by Rajan Laad
Decoding the NYT vs. Biden State Department.
A few days ago, Politico.com reported that The New York Times was suing the Biden State Department for withholding correspondence mentioning Hunter Biden that is in possession of the U.S. Embassy in Romania.
In its lawsuit, filed in federal court in Manhattan, the NYT states that it had on two separate occasions placed requests under the Freedom of Information Act.
The State Department had responded that the requested records would be provided only after April 15, 2023. The law requires all federal agencies to respond to a FOIA request within 20 business days unless there are "unusual circumstances."
The NYT's suit is obviously an effort to expedite the State Department's timeline for the FOIA disclosures.
To be precise, the NYT had requested access to emails, memos, and other records from 2015 to 2019 from U.S. embassy officials in Bucharest, including former U.S. ambassador to Romania Hans Klemm, mentioning a number of individuals such as Hunter Biden and his former business associate, Tony Bobulinski.
Politico reports that the goal behind the exercise was to investigate if embassy officials did any special favors on behalf of private businesses such as that of Hunter Biden.
The request seeks records about the following:
1. The possible improper use of federal government resources to assist and advance private business interests with connections to United States government officials.
2. The possible evasion of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) by those private business interests.
3. The non-enforcement of FARA by the federal government in relation to those private business interests.
This would raise questions about possible conflicts of interest and corruption.
In a statement to Politico, a New York Times spokesperson said, "As a routine part of their reporting, NYT journalists regularly seek potentially newsworthy information from a variety of sources, including from the U.S. government through FOIA requests."
"We're hopeful the government will promptly release any relevant documents, and as always we are prepared to pursue our request through a lawsuit if necessary. Just as we do on any line of reporting, we will assess the newsworthiness of the material once we receive it," the spokesperson added.
The State Department has declined to comment on the situation.
Last year, the U.K. Daily Mail reported that an email from Hunter's laptop shows that Hunter was hired by Romanian real estate tycoon Gabriel Popoviciu to overturn his bribery conviction through a massive propaganda campaign with help from V.P. Joe's government connections and former FBI director Louis Freeh. Despite the efforts, Popoviciu was convicted of bribery.
Emails also showed that Freeh "donated" $100,000 to a trust for two of President Biden's grandchildren as he sought to pursue "some very good and profitable matters" with him.
Perhaps this is what the NYT is looking into?
Back in October 2020, less than a month prior to Election Day, the New York Post had reported about Hunter Biden's misplaced laptop that contained emails that proved that Hunter Biden had introduced his father, who was vice president, to a top executive from Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company. This contradicts Joe Biden's claim that he's "never spoken to my son" about his overseas business dealings.
Burisma was paying Hunter around $1 million a year when Biden was vice president; the amount was cut in half two months after Biden left office.
This was a clear case of nepotism, conflict of interest, and corruption.
Mainstream media outlets scoffed at a New York Post's story, while Facebook and Twitter prevented the stories from circulating.
The Media Research Center study discovered that one of every six Biden voters (17%) said he would not have voted for Biden if he had known the facts about various news stories the mainstream news media refused to cover and that social media chose to block.
The question remains: why would the NYT, who have been willing propagandists for the Democrats, suddenly develop the urge to pursue to truth and sue a Democrat State Department?
Back in 2019, the NYT's Kenneth Vogel was among the rare few in the mainstream media that covered the Hunter story and even described Hunter as both a "significant liability" for Biden. Throughout the 2020 presidential campaign, the Biden team regularly expressed anger at the Times over Vogel's coverage of Hunter Biden, while Democrats viciously attacked him on all forums possible.
Perhaps Vogel is merely doing his job in pursuing the story or maybe he is taking on the Bidens? Perhaps Vogel is taking on the Bidens as a vendetta for the abuse he previously received?
It does give the NYT an occasion to feign fairness and claim that it was tough on Biden.
Another possible explanation is that the Washington Media-Democrat complex is tired of Biden's incompetence. They think Biden's abominable record of misgovernance will cause them to lose rather emphatically to the Republicans during the midterms in November.
However, what the Democrats fear most is that Biden may lose in a landslide to Donald Trump in 2024. Polls show Biden losing support among all traditional Democrat voter groups.
Perhaps the NYT is being used as a proxy in this struggle. It has certainly placed Biden in a Catch-22.
If Biden's State Department were to reveal communication records that prove a clear case of conflict of interest and corruption, Joe certainly looks bad and could be forced out of office. Their attempt to stall the handover of information makes them appear guilty as if they have something to conceal. They could be accused of obstructing the path of the news media.
It will be interesting to see if the NYT will actually publish a story that reveals Hunter Biden's shady web of international business relationships cultivated when his father was vice president.
The story perhaps is being used as leverage for the Democrats to compel Biden not to run in 2024 and keep him under control while he occupies the White House.
It is unlikely they would want him out before 2024 since that would make Kamala Harris president, and even the Democrats know that is worse than bumbling old Biden.
In the coming weeks, if CNN, MSNBC, and other propaganda outfits amplify this NYT vs. Biden State Department story, we can be sure that powers that be in Washington want Biden out of the way.
Rajan Laad
Source: https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/02/why_is_the_new_york_times_suing_for_access_to_state_department_correspondence_on_hunter_biden_and_romania.html
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