By Mike Huckabee
June 2, 2023
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BY MIKE HUCKABEE
Blessings on you and your family from all the Huckabee staff!
Thank you for subscribing and I hope you enjoy today’s newsletter.
With gratitude,
Mike
DAILY BIBLE VERSE
The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord,
Like the [a]rivers of water;
He turns it wherever He wishes.
Proverbs 21:1 NKJV
FEATURED STORY
Analyst: Unfolding FBI scandal “bigger than anyone imagined”
While House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer of Kentucky and FBI Director Christopher Wray were sparring over how much of a certain “Form 1023” may be viewed and by whom, legal analyst Margot Cleveland was working on an expert opinion about what this latest fight means.
As you know, an FBI whistleblower has said this five-or-six-page unclassified document contains a detailed allegation by an FBI confidential human source (CHS) that President Biden, while he was VP, took a $5 million bribe from a foreign national in exchange for certain policy decisions. That’s about as serious as it gets, folks, if Biden really took an out-and-out bribe. There would be no need to get creative and stretch the law to try to “get” him, as we’ve seen done repeatedly to President Trump; bribery is specifically named in the Constitution as an impeachment-worthy offense.
And if this CHS is someone the FBI had used before and considered a reliable source, it’s also incredibly serious if they failed to follow up on allegations of such a serious crime. Their actions following this interview with the CHS that generated a document three years ago are still being kept under wraps. This suggests another reason why they’re defying a congressional subpoena even when it means being found in contempt of Congress. It increasingly looks as though their defiance is not just to protect President Biden --- it’s to protect THEMSELVES.
Cleveland has looked at the big picture and says that “it is the combination of all the details, big and small, that suggests the scandal set to unfold over the coming weeks will be bigger than anyone imagined.”
She’s been able to glean a lot from what Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley has revealed he already knows. In his position as head of the committee that oversees whistleblowers, he would not be making claims unless he knew a whistleblower had made them. And Grassley has said that this CHS is “an apparent trusted FBI source.” The source is not just some guy who walked in off the street and said, “I need to tell you something big about the Vice President.” For him to be trusted enough to be interviewed on-the-record and generate a Form 1023, he must have worked with the FBI before, and they must have found him credible.
Rep. Comer has also revealed some of what he knows. He and Grassley have both said they’ve SEEN the document. Apparently this was a copy, as they are still demanding to see the original, unredacted material. (In an UPDATE late Thursday, Comer is scheduled to go Monday to a secure “SCIF” at FBI headquarters to view it there. But he still wants to charge Wray with contempt of Congress for not physically handing it over.)
Comer has shared the date --- June 30, 2020 --- and the price --- $5 million --- allegedly paid by the foreign national for his “desired policy outcome.” The whistleblower who provided these details had to have some pretty deep knowledge of what the CHS had told investigators, which adds to his own credibility. So his claim that this Form 1023 “includes a precise description of how the alleged criminal scheme was employed as well as its purpose” is not something to take lightly.
As for Comer’s mention of $5 million, that figure has turned up before. As Cleveland mentions, records released by Grassley and Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson confirm a payment of $5 million to James and Hunter Biden from a Chinese-connected business. (This wasn’t CEFC, but some other one.) Also, as Cleveland reports, “In a letter to Wray, Attorney General Merrick Garland and U.S. Attorney David Weiss, Grassley had previously revealed a promise by a Chinese communist government-connected enterprise [NOTE: sounds like CEFC] to funnel $5 million to ‘Hunter and James Biden to compensate them for work done while Joe Biden was Vice President.’”
Cleveland has also found significance in the date June 30, 2020, written on the form. In July 2022, Grassley revealed in a letter to Wray that the whistleblower had said that “the FBI developed information in 2020 about Hunter Biden’s criminal financial and related activity” but “that in August 2020, FBI Supervisory Intelligence Analyst Brian Auten opened an assessment which was used by an FBI Headquarters (‘FBI HQ’) team to improperly discredit negative Hunter Biden information as disinformation and caused investigative activity to cease.”
Remember Auten from Crossfire Hurricane? (The same names turn up over and over.) Cleveland’s timeline goes on: In September 2020, the team that handled the Auten assessment and determined the allegations were “disinformation” placed the information in a “restricted sub-file that only the particular agents who uncovered the CHS’s information could access.”
In other words, they buried it. According to the whistleblower, Auten’s assessment led to the “improper discrediting” of verified information about Hunter. The whistleblower obviously knew enough details about how they handled it to be able to tell Congress. So now, even though Wray is still withholding the Form 1023, Comer and Grassley already know a great deal about what’s on it. And thanks to them, so do we.
Here’s something even worse: Cleveland found wording in Grassley’s letter that, together with the timeline, suggests the “assessment” was actually opened not on Hunter but on the CHS!
Looking further at what was happening in the weeks following the interview with the CHS, it was just two weeks later, on July 13, 2020, that Democrat Sens. Chuck Schumer and Mark Warner, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Rep. Adam Schiff sent a letter to the FBI warning that Congress was being subjected to a foreign disinformation campaign. On July 16, ranking members of two congressional committees asked the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force --- which had also handled the “assessment” of the Biden intel and called THAT “disinformation” --- to give them a defensive briefing. News of that briefing, of course, was leaked to the press, and “Russia!” hysteria was soon everywhere.
Cleveland has put more together, such as hints from Grassley’s letters and statements that the FBI even buried a recording that implicates the Biden family in a criminal enterprise. She has much more detail on this in her piece.
It’s important to mention that generally, when someone in politics “hints” at this or that, it’s best to maintain some skepticism. We like to use the “48-hour rule” in cases like that, or even the “72-hour rule.” But when Sen. Grassley talks about whistleblowers, you can likely take that to the bank.
As Cleveland writes, “...What should be clear to all now is that the whistleblower knows where the evidence is buried --- and Grassley and Comer have brought their shovels.”
In a townhall meeting Thursday on HANNITY, President Trump, appearing in person, had harsh words for the weaponization of the FBI and the lies President Biden has told about his family business.
“[The Bidens] are being protected and it’s a one-sided system, it’s a very unfair system,” Trump said, citing that fact that Joe is ON VIDEO bragging about withholding a billion dollars to get the Ukrainian prosecutor fired. Trump also noted they couldn’t have impeached him without hiding what was on Hunter’s laptop. “You can’t have law and order in a country where you have such corruption,” he said.
Of this Form 1023, he wondered, “How bad can this document be??” He praised Comer, as well as House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, for doing “a fantastic job.” As for the off-putting (for some) way he pushes back, he cited the corruption in DC and said, “If I wasn’t tough --- if I didn’t fight back, I wouldn’t be here now.”
…………..
RELATED: FOX NEWS reported Thursday that Hunter Biden’s top DC legal team, still maintaining its hyper- aggressive stance, has deposed computer repair expert John Paul Mac Isaac. Hunter is now suing him for invasion of privacy. If you haven’t yet read Mac Isaac’s book, it provides good insight into what he’s been through.
https://www.foxnews.com/
In an update to our story yesterday, the National Archives is still refusing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request made by America First Legal for communications between Hunter and his father’s staff, saying these communications are exempted from FOIA. They released a batch of them but are keeping others. Still, just the ones we’ve seen show how coordinated father and son were on foreign trips and meetings while Joe was in office.
We’ll wrap this up with Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch, explaining why our ‘justice’ system in its current state is “irredeemable.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
LEAVE ME A COMMENT, I READ THEM
America the Beautiful
God's creation is all around us. We are blessed with his bounty. Take a moment to enjoy it.
GENDER POLITICS
Misgendering
A lot of conservatives expressed concerns when Elon Musk announced that he’d selected Linda Yaccarino, former of NBC Universal, as the new CEO of Twitter. They’re worried it will spell the end of Twitter’s brief run as a platform that respects free speech. It’s not clear whether she had anything to do with this decision, but it’s causing some uncomfortable feelings of déjà vu.
I wonder why?!?
Washington still thinks it’s a mystery why they’re having such problems recruiting everyday, patriotic Americans into joining the military…
Targeting Target
This is why I’ve always been hesitant to promote boycotts of companies over the politics of the board members: because they tend to hurt the workers who have no control over it. Unfortunately, some companies have become so blatantly and offensively politicized, particularly in targeting children with trans, leftist and LGBTQ propaganda, that customers justifiably rebelled. But here’s a story about how the workers at Target, like those who work for Bud Light, are taking the brunt of public fury over decisions they had nothing to do with.
Just a reminder: you can express your disapproval of the company’s policies to its workers, but please don’t yell at them, blame them or attack them. They have no control over the idiotic policies of the suits far above them, and for all you know, they may hate those policies just as much as you do. They certainly have good reason.
Free Speech
A story has been going around about the Los Angeles Police investigating the burning of a “trans” teacher’s gay pride flag as a hate crime. The obvious question being asked is, “Why is that illegal while burning a Bible or an American flag is ‘protected free speech?’”
In fact, burning a gay pride flag is protected free speech, but it has to be your own flag, not someone else’s, and you can’t burn it in a reckless way that might, say, set the school on fire. This article from Reuters actually has some helpful details about what’s legal and what isn't, just in case you’re thinking of expressing any political opinions with a Bic lighter.
https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-burning-pride-flag-idUSL1N37N1L5
“Gay Pride Month”
It’s only day two of “Gay Pride Month” (FYI: veterans and mothers get only one day), and already, many of us are praying for July to hurry up and arrive because of things like this.
I’ll warn you before you click: it’s the cover of the UK edition of Glamour, showing off the bare belly of a heavily pregnant “trans man,” with the caption, “I’m a pregnant trans man, and I do exist. No matter what anyone says, I’m living proof.”
No, you may “identify” as a man, you may take male hormones and dress as a man, you may have surgically removed your breasts (so good luck feeding that baby), but if you’re pregnant, you’re a woman. That’s because “pregnant men” do not exist. And I refuse to accept that it’s “hate speech” to state the most obvious fact of biological science.
By the way, if you can get your appetite back and would like to celebrate something else that comes in a rainbow of colors, it’s also National Donut Day. Here’s a story about it with a list of donut chains that are offering deals like free donuts today.
PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS
A Trump townhall in Iowa
Last night, former President Trump appeared in a Fox News townhall in Iowa with Sean Hannity. It was a long and wide-ranging show, so I won’t try to recap it all here. But one of the most newsworthy segments came when Trump talked about the “corrupt” and “one-sided” justice system that’s constantly coming after him while protecting the Biden family.
Hannity also said many swing voters tell him they’re turned off by the name-calling and asked why Trump doesn’t pick his spots a little more carefully. Trump talked of all the knives that were out for him in Washington and said, "I guarantee that if I didn’t fight back, I wouldn’t be here. What they did was so bad, and they’ve been caught now."
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6328639244112
That was a good answer in terms of responding to the Deep State, but I still think he should reconsider before hitting “send” on the social media posts slamming loyal Republicans like Kayleigh McEneny.
I’ll post a link to the full townhall as soon as it’s publicly available. In the meantime, you can find a number of clips here:
https://www.foxnews.com/shows/hannity
As expected, the Senate passed the “Fiscal Responsibility Act” (SIC) last night, 63-36. Four Democrats, 31 Republicans and Independent (socialist) Bernie Sanders all voted no, I assume for different reasons. More details at the link.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/senate-passes-bipartisan-debt-ceiling-bill-sends-bidens-desk
The White House is already vowing to lobby Congress to reverse some of the meager spending limits that actually survived, so I can guess how seriously they take fiscal responsibility.
No energy Biden
If a Democrat President falls on a stage and the liberal media refuse to report it, does he make a sound?
https://www.westernjournal.com/breaking-biden-takes-nasty-fall-air-force-academy-graduation-stage/
I assume not, since that’s pretty much what happened yesterday as President Biden was exiting the stage at the USAF Commencement ceremony. Whatever your politics, it was a terrible thing to watch: the man is 80 years old, and that hard a fall at that age can break a hip or worse. It might actually be a testament to his good health that he didn’t end up in the hospital, but the way the media tried to sugarcoat it was astounding. Outlets such as Newsweek and Reuters reported that Biden “appeared to trip,” but recovered quickly. No, he hit the stage like a bag of doorknobs and had to be lifted to his feet by Secret Service agents.
There was also a report that he later bumped his head on the helicopter door, which again was barely reported, and even then brushed off as nothing. He’s so “spry,” you see!
If this is how the media reports on things that we all saw with our own eyes, it’s no wonder so many people don’t believe their stories about how Biden is perfectly capable of serving another four-year term. Presidential “historian” Michael Beschloss even tried to save him by digging up stories about Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter taking falls to show that it’s common and the media is making too big a deal out of it.
But as Nick Arama at Redstate.com points out, Beschloss inadvertently reminded us of how fall-prone Biden is, and that Ford was a noted athlete while Carter was running a marathon at the time, something Biden is hardly likely to do anytime soon. Plus, the media did make a big fuss over what those other falls might mean. Ford’s stumble on a wet airplane ramp even made him the object of ridicule by Chevy Chase on “SNL” and helped cost him reelection.
It was also noted that when Trump was told of Biden’s fall, his immediate reaction was, “I hope he’s not hurt.” Again, regardless of politics, that should have been everyone’s reaction. But in 2020, when Trump walked carefully down a slippery wet ramp, Biden mocked him, saying, “Look at how he steps and look at how I step. Watch how I run up ramps and he stumbles down ramps. Come on.”
https://www.westernjournal.com/watch-moment-trump-learns-bidens-fall-proves-not-media-says/
Tell me again about how we had to replace Trump with Biden so we could restore “decency.”
COURT NEWS
New Supreme Court Ruling
The Supreme Court issued an 8-1 ruling limiting the actions of unions when going on strike. The case involved the Washington construction company Glacier Northwest suing the local Teamsters Union for damages. When the union called a strike, their truck drivers walked off the job when hundreds of trucks were filled with wet concrete awaiting delivery. It not only cost the company the value of the concrete, but if they hadn’t been able to clean it out fast, it would’ve hardened, severely damaging the trucks.
The majority ruled that while workers have the right to strike, they should take reasonable precautions to protect their employers’ property and equipment, and they can be liable for costs if they walk off the job in a way that they know will cause serious damage.
The lone dissenter was uber-liberal Biden appointee, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who said the ruling would hinder the development of labor law and "erode the right to strike." She apparently wants the right to strike set in concrete, just like this company’s trucks would’ve been. I wonder if she’d defend the right of airline pilots to strike if the pilot flying her plane strapped on a parachute and bailed out in mid-air.
Also, a federal judge in Texas placed a preliminary injunction on Biden’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, blocking them from enforcing a new regulation barring pistol stabilizing bracers that was to take effect on Thursday.
Gun rights groups are challenging the regulation as unconstitutional, saying it will expose millions of legal gun owners to up to 10 years in jail and a $10,000 fine if they don’t register with the government for owning a “piece of plastic” that was arbitrarily reclassified by the ATF. There are more details at the link above.
Finally, some good legal news out of New York
The Christian adoption agency, New Hope Family Services, previously won a $250,000 settlement in a lawsuit against state agencies that were trying to force them to place babies with gay couples in violation of their religious beliefs. Now, they’ve won a second settlement of $25,000 for legal fees and costs from another state agency for the same offense.
While this is good for them, it’s absurd and infuriating that they should ever have had to go to court and spend so much money, time and effort defending an obvious First Amendment right. Let’s hope either a future Congress or the Supreme Court brings down the hammer on this kind of political harassment by liberal bureaucrats. In the meantime, blogger Robert Zimmerman has this warning, and it’s a familiar refrain for those of us who are constantly decrying the lack of consequences for government officials who abuse their powers:
“While this ruling frees New Hope from this harassment (for the moment), the willingness of different New York government agencies to use their power to persecute it multiple times, even after losing in court, tells us this story is not over. This victory did nothing to punish the officials in New York who instituted the actions. These people — all oppressive Democrats — remain in power, and have shown no remorse or even a hint that they recognize that they did anything wrong. Instead, they see such defeats as merely a speed bump in their race to make everyone obey them in all ways. Expect them to try again, and very soon, since they consider the harassment itself an achievement because — even if they lose in court — the legal action acts to wear down any opposition to their policies.”
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