Election Update: The Biden Issue
The 2020 Presidential race is shaping up to be one of the most heated and controversial elections in recent history. With all that is going on, it’s important to stay up-to-date on all the latest happenings in the 2020 election. Here’s what you need to know.
Election Day is just a week away, and most Americans are ready to head to the ballot box and cast their votes for their chosen candidates. Yet, just a week ago, a scandal broke out targeting the Biden campaign that might have a massive impact on who Americans go and cast their votes for on Election Day. On October 14, The New York Post obtained a computer hard drive that allegedly belonged to Hunter Biden, the son of presidential candidate and former V.P. Joe Biden. According to the Post, an unidentified individual brought the laptop into a computer repair shop with water-damage. The owner of the establishment says that the person who left him the computer never returned. The owner found emails saved on the laptop directed to Hunter Biden from Vadym Pozharskyi. According to AP, Pozharskyi was the advisor to the board of directors at Burisma Holdings (Ukrainian Energy and Gas firm). The owner of the repair store was ordered to turn over the laptop to the government, but beforehand he copied the hard drive and sent it to Rudy Giuliani’s lawyer, and Giuliani later sent it to the Post.
The question then becomes, what was in the emails? This scandal originates in 2018, during the Obama-Biden presidency. Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin was investigating Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian Oil and Gas company where Hunter Biden was a member of the Board of Directors. In a clip broadcasted by C-Span on January 23, 2018, at the UN Council on Foreign Relations, then-Vice President Biden admitted to calling top Ukrainian officials before a trip, saying, “You are not getting the $1 billion [referring to defense aid to Ukraine].” Biden continues, “We’re leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor’s not fired, you’re not getting the money.” That was the beginning of many corruption allegations. It appeared to some that V.P. Biden might have strong-armed the Ukrainian government to protect Hunter Biden and his company. But because there was no evidence of such corruption, no investigation was ever launched. And when questioned by the press about the corruption allegations, Joe Biden dismissed them as ludicrous, telling USA TODAY, “I have never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings.”
The New York Post story revived the old allegations, as some of the emails seem to suggest that former V.P. Biden not only talked with Hunter Biden but met with Pozharskyi in person. The following is a transcript of the email recovered by the Post implicating Joe Biden was involved in possible corrupt activity:
Dear Hunter, thank you for inviting me to DC and giving an opportunity to meet your father and spent some time together. It’s realty an honor and pleasure. As we spoke yesterday evening, would be great to meet today for a quick coffee. What do you think? I could come to you office somewhere around noon or so, before or on my way to airport.
Best,
V
This email completely contradicts Biden’s statements about his level of involvement in Hunter’s business dealings. This is not good for the Biden campaign, as one of Biden’s campaign platforms is a “return to normalcy,” and has negatively impacted Biden in the polls. The latest Ipsos and Rasmussen polling from the key battleground states of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania shows Trump closing in on Biden. Ultimately, though, only Election Day will reveal how much of an impact the Biden Issue matters to the American people.
