Obama reportedly warned Joe he didn’t need to run for president, stressing it wasn’t a necessary call to arms despite the two men’s visceral loathing of Donald Trump. After eight years, Obama was aware of Joe’s faults and knew it would make for the bumbling presidency we’re seeing before us now. Also, Obama wasn’t 1,000 years old, like Joe, when he was elected in 2008. Despite his heinous takes on policy, Obama could do the job. With this bribery scandal tying a noose around the necks of the Biden family, Obama is probably frustrated now that it's been revealed that Joe was using fake names in numerous emails, some of which discussed matters relating to his son’s influence peddling to foreign officials and oligarchs while serving as his vice president. The National Archives has these communications, and Obama must decide in roughly a month whether to release these emails.
As Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, wrote, Obama could refuse to release the emails. That would counter his administration’s policy of subjecting all emails, including ones where Obama officials used pseudonyms, under Freedom of Information Act requests. Everything would be subject to review, but that was then, and Obama isn’t exactly a man known for his respect for freedom of the press or House Republicans. His DOJ secretly farmed phone numbers for Associated Press reporters, spied on then-Fox News reporter James Rosen, and was hell on wheels against leakers. Turley added that Biden’s fake names could “cost him” (via The Hill):
Obama is now being asked to bail Biden out from another debacle of his own making, going back to his time in Obama’s administration. Various committees and private groups are seeking more than 5,000 emails from Biden in which he used an array of aliases during the Obama administration.
Under the Presidential Records Act, Obama has 30 days to bar the release of the emails and to help shield his former vice president in a growing corruption scandal over the influence-peddling operation run by Biden’s son, Hunter.
Recently, it was learned that Joe Biden went by a variety of code names and false names, including Robin Ware. Robert L. Peters, JRB Ware, Celtic and “The Big Guy.” House investigators believe that may only be a partial list. For many Americans, it is understandably unnerving to learn that their president has more aliases than Anthony Weiner. However, while the number seems unusual, the practice is not unprecedented.
Top officials have used such aliases in the past for emails, including former Attorneys General Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch. During the Obama administration, the practice was defended by then-White House press secretary Jay Carney, who assured the public that any such emails would still be subject to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and congressional inquiries. He added, “We do not use and should not use private email accounts for work.”
The problem is that there was “work” being discussed on some of these emails, including official foreign travel plans and the hiring of associates of Hunter for high-level positions. More importantly, some emails are relevant to the clients of Biden’s son. Biden has previously lied that he knew nothing of these dealings, but these emails could reveal even more about his knowledge and involvement.
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The law professor then provides mountains of reasons for why Obama should turn over the communications, as even the media is starting to admit that Hunter was engaged in influence peddling. No ‘illusion of access’ defense can withstand what’s contained in the president’s son’s bank records, which show $20 million being transferred from oligarchs and other shady figures. Joe firing Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin, who was investigating Burisma, where Hunter sat on its board, proves there was no illusion; Hunter had pull in DC. And more emails show the president’s son having connections to top-level Obama officials to back up his exorbitant fees. Hunter met with then-Secretary of State John Kerry weeks before Shokin was fired.
There’s also the credible allegation of Joe and Hunter receiving a $10 million bribe from Burisma. The company was reportedly offered strict instructions to structure the payments to the various shell companies owned by Biden family members. With the appointment of David Weiss as special counsel, tasked with investigating Hunter Biden’s deals, there is a significant obstacle, as Weiss’ testimony is essential in the congressional inquiries into the president’s son. Impeachment might be the only way for Republicans to obtain the witness testimony and documents needed to finish this puzzle. And a significant piece is being held by Barack Obama.
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