Washington Wednesday - A question of influence

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s Wednesday the 6th of April, 2022.

Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Myrna Brown.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Up first: foreign payouts to Hunter Biden.

For more than a year, Democrats have dismissed reports about troubling findings on a laptop computer that belonged to President Biden’s son. They called those reports Russian disinformation and media stories amplified that theme.

But last week, Republican Senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson released documents that show lucrative payments to Hunter Biden from foreign oligarchs. Grassley told his Senate colleagues:

GRASSLEY: Senator Johnson and I will produce new records to show additional connections between the Biden family and communist Chinese regime.

Here now to talk about what those records revealed and why it matters is Zack Smith. He’s a lawyer and former federal appellate law clerk and a former assistant U.S. Attorney.

BROWN: Zack, good morning.

ZACK SMITH, GUEST: Good morning. Thank you for having me on.

BROWN: First of all, Zack, give us a brief overview of this entire ordeal for those who have not kept up with it. Hunter Biden, the 52-year-old son of President Biden, left his laptop at a repair shop, and what happened next?

SMITH: Well, if you'll remember what happened next is essentially the story was suppressed by the mainstream media in many of those on in the tech world. For a while, remember Twitter was censoring many stories that talked about Hunter Biden's laptop. The New York Post was even temporarily suspended because they had the audacity to report on this story? Well, what we're learning now is Lo and behold, that reporting was accurate, that in fact, Hunter Biden's laptop did exist, and that there are some very troubling documents and information on that laptop. You know, specifically, I think what is troubling many of the people who have seen those documents and had a chance to review it, are emails and other information related to Hunter Biden's business activities. You know, he maintained many business activities with foreign corporations doing business across the globe. And so anytime someone with a close relationship to a high ranking government official has those types of relationships, I think it's very important to understand what they are, how that person is being compensated, and whether essentially, what's being done is a type of influence peddling, which is, you know, a very troubling thing indeed.

BROWN: Okay, so before these documents that Senators Grassley and Johnson just released, what was revealed about Hunter Biden’s foreign connections?

SMITH: Well, he had a lot of foreign connections with businesses everywhere from Ukraine, to China. And so I think it is very important to understand exactly what those relationships were, how Hunter was compensated, whether he was either in reality or in perception, trying to sell influence and access based on his father's governmental position, his father's reputation, and to understand what steps we as a country can take in the future to prevent this. You know, there is a law on the books, the Foreign Agents Registration Act - FARA, as it's commonly referred to - there were a spate of high profile prosecutions related to this at the tail end of the Trump administration coming out of the Special Counsel’s investigation. And so I think it'd be very important and interesting to find out whether Hunter ever registered under FARA, whether he ever had an obligation to do so, and whether the government ever corresponded with him about a potential FARA violation. All of that would be very important and very interesting information to find out.

BROWN: How is the White House defending this?

SMITH: Well, so far, they're essentially sticking their head in the sand and ignoring that is happening. You know, you recall Joe Biden throughout the years has defended Hunter very vigorously. When he was running for office, he essentially said several times that he didn't talk about Hunter’s business dealings with him or something to that effect. And so I think as more information comes out, it's going to become more and more difficult for the White House to continue to ignore this. There's also reports that a grand jury, a federal grand jury in Delaware, is investigating some of these business activities, that that grand jury is currently calling in witnesses to give sworn testimony about some of these activities. And so I think what that investigation reveals, what continues to come out over the next several weeks and months will really shape the White House's response. But I don't think they can continue to deny or simply ignore the existence of this information for much longer.

BROWN: Republicans have asserted that Hunter Biden’s actions and business deals could have led to blackmail of the president. How so?

SMITH: Well, certainly. I mean, look, anytime you have an attempt to peddle influence, anytime you have, potentially, suspected business transactions that can lead to blackmail opportunities. And think back - part of what we're seeing coming out isn't just emails or information about business transactions. They're also pictures on the laptop that appeared to catch Hunter in some compromising positions, or certainly cast him in an unflattering light. And so anytime a foreign government or someone else has that type of derogatory information about a high ranking government official or a family member of a high ranking government official, an opportunity for blackmail certainly exists. And that's part of the reason, you know, we have these registration requirements under the Foreign Agents Registration Act and other statutes, as well to make sure that, you know, we, as the American people can know who is funding a lot of the information that is coming into our country and being injected into our political discourse.

BROWN: Is anyone saying, “Hey this is potentially a criminal matter?” Or is it strictly an ethical and political concern?

SMITH: Well, it's certainly an ethical and political concern. It could become a criminal matter, though, as well. You know, I mentioned earlier, a federal grand jury in Delaware that was investigating this matter. A grand jury is the mechanism by which federal prosecutors can conduct investigations. It's the mechanism by which they can get sworn testimony from witnesses, and the grand jury is inherently a mechanism of our criminal justice system. And so depending on what comes out in that investigation, depending on what proof prosecutors can find, there certainly could be potential criminal violations that Hunter or others could be looking at as well.

BROWN: Okay, Zack Smith has been our guest. He is a legal fellow in the Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation. Zack, thanks so much!

SMITH: Of course, thank you for having me on.

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