Court records from Hunter Biden’s imperiled plea deal with the Department of Justice (DOJ) divulge details on more than $2.6 million the first son received from China and affiliates of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Earlier, the DOJ announced a plea agreement with Mr. Biden, President Joe Biden’s son, whereby he would plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax crimes and would have a felony gun charge diverted.

During a July 26 hearing on his plea deal with the DOJ, Mr. Hunter Biden admitted to having received money from the Chinese energy firm CEFC. In exhibit 1 of his plea agreement, prosecutors went more in-depth on transactions between the first son, Chinese companies, and CCP affiliates.

Income received from such sources is listed as at least $2.6 million in all, however the total is likely substantially higher due to the combined way some of his income was listed in the document. Mr. Hunter Biden’s total income from foreign companies between 2017 and 2018 is confirmed by the sworn statement to have totaled roughly $4.9 million, in addition to $1 million in legal services for a CCP-affiliated Chinese national.

Though past reporting had already divulged information about Mr. Hunter Biden’s business dealings in China, the document, signed by the younger Biden himself, means that he has now affirmed having received such income under penalty of perjury.

The exhibit attached to the plea agreement details how, despite lucrative streams of income from various sources, Mr. Hunter Biden failed to pay his income tax bill to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for years.

First, the report details that Mr. Hunter Biden in 2017 received “just under $1 million from a company he formed with the CEO of a Chinese business conglomerate.”

The income flowed to Hudson West, a company Mr. Hunter Biden founded with Chinese businessman Ye Jianming in 2017.

That income came from CEFC China Energy Co. Ltd. (CEFC), an energy company founded by Mr. Ye for which Mr. Hunter Biden provided consultation and legal assistance. Mr. Ye and his company reportedly have close ties with the Chinese communist regime and the People’s Liberation Army.

In a 2020 Senate report on CEFC (pdf), Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) condemned CEFC as “an extension of the Chinese government … that … intended to alter U.S. policy and public opinion to its benefit.”

Mr. Grassley said the goal of CEFC was “[to] expand cooperation in the international energy economy and contribute to the national development.”

“The Chinese government would be the principal beneficiary of those actions,” Mr. Grassley wrote.

CEFC became China’s largest privately held oil company before it was caught in Beijing’s cross hairs in 2018. Mr. Ye was placed under investigation in February 2018 for “suspected economic crimes” and subsequently detained. Mr. Ye’s current whereabouts are unknown.

That same year, according to the court filings, Mr. Hunter Biden also received $1 million in legal fees from Patrick Ho, a former CCP government official who worked with CEFC. Mr. Ho was sentenced to three years in U.S. federal prison for crimes related to his activities at CEFC in 2019.

The court filings also show that Mr. Hunter Biden in 2017 received additional income of $664,000 from “a Chinese infrastructure investment company.” According to information listed in a September 2020 report by Mr. Grassley and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), that company was likely CEFC Infrastructure Investment LLC, a CEFC subsidiary (pdf).

https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_app/us/court-records-show-hunter-biden-received-millions-from-china-ccp-affiliates-5448816

The New York Times has warned that allowing the public to watch Donald Trump’s Jan 6 trial on television may lead to a shift in public opinion in the former President’s favor. Instead, the paper insists Americans should get their information on the proceedings through “experts”, echoing former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo’s ludicrous claims after the release of the Hillary Clinton e-mails in 2016. Author Nick Ackerman, a New York lawyer, claims the former president “could, through gestures or well-timed outbursts, try to use the broadcast to sway public opinion” – as if it would be wrong for a presidential challenger who believes his prosecution is politically motivated to make his case to the public – and undermine the trial’s supposed “solemnity”. “Televising the Trump trials is no substitute for contemporaneous expert legal reporting and analysis to provide the public with real transparency,” he argues, suggesting that, rather than being able to watch the trial unfold directly and make their own judgments, the American people should have their information on it filtered through various partisan talking heads on networks like CNN and MSNBC – and perhaps New York Times guest essayists like himself, too. Ackerman also cited his experience trying “mafia and organized crime cases” as a reason not to televise the trial, harping on themes such as “witness intimidation”.

https://thenationalpulse.com/2023/08/09/nyt-dont-televise-trump-trials-because-it-might-sway-public-opinion/

Mike and Kitty Burke are a Catholic couple from Massachusetts who have long wanted to become parents. Mike is an Iraq war veteran, Kitty is a former paraprofessional for special needs children, and together they run a small business and perform music for Mass. Unfortunately, the Burkes learned early on in their marriage that they would not be able to have children of their own. Mike and Kitty began exploring becoming foster parents through the state’s foster care program with the hope of caring for and eventually adopting children in need of a stable, loving home like theirs.

Children in foster care throughout Massachusetts are waiting for their forever family like the Burkes. The Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF) currently does not have enough foster homes or facilities to meet the needs of the children in its care, leaving over 1,500 children without a family. The crisis has become so extreme that the state has resorted to housing children in hospitals for weeks on end—not because the children need medical attention, but because the Commonwealth has nowhere else to put them. Now more than ever, Massachusetts needs loving couples like the Burkes to foster children in need.

When Mike and Kitty applied to become foster parents in 2022, they underwent hours of training, which they completed successfully. Their instructor reported their positive contributions in the class to DCF, noting that the couple helped to enrich the training program for other parents. The Burkes also underwent extensive interviews and a home study. Throughout this process, Mike and Kitty emphasized their willingness to foster children from diverse backgrounds and with special needs. They expressed their openness to fostering sibling groups, as well, so that children in need could maintain those critical family ties. In all respects, the Burkes were an ideal foster family.

During their home interviews, however, the Burkes were troubled that much of the questions centered on their Catholic views on sexual orientation, marriage, and gender dysphoria. In response to these questions, the Burkes emphasized that they would love and accept any child, no matter the child’s future sexual orientation or struggles with gender identity. However, because Mike and Kitty said they would continue to hold to their religious beliefs about gender and human sexuality, Massachusetts denied them a license to foster any child because, as the reviewer put it, “their faith is not supportive and neither are they.”

Federal law protects the ability of religious people and organizations to foster children in need without having to forfeit their beliefs. Because Massachusetts was unwilling to uphold law including in its own Foster Parent Bill of Rights—Becket is going to court to enforce them.

https://clashdaily.com/2023/08/catholic-couple-applying-to-raise-foster-children-hits-dcf-with-religious-discrimination-suit/

The first of four supporters of President Donald Trump to die on Jan. 6, 2021, received emergency medical care away from the fast-growing crowd on the U.S. Capitol’s west plaza—before any explosive munitions were used by police—new security video reveals.

Capitol Police closed-circuit-television (CCTV) footage obtained by The Epoch Times calls into question the popular narrative that Benjamin James Philips was struck by a police munition before he collapsed from a fatal cardiac event.

Mr. Philips, 50, of Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, had organized a busload of area residents to travel to Washington for Mr. Trump’s speech at the Ellipse. He followed the bus in a van.

He got separated from the group when he drove away to search for parking. He got as far as the U.S. Capitol that day but never made it back home.

It has long been contended that Mr. Philips’s death was related to police riot munitions. A popular version of the story is that he was in the thick of the quickly expanding crowd on the west plaza beneath the inauguration stage when he was struck by an explosive munition tossed or shot by police.

A large sign with an artist's sketch of Mr. Philips is often seen at Jan. 6 events contending that he was “murdered by Capitol Police.”

However, the previously unreleased CCTV video, which was obtained by The Epoch Times from a Capitol Police database, shows that an unconscious Mr. Philips was tended to by protesters behind the large scaffolding complex on the west side, away from the main crowd.

A west dome security camera shows the small area where Mr. Philips later collapsed was breached by the crowd at 12:58:52, shortly after a much larger crowd breached the iron fence protecting the west plaza. Several bike-rack barricades were pushed over as the crowd surged forward.

The camera isn't zoomed in, so distinguishing details is difficult, but the video appears to show someone stumbling and falling at 12:59:17 in the spot where Mr. Philips was later seen. Bystanders began to gather around the downed individual.

The zoomed-in video of Mr. Philips’s rescue attempt begins at 1:02:51 p.m. That's the time that the U.S. Capitol Police Command Center trained one of its security cameras on the area where he fell. While the closeup video doesn't show the moment Mr. Philips collapsed, it picks up shortly after bystanders rendered medical aid and started CPR.

The first Capitol Police radio call for help was broadcast at 1:04 p.m., according to Jan. 6, 2021, audio recordings obtained by The Epoch Times.

“Can you please have someone respond to my location with an AED [automated external defibrillator]? The bottom of the west front with an individual that’s down here, unconscious and not breathing,” a female officer broadcast on the main U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) radio channel.

According to CCTV footage reviewed by The Epoch Times, the first police munitions on Jan. 6, 2021, weren't used on the west front crowd until 1:10 p.m., about 10 minutes after the first breach of police lines near the Peace Monument. This was moments before Mr. Trump finished his speech at the Ellipse, which is two miles from the Capitol.

Capitol Police Deputy Chief Eric Waldow ordered "less-than-lethal" force to be used on the crowd just prior to 1:06 p.m., according to police radio transmissions obtained by The Epoch Times. It wasn't until nearly five minutes later that force was actually used.

"I got a crowd fighting with officers, pushing, throwing projectiles," Deputy Chief Waldow broadcast. "I have given warnings about chemical munitions. I need the less-than-lethal team positioned above me to identify the agitators and start deploying. Launch, launch, launch!"

https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/exclusive-security-video-challenges-the-narrative-on-first-man-to-die-at-capitol-on-jan-6-post-5452312

>>19329140

part 2

Security video shows that the iron railing and fence blocking access to the west plaza was breached by protesters at 12:58:41 p.m. Thousands of people quickly filled the plaza.

The first use of explosive force occurred on the south end of the plaza—the opposite side of the west front, where Mr. Philips went down.

Overhead CCTV video footage reviewed by The Epoch Times shows that there were no police munitions used on the north side of the plaza until 20 minutes after Mr. Philips collapsed. By this time, Mr. Philips was in a D.C. Fire and EMS Department ambulance.

The first munitions on that side of the plaza went off far back in the crowd at 1:21 p.m. At 1:25 p.m., two flashes were seen just north of the center of the plaza. Seconds later, two more powerful explosions cleared a circle around where the munitions dropped. This set off visible rage among the protesters.

Over the next hour, more than 40 munitions exploded in the crowd, most of them in the northern half of the west plaza, bodycam and security video footage shows.

A woman who appeared to have a medical kit took charge of performing CPR on Mr. Philips. She took turns doing chest compressions with a U.S. Capitol Police officer.

“Be advised that the person on the northwest side of the upper west terrace is now receiving CPR,” a male USCP officer told the police Command Center. “Have the ambulance come down the northwest sidewalk.”

A man in full camouflage tactical gear standing nearby extended his left hand in prayer and was joined by several others in the crowd.

A group of bystanders appeared to offer opinions on how best to provide advanced life support for Mr. Philips, the video footage shows.

A Capitol Police officer was concerned that the crowd was getting too agitated.

“We need this ambulance,” he said over the USCP radio at 1:13 p.m. “We’re about to lose control of this crowd down here.”

At about 1:15 p.m., an out-of-breath officer announced that the D.C. Fire and EMS Department rescue squad wouldn't come down to the scaffolding where Mr. Philips lay on the sidewalk.

“They are bringing the patient up to the ambulance right now,” he shouted on the radio. “They are refusing to come down.”

Another officer said, “The group is carrying the individual up to the ambulance up the northwest drive.”

A dozen or so bystanders and police officers laid a section of bicycle rack flat on the sidewalk. After placing Mr. Philips on it, the group lifted the rack and carried it like a battlefield stretcher.

A woman straddled Mr. Philips and continued CPR as the group carried them about 100 yards up the sidewalk to rescue Squad 18. They turned Mr. Philips over to paramedics at 1:19 p.m.

According to the District of Columbia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Mr. Philips died from a stroke. His manner of death was listed by the pathologist, Dr. Fernando Diaz, as "natural," and the cause was hypertensive atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

Mr. Philips was a self-employed computer programmer and toy inventor. He founded Trumparoo LLC, which marketed a line of Trump-inspired toys that went on sale in 2020.

The "Trumparoo" was a kangaroo bedecked with a swirling Trumpian coiffure. He developed a Trumparoo social-media-style website where owners of the toys could communicate.

Mr. Philips got the idea after seeing actress Alyssa Milano post on social media about Trumpy Bear, a stuffed toy with Trump's signature hairstyle and red tie.

"I thought a kangaroo would be even better than a bear," Mr. Philips told the local Press Enterprise newspaper in September 2020. "Kangaroos are fighters."

He developed other characters in the Trumparoo line, including "Fightin' Trumparoo the Heavyweight," "Fightin' Trumparoo the Hippo," and "Count Trumpula."

https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/exclusive-security-video-challenges-the-narrative-on-first-man-to-die-at-capitol-on-jan-6-post-5452312

>>19329193

part 3

Mr. Philips organized a rally in Bloomsburg on Nov. 14, 2020, to protest election fraud. At about the same time, he established the website ScummyDemocrats.com, which carried his views about the 2020 presidential election. He called the site the Scummy Democrat Accountability Project. The home page headline read: "Remember What They Did."

On Jan. 6, 2021, he drove a van to Washington while other Trump supporters went on a motor coach. He told a Philadelphia newspaper that he was eager to hear what Mr. Trump had to say at the Ellipse.

"It seems like he called us there for a reason," Mr. Philips said. "I think something big's about to go down that no one's talking about yet. I think he has an ace up his sleeve."

He spoke openly about election fraud and the meaning of the forthcoming rally with Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Julia Terruso. In an interview with her during the ride to Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, he spoke what turned out to be prophetic words.

"It seems like the first day of the rest of our lives, to be honest," Mr. Philips said. "They should name this Year Zero because something will happen."

https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/exclusive-security-video-challenges-the-narrative-on-first-man-to-die-at-capitol-on-jan-6-post-5452312

>>19329297

>>19329340

thank you making notable my posts about benjamin philips who was 1st to die on j6