Over the weekend I opined that the whole non-scandal involving Ukraine would probably wind up hurting Joe Biden rather than President Trump. Other than the facts as they have been explained so far constitute a nothingburger, the whole episode has to be viewed through the lens of electoral politics. While the GOP, outside those folks conserving conservatism while eating sugar coated jelly doughnuts at The Bulwark, has an interest in closing ranks and refusing to let this story get traction, on the other side of the ledger you have Democrat rivals of Joe Biden subtly pushing the corruption story behind the scenes.

In that story I pointed out about how some media personalities are saying that investigating Joe Biden’s business dealings is fair game.

CNN's John King on May 12th of this year: "Hunter Biden worked for a natural gas company in Ukraine, which is totally fair game. Did the vice president’s son use his dad’s influence to make money somewhere in the world? That's is totally fair game." pic.twitter.com/63qZ7tM60I

— Francis Brennan (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@FrancisBrennan) September 20, 2019

Here's @kenvogel of the New York Times saying on MSNBC that he views Joe Biden son's work in Ukraine as "a significant liability for Joe Biden."

"There is a story here," Vogel adds, saying "we're going to continue to, sort of, pull that back." (I'm sure Trump is very grateful!) pic.twitter.com/HSl90pk6Zn

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 20, 2019

Not wrong for reporters to want to establish whether there was some underlying misconduct w/Biden in Ukraine.

The problem with "but her emails!" coverage was with proportionality: treated as a campaign-defining scandal when it wasn't (& paled in comparison to Trump scandals).

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) September 21, 2019

The Hunter Biden stuff reminds me of the Clinton Foundation and Wall Street speaking fees. Democrats said allegations of corruption were conspiratorial. But general election voters aren’t stupid. Wealthy pols and their family getting corrupt cash is bad.

— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) September 21, 2019

Biden’s camp is trotting out all kinds of “Ukraine experts” to prove that Biden was totally correct in threatening to withhold appropriated funds from Ukraine if they did not leave his son alone, but I don’t think that story is going to stick. Not only are some Democrats in Congress saying the time has come for answers

House Democrat who endorsed Joe Biden says it's time for him to 'clear up' questions on son's Ukraine dealingshttps://t.co/HFRl8AUY8y

— Trump War Room – Text TRUMP to 88022 & get the APP (@TrumpWarRoom) September 23, 2019

but now at least one big name in the media is saying that there are unanswered questions:

Re Biden and his son and Ukraine: When Biden helped forced the firing of a Ukrainian prosecutor, all evidence suggests he was acting in furtherance of US policy. But why did his son have a board seat on a Ukrainian gas company while he was running point on Ukraine policy?

— Ken Dilanian (@KenDilanianNBC) September 22, 2019

“According to one official with ties to the company, Hunter Biden ’s compensation was around $50,000 a month. His position at the company expired in April 2019.” https://t.co/0f2l668XXT

— Ken Dilanian (@KenDilanianNBC) September 22, 2019

Here is an AP story from 2014 on Hunter Biden’s work for the gas company, quoting an ethics expert criticizing the arrangement as problematic. Just as experts have condemned what Trump and his family are doing on a far larger scale with their businesses. https://t.co/QD3NmVJzAk

— Ken Dilanian (@KenDilanianNBC) September 22, 2019

Here is a Hunter Biden/Ukraine primer for those just tuning in…”In Hunter Biden’s career from Ukraine to China, his father is often nearby” https://t.co/V7yUQX6Ted

— Ken Dilanian (@KenDilanianNBC) September 20, 2019

This is important. Delanian was the go-to guy for Fusion GPS in flogging the Russia Hoax. He’s not a bit player who can be intimidated, he’s has enough of a profile and enough links to the Democrat party that you can bet he’s not going rogue here. If anything, this gives the go ahead to lesser lights to investigate without fear of being cut off from the Mother Ship of mainstream journalism, the Democrat Party.

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