Media Applies Double Standard To Menendez And Biden Scandals
Mark Hemingway
7–8 minutes
There are two major corruption scandals consuming Washington at the moment that involve the relatives of Democratic politicians taking bribes from foreign governments. Here’s a pop quiz – I’ve stripped away the identifying details, see if you can tell me which one is which:
n late 2018, an accident left REDACTED without a car, the indictment says. One of the businesspeople allegedly stepped in in April 2019 to help her buy a Mercedes-Benz C-300 convertible, at one point texting an associate to request $15,000 in cash. The following day, the businessperson met REDACTED in a restaurant parking lot and handed REDACTED “approximately $15,000 in cash” … REDACTED bought the car for about $60,000 the next day and [the associate] made at least six monthly payments on the loan, prosecutors contend.
VS:
Prosecutors have also asked about paperwork REDACTED used to purchase a car through funds from REDACTED, according to people familiar with the matter. In April 2014, a business associate of REDACTED from REDACTED wired $142,300 to REDACTED, according to bank statements reviewed by The Wall Street Journal … the documents show … they were earmarked in a bank record as “For a Car.”
So the first excerpt is from a Politico story on Bob Menendez detailing how his wife exploited his foreign connections for goods such as a new Mercedes, and the second is a Wall Street Journal report about Hunter Biden. Of course, astute readers will notice that I left in a pretty big tell; the first excerpt mentions an indictment, and so far, Hunter Biden has only just recently been indicted for lying on a form to purchase a gun – not on any charges related to what was a pretty blatant foreign influence operation his father was actively participating in.
Despite the fact that the details are shockingly similar, you will note that the media has decided that some political corruption scandals are more equal than others. In fact, it’s astonishing how the media continue to run interference for the Bidens while reveling in the Menendez story. Two weeks ago, CNN ran an astonishing piece that simultaneously confirmed nearly all the damning details about the Biden corruption scandal, while implausibly insisting that President Biden is in no way connected to his son’s malfeasance: “Fact-checking McCarthy’s claims while launching Biden impeachment inquiry.” A number of astute people noted how CNN was credulous to the point of absurdity, but near as I can tell, no one has yet noted that CNN’s “fact check” needs… a fact check.
more
https://thefederalist.com/2023/09/26/can-you-spot-the-difference-between-the-menendez-and-biden-foreign-influence-scandals/
