Profiles in Malarkey

 When the drip-drip of the Hunter Biden influence-peddling scandal became a downpour this summer, leading Democrats threw caution to the wind.

After Hunter's former business partner, Devon Archer, testified in a closed-door interview that Hunter put his father, the then-vice president, on speakerphone at least 20 times in meetings with various foreign businessmen, Goldman informed Morning Joe's audience that the hearing had been a bust.

Goldman then went on to declare that Hunter hadn't been selling access to his father.

Rather, Goldman declared, Hunter had been selling the illusion of access.

Over the past few months, the world has heard the testimony of two senior IRS investigators with impeccable nonpartisan credentials who reported under oath that the Justice Department probe into Hunter's tax violations had been corrupted by political appointees.

Their story was partially confirmed in July when a federal judge in Delaware voided the plea agreement reached between Hunter Biden's lawyers and Justice Department prosecutors because the agreement could be read to provide immunity in perpetuity for crimes the Justice Department claims it is still investigating.

On the campaign trail in 2020, Joe Biden repeatedly said he had never talked to Hunter about his son's business.

He insisted in his debates with Donald Trump that the allegations of his son's receiving massive payoffs from foreign companies were baseless smears: "Hunter did nothing wrong." Those talking points have now been overtaken by events.

No longer does spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre say the president never discussed his son's business with Hunter.

Now there is credible evidence that the Justice Department's investigation into Hunter's crimes has been stained by political interference.

There is also credible evidence that, at the very least, executives from Ukrainian and Chinese energy firms believed they were purchasing Joe Biden's influence by lavishing his son with money and positions for which Hunter was not qualified. 

https://www.commentary.org/articles/eli-lake/democrats-protect-biden-despite-scandals/