mention Ukrainian and Chinese agents in the U.S. It would seem that it would be virtually impossible to keep it all secret. That alone raises serious suspicion of willful inaction, or covering, by the FBI. On the other hand the studied disinterest that the press has displayed in this story makes it probable that any hints of this would be buried, piecemeal, in local news and business sections as boring, none news-worthy, coincidental mercantile codswallop.
    Tom S.

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    1. They may well have done so, but the general public would be the last to know. Institutions that receive subpoenas are required to keep their mouths shut.

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  8. I think people need to realize the DoJ won't do anything until after the election. Trump said as much today in Arizona - Barr refuses to act on Biden-related stuff before the election. It is what it is.

    It's up to us to get Trump re-elected. Trump wins = justice will be served. Trump loses = nope.

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  9. Your desire to get it right and the respect you have for your readers is why your blog is must reading for me everyday. Its refreshing!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks. I get a lot of help from commenters. It's something I learned in law school many years ago: bouncing ideas off different people is a great way to hone an argument.

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  10. Giuliani on NewsMax about 15 minutes ago:

    1. He's only HALF way through the HD!

    2. says he's seen at least 5 major crimes documented, basically bribes laundered through Bagman Hunter.

    3. re: the "inappropriate images" -- described a communication related to someone talking to a "counselor" (psychologist?) about why Hunter can't be allowed to be alone with a particular 14 year old girl: "he walks around naked smoking a crackpipe" and other "inappropriate" behavior.

    He said the images he saw would demand that police be notified and investigate.

    So, it is as I suspected: evidence exists suggesting Hunter behaves "inappropriately" around minor females (naked, smoking illegal dregs, etc.) But Giuliani never said a word about evidence of "child porn," nor overt sexual acts with minors.

    What makes this ring true is the repeated reports about Joe swimming nude in front of female SS protection detail people protecting him when he was VP.

    The crooked apple does not fall far from the crooked tree.



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    1. OK. That answers one of my questions. Giuliani knows what he's saying. If he says "particular 14 year old girl" that has to mean that this girl is identifiable. That lends real force to his contention that the FBI had a duty to protect.

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    2. The document he read from refers to some specific 14 year old, though Giuliani does not use her name, (or perhaps the name is not in the document.)

      The way he spoke suggested there could be images with other minors where Hunter was behaving in an inappropriate way (which could be doing drugs, and/or being naked, in front of them.)

      He said his visit to Delaware local PD a day or two ago was for this very reason -- to report what he had found, so they can follow-up.

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    3. "repeated reports about Joe swimming nude in front of female SS protection"

      Jeezus, that has to qualify for hazardous duty pay.

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    4. video of Giuliani embedded in tweet:

      >> https://twitter.com/dcexaminer/status/1318707167483121664 <<

      "facetimed" naked with "unnamed" 14 year old girl.

      Numerous images of underage girls.

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  11. >> https://twitter.com/adamhousley/status/1318717357313814528 <<

    Case went right to the top of FBI HQ. Big; lots of info.

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    1. Thanks. All that makes sense--I keep saying that you never know where something like this can lead. Nevertheless, now that the cat is out of the bag I do think Barr needs to make some statement.

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  12. >> Chanel Rion OAN
    @ChanelRion

    UPDATE: Multiple @OANN reporters have now viewed the emails, photos, and videos on the #HunterBiden hard drive.

    We can confirm:

    There appear to be not one but several images of a minor that justify immediate attention.

    We have reason to believe the minor is a US citizen.

    11:07 AM · Oct 21, 2020 from Washington, DC·Twitter for iPhone <<

    >> https://twitter.com/ChanelRion/status/1318931828481400833 <<

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  13. An update on the Hunter HD images:

    >> https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ek0ghp9XYAIDsXY?format=jpg&name=medium <<

    Same underage girl in about a third of the "inappropriate" images. Some are topless, other show her in suggestive positions with Hunter himself.

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