Is the possible Trump indictment a “distraction” from the Biden family documents? It’s very easy to say that one news event is a “distraction” from a different news event. But in the case of the possibly imminent Trump indictment, it’s very clearly not true.
The Conspiracy Is Born
For conspiracy theorists, it’s a favorite trope to declare that a news event is a “distraction” from a different news event. It doesn’t have to be true or even make sense.
Earlier this year, the theory was that various things in the news, from the Ohio train derailment to the Chinese spy balloon, were a “distraction” from the imminent release of a new list of Jeffrey Epstein clients. That last one was pushed by, among other people, NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
The truth was, there was no Epstein list, as pointed out by the leading journalist on the Epstein case. And if “they” wanted to distract from such a list, you’d think their distracting event would take place after its release, as opposed to before.
The “they” implies that there’s some cabal of media and law enforcement that’s controlling events behind the scenes. This was also frequently the template of conspiracy theories throughout the pandemic, with announcements of new variants and vaccines currently having suspicious timing.
Save Hunter and the Biden Family By Attack Trump?
The latest “distraction” narrative concerns the reportedly imminent indictment of former President Donald Trump by prosecutors in New York and comes from Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo.
Per The Daily Beast, Bartiromo over the weekend hosted Rep. James Comer (R-KY), the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, and both of them implied that the reported Trump indictment is only happening in order to distract from the Oversight Committee’s recent unearthing of memos showing that several relatives of President Biden received money from a business deal with China shortly after Biden left the vice presidency.
“It’s very odd that this would come out just the very next day after I revealed bank records which showed that the Biden family, the president in particular, hasn’t been truthful with respect to his family receiving payments directly from the Chinese communist party,” Comer said. “So it almost looks like it’s an effort to detract.”
This is self-evidently ridiculous. The Manhattan DA’s probe has been going on for more than five years, and its grand jury has been in place for months. The Biden China documents were released last Thursday, and the indictment, if the reports about it are true, has not been thrown together in a matter of days.
Bartiromo raised the idea again later in the show, speaking to Trump-era National Intelligence director John Ratcliffe about Biden’s supposed “soft approach” to China.
“This is so incredibly disturbing. Do you think there’s a coincidence that as soon as Comer comes out and exposes those bank records that suddenly Trump is going be indicted?,” the host said.
The Biden Family Drama Story
Per CNN, the Oversight Committee alleged that members of Biden’s family, including his brother James, son Hunter and Hallie Biden, the widow of his other son Beau, had received money from a payment from a China-based energy company called State Energy HK Limited. in 2017. President Biden was not listed among family members who received funds. Hunter had been romantically involved for a time with Hallie, following his brother’s death.
“Here we go again as Rep. Comer takes something old and tries to make it new by wrapping it in a wild and baseless right-wing conspiracy,” a spokesman for Hunter Biden’s legal team told CNN.
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“Hunter Biden, a private citizen with every right to pursue his own business endeavors, joined several business partners in seeking a joint venture with a privately-owned, legitimate energy company in China. As part of that joint venture, Hunter received his portion of good faith seed funds which he shared with his uncle, James Biden, and Hallie Biden, with whom he was involved with at the time, and sharing expenses.”
Expertise and Experience:
Stephen Silver is a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive. He is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
