International
Hunter Biden May Never Have Been On Trial Were It Not For Whistleblowers And No-Nonsense Judge
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
“During the first three years of the Biden administration, Weiss spent most of the time sitting on his hands as the statute of limitations chewed up the Biden investigation,” McCarthy wrote for the National Review. “Especially egregious was his willful failure to move on tax offenses (and potentially other offenses) based on Hunter’s peddling of his father’s political influence during the last years of the Obama administration, when the elder Biden was vice president (e.g., Hunter’s raking in millions from the corrupt Ukrainian energy company, Burisma, while dad pressured Kyiv to fire the prosecutor who was investigating Burisma).”
Hunter Biden may never have been tried on felony gun charges without IRS whistleblowers coming forward and careful questions from an observant federal judge.
Hunter Biden was convicted on three felony gun charges Tuesday in Delaware and is set to go to trial in September on felony tax charges. After years of avoiding charges entirely, special counsel David Weiss was forced to bring Hunter Biden’s case to trial after his “sweetheart” plea deal, which would have had Biden plead guilty to two misdemeanors and enter a diversion agreement to avoid jail time for a felony gun charge, fell apart last July under questioning by U.S. District Court Judge Maryellen Noreika.
Hunter Biden began negotiating his plea deal in May 2023, shortly after IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley first came forward in April by sending a letter to Congress, not yet identifying himself but expressing his intention to expose the Hunter Biden investigation.
Shapley accused DOJ prosecutors of “slow-walking” the investigation and providing Hunter Biden with “preferential treatment” in testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee on May 26.
Weiss removed Shapley, along with Joseph Ziegler, the other whistleblower who came forward, from the investigation last May.
🚨🚨 Whether you think the gun charge conviction today is just a red herring or not, just remember that none of the government’s shenanigans would have been exposed were it not for IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler.
Before their disclosures, Biden appointees had…
— Tristan Leavitt (@tristanleavitt) June 11, 2024
The plea deal was announced June 20, 2023, just two days before the Ways and Means Committee released the testimony of both whistleblowers.
Former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy noted Wednesday that the plea deal’s dramatic collapse makes it “easy to forget” Weiss tried making the case go away entirely until the whistleblowers made it “politically impossible.”
“During the first three years of the Biden administration, Weiss spent most of the time sitting on his hands as the statute of limitations chewed up the Biden investigation,” McCarthy wrote for the National Review. “Especially egregious was his willful failure to move on tax offenses (and potentially other offenses) based on Hunter’s peddling of his father’s political influence during the last years of the Obama administration, when the elder Biden was vice president (e.g., Hunter’s raking in millions from the corrupt Ukrainian energy company, Burisma, while dad pressured Kyiv to fire the prosecutor who was investigating Burisma).”
“Because of Weiss, those crimes can no longer be prosecuted (which is why they are not in the tax indictment Weiss finally brought after his effort to tank the case entirely failed),” he continued.
Even after whistleblowers exposed the investigation, the plea deal seemed designed to protect Hunter Biden.
Noreika, who oversaw his gun charges trial, highlighted this when she probed the scope of a sweeping immunity provision included in the diversion agreement.
The provision stated Hunter Biden would not be criminally prosecuted for any crimes encompassed by the statement of facts in his plea deal, which listed the millions of dollars he raked in through overseas business dealings in China, Ukraine and Romania.
“So let me first ask, do you have any precedent for agreeing not to prosecute crimes that have nothing to do with the case or the charges being diverted?” Noreika asked DOJ prosecutor Leo Wise during the July hearing.
“I’m not aware of any, your Honor,” Wise replied.
When prosecutors and defense attorneys disputed in court whether there could be future charges brought against Hunter Biden under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), the deal crumbled and he changed his plea to not guilty.
Hunter Biden’s California trial on federal tax charges is slated to move forward in September.
He was indicted in December on nine charges relating to his alleged failure to pay over $1.4 million in taxes over a four-year period. At the same time, he was pouring millions into expenses like “drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing, and other items of a personal nature, in short, everything but his taxes,” according to the indictment.
Crime
RCMP Bust B.C. Fentanyl Superlab Linked to Mexico and Transnational Exports
Sam Cooper
In a remote mountainous area of British Columbia, federal police have dismantled the largest fentanyl laboratory ever discovered in Canada. This western province has become a critical front in the Five Eyes battle against the production and distribution of deadly synthetic narcotics trafficked globally by networks involving Chinese and Iranian state-sponsored mafias and Mexican cartels.
In a groundbreaking discovery, the RCMP located the superlab in Falkland—a village of 946 residents nestled in the rugged terrain between Calgary and Vancouver—using Phenyl-2-Propanone (P2P) to manufacture methamphetamine. This production method, primarily employed by Mexican cartels, stems from the precursors and scientific expertise Mexican cartels have gathered from elite Chinese criminals since the early 2000s, according to U.S. enforcement sources.
David Teboul, Commander of the RCMP Federal Policing program in the Pacific Region, underscored the significance: “Manufacturing methamphetamine using P2P had not been seen in Western Canada until now,” he said. “The P2P manufacturing method has been the primary method used by Mexican cartels to produce methamphetamine for years.”
Demonstrating the destructive power of the cartels involved, the RCMP seized a staggering cache of illicit substances and weapons. Officers confiscated 54 kilograms of fentanyl, massive amounts of precursor chemicals, 390 kilograms of methamphetamine, 35 kilograms of cocaine, 15 kilograms of MDMA, and 6 kilograms of cannabis. The superlab was described as the largest and most sophisticated of its kind, capable of producing multiple types of illicit drugs.
“To put things into context,” Teboul said, “the over 95 million potentially lethal doses of fentanyl that have been seized could have taken the lives of every Canadian at least twice over.”
A large portion of the product was destined for other countries.
During the investigation, RCMP officers learned of several large shipments of methamphetamine prepared for international export. They intercepted 310 kilograms of methamphetamine before it could leave Canada, preventing a significant quantity from reaching global markets—a critical point as Canada faces pressure from its allies over its role in the global fentanyl and methamphetamine trade.
Teboul noted that the RCMP collaborated with its Five Eyes enforcement partners—an intelligence alliance comprising Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. Although Teboul did not provide specific details, this cooperation underscores the international scope of the transnational investigation.
The first suspect, Gaganpreet Singh Randhawa, was identified and arrested during raids. He is currently in custody and faces multiple charges, including possession and export of controlled substances, possession of prohibited firearms and devices, and possession of explosive devices. More arrests are expected, Teboul said.
The scale of this criminal network echoes the power and violence fueling gang wars that have rocked British Columbia, putting innocent lives at risk during high-powered shootouts in Vancouver. Investigators seized a total of 89 firearms, including 45 handguns, 21 AR-15-style rifles, and submachine guns—many of which were loaded and ready for use. The searches also uncovered small explosive devices, vast amounts of ammunition, firearm silencers, high-capacity magazines, body armor, and $500,000 in cash.
British Columbia has been grappling with an influx of synthetic opioids like fentanyl, significantly exacerbating the opioid crisis across Canada. The province has witnessed a surge in overdose deaths, prompting law enforcement to intensify efforts against drug production and trafficking networks. Experts highlight weaknesses in Canadian laws and a lack of federal oversight at the Port of Vancouver, which have been exploited by transnational crime and money laundering organizations from China, Iran, and Mexico.
This significant bust comes at a time when Canada is under increased scrutiny from international allies over its role as a hub for the export of fentanyl and methamphetamine. The superlab takedown appears to align with serious concerns raised by lawmakers in Washington about how Canada and Mexico are being used by transnational crime organizations to distribute fentanyl worldwide.
A recent U.S. congressional report argues that the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) strategy relies less on overt military actions and more on covert tactics, including trafficking of fentanyl and leveraging money laundering, aimed at exploiting vulnerabilities across social, economic, and health domains.
“Fentanyl precursors are manufactured in China and shipped to Mexico and Canada. For precursors that arrive in Mexico, Chinese transnational mafias work with Mexican cartels to smuggle and distribute fentanyl in the United States on behalf of the CCP,” the report states. “The DEA confirmed Chinese transnational crime leaders hold government positions in the CCP and indicated that Chinese transnational crime organizations are dedicated to the CCP.”
“The public deserves to know about the CCP’s role in fentanyl production and how the Party is using fentanyl as a chemical weapon to kill Americans,” the report adds. It recommends that Washington publicly “blame the CCP as much as the DEA and its partners currently blame the Sinaloa Cartel” for fentanyl trafficking and urges the government to “educate international allies about CCP chemical warfare” and encourage them to condemn Chinese transnational crime.
According to congressional investigations, Beijing is actively incentivizing the export of fentanyl and methamphetamine worldwide. The report alleges that Chinese criminal organizations, including Triads led by individuals with official positions in the CCP, are working alongside Mexican cartels to generate profit to fund interference operations in America.
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International
RFK Jr: Trump has ‘asked me to clean up the corruption’ in federal health agencies
From LifeSiteNews
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he has been tasked by Donald Trump with ending the conflicts of interest that now compromise the integrity of U.S. health agencies, with devastating ripple effects on the well-being of Americans.
Former Democrat-turned-independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Wednesday that former President Donald Trump has asked him to reorganize and “clean up” federal health agencies like the CDC and FDA if Trump is re-elected in November.
Kennedy, who joined Trump’s presidential transition team in late August after dropping out of the race himself and then endorsing the former president, shared in an appearance on NewsNation that Trump wants him to “reorganize the federal health agencies” affecting human health, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as well as some of the agencies within the USDA.”
“He’s asked me to clean up the corruption, number one,” Kennedy said. “Number two, end the conflicts of interest.”
In recent years, Kennedy has spoken much publicly about the pattern of corruption and conflicts of interest that he witnessed firsthand during his many years as an environmental attorney. During Kennedy’s presidential run, he discussed how the “corporate capture” of regulatory agencies is the “biggest threat to American democracy.”
As Kennedy explained during his Wednesday NewsNation appearance, “When you litigate these agencies, you get a Ph.D. in corporate capture and how to unravel it.”
According to Kennedy, the problem is pronounced in health agencies, where for example, the FDA “gets 50 percent of its budget from Big Pharma” and the NIH “collects royalties when (a) pharma company sells (its) product,” as he explained in an interview last year.
Kennedy went on to share Wednesday that he has been tasked by Trump with “return(ing)” those U.S. health agencies “to their rich tradition of gold-standard, empirically based, evidence-based medicine.”
He shared that Trump has also tasked him with ending “the chronic disease epidemic in this country,” adding, “And he’s asked me specifically to measurably reduce chronic disease in our children within two years.”
On Wednesday, he cited statistics showing unprecedented, drastically poor patterns of health in Americans, especially in children.
“When I was a kid and my uncle was President, six percent of Americans had chronic disease. Today, it’s 60 percent,” RFK Jr. said in reference to John F. Kennedy, who was president from 1961 to 1963.
According to Kennedy, a staggering “77% of American boys cannot qualify for the military because of a chronic disease, and that while when he was a child, “the average pediatrician saw one case of diabetes in his lifetime,” now one out of every three kids is diabetic or pre-diabetic.
He further shared that in his generation, only “one in 10,000” has full-blown autism, whereas now the rate is one in 34 children.
“This is an existential threat to the country,” said Kennedy, adding that Trump wants his “legacy to the American people” to be “the end of the chronic disease epidemic.”
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