The Biden administration announced Monday that it was embarking on a bold strategy to counter corruption on an international scale, according to a statement released by Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
"Corrupt actors and their facilitators rely on vulnerabilities in the United States and international financial systems to obscure ownership of assets and launder the proceeds of their illicit activities," Blinken's statement said.
"As the world's largest economy, the United States bears responsibility to address gaps in our own regulatory system and work with our allies and partners to do the same," he added.
The international business dealings of the president's son Hunter Biden are probably the most obvious example of corruption that crosses national borders, and is a subject that the White House has repeatedly avoided.
On Oct. 4, for example, White House press secretary Jen Psaki would neither admit nor deny whether Hunter Biden had divested his 10% ownership in Bohai Harvest RST Equity Investment Fund Management Co., a Chinese equity firm. Her refusal was notwithstanding the president's earlier promise to prohibit family members from making international business deals.
But if you thought Blinken's announcement Monday meant the White House would finally come clean and disclose Hunter's income from international sources — including sales of his "art" and holdings in overseas firms, you'd be mistaken.
Mere hours after Blinken released his statement, the issue was once again brought up to Psaki — and once again she refused to answer.
A New York Post reporter asked her at Monday's White House daily briefing for the identity of the person or entity that had finally purchased Hunter Biden's share in Bohai Harvest last month.
"The president's son is not an employee of the federal government," Psaki replied. "So I'd point you to his representatives."
The reporter then said, "I was hoping that you could confirm that the laptop [of Hunter Biden] is indeed authentic and not Russian disinformation, as you seemed to suggest on Twitter last year."
She did more than merely "suggest." On October 19, 2020, she tweeted that the "Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo" — but Psaki chose to avoid the question Monday.
The reporter also referenced "The Laptop From Hell," a book written by fellow Post journalist Miranda Devine.
"As it relates to the book, I've neither had the time or interest in exploring or reading the book," Psaki replied, again avoiding the question altogether.
Hours earlier, Blinken had tweeted that "Corruption and its harmful effects have the potential to touch nearly all aspects of society. The U.S. Strategy on Countering Corruption outlines ways the @StateDept will help effectively fight for transparency and prevent corruption around the globe."
So much for transparency in the age of Biden. Blinken giveth; Psaki taketh away.
That's been the problem with the Biden administration from the start: overpromising and underdelivering.
One of Biden's central campaign promises was to heal the nation and bring it together; instead, he fractured the country even further.
He also promised, "I'm not going to shut down the economy. I'm not going to shut down the country. But I am going to shut down the virus."
In reality he's done everything he could to shut down both the economy and the country. Meanwhile, far more COVID deaths have occurred under Biden's watch than under former President Trump's.
He also promised that American troops would remain in Afghanistan until every U.S. civilian had been brought home.
However, estimates as high as a thousand were left behind and most of those still remain. And State Department officials voluntarily handed the Taliban biometric data that can identify those left behind.
The late British Prime Minister Winston Churchill once observed that "Americans can always be trusted to do the right thing, once all other possibilities have been exhausted."
But Churchill never met Biden. Biden never gets it right.
Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and has been a frequent contributor to BizPac Review and Liberty Unyielding. He is also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and an enthusiastic Second Amendment supporter, who can often be found honing his skills at the range. Read Dorstewitz's Reports — More Here.
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