Republicans in the Senate have used the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump to smear former Vice President Joe Biden's son Hunter for his board appointment to a Ukrainian gas company called Burisma Holdings.
Trump famously urged the Ukrainian president to announce an investigation into Burisma and the Bidens while Trump withheld congressionally approved military aid to Ukraine.
Because any alleged wrongdoing by the Bidens wouldn't justify impeachable offenses committed by the President in order to uncover that wrongdoing, and because the Bidens don't have firsthand knowledge of the actions the President took to investigate them, their testimony would be completely irrelevant.
Hunter Biden was paid around $80,000 a month while working for Burisma. The President's eldest son—Don Jr.—asked what Democrats in Congress would do if Trump Jr. had gotten money from foreign governments during his father's tenure as President.
Does anyone really believe that if I did what Hunter Biden did and took millions from corrupt companies and regimes… https://t.co/x8eLoGXBB0— Donald Trump Jr. (@Donald Trump Jr.) 1580410911.0
The problem? Trump Jr. and his little brother Eric are currently Executive Vice Presidents of the Trump Organization.
The Trumps vowed that they wouldn't be making any foreign deals while Donald Trump was President. Junior even said in October of last year:
"We've been international businesspeople for decades, but we can't even do those kinds of deals anymore. We can't even continue, and because we chose not to, because we didn't think it was appropriate. So that's the double standard. The media said, 'Oh, you're enriching yourselves.' We're like, 'We literally stopped.' "
Eric said around the same time:
"When my father became commander in chief of this country, we got out of all international business."
Notably, the President didn't divest his holdings in the Trump Organization after he took the Oath of Office. In the three years since Trump has been President, his sons have continued doing foreign deals on the organization's behalf.
In a piece from the Washington Post fact-checking those claims, Salvador Rizzo debunked the assertions that the Trump Organization hasn't been pursuing foreign deals during Trump's tenure as President.
People on Twitter brought receipts as well.
Go on… https://t.co/yRzrlSn1qL https://t.co/YzmGgLKSsk— John Aravosis🇺🇸 (@John Aravosis🇺🇸) 1580411071.0
@DonaldJTrumpJr lmao https://t.co/JrdLnBeAjn— Nicholas Blake (@Nicholas Blake) 1580411051.0
@DonaldJTrumpJr Well, let's just investigate everyone involved in Ukraine projects. Shall we https://t.co/ZbiSV5MuFu— WhatWhyWhenHow?? (@WhatWhyWhenHow??) 1580415408.0
The Atlantic's David Frum revived a Twitter thread from October detailing Trump Jr.'s previous foreign entanglements.
Donald Trump Jr collecting foreign payments in Dubai https://t.co/HU3JwB1iho— David Frum (@David Frum) 1570026284.0
Donald Trump Jr seeking foreign payments in Indonesia https://t.co/qiL9wYD2gZ— David Frum (@David Frum) 1570026339.0
Donald Trump Jr collecting foreign payments in Scotland https://t.co/V993Be5LMe— David Frum (@David Frum) 1570026438.0
Donald Trump Jr collecting foreign payments in the Philippines (picture taken in 2012, but the business relationshi… https://t.co/3urWuO3uax— David Frum (@David Frum) 1570026545.0
Donald Trump Jr collecting foreign payments in Panama (pre-presidential photo; collections continued post-2017) https://t.co/MzFSbezBCN— David Frum (@David Frum) 1570026937.0
People were flabbergasted Junior was actually trying to make this argument.
He really just tweeted this. https://t.co/FJYDWSL8mN— Christopher Bouzy (@Christopher Bouzy) 1580411032.0
When you just completely lack self-awareness https://t.co/GuKQYxyeg2— Phillip 🦙 (@Phillip 🦙) 1580417266.0
@DonaldJTrumpJr LOL! The sheer audacity of the trumpklan knows no bounds.— StevieJane (@StevieJane) 1580415640.0
Yes, boys and girls, he really is that stupid. https://t.co/utrin8aUod— Classically Liberal (@Classically Liberal) 1580418796.0
Simply astounding.
American Oligarchs: The Kushners, The Trumps, and the Marriage of Money and Power is available here.