Nicole Sandler and I are taking another week off. But LOLGOP finished the next installment of our Ball of Thread series — this one tracing Rudy Giuliani’s effort to frame Joe Biden.
https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Ball-of-Thread.webp626626emptywheelhttps://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Logo-Web.pngemptywheel2024-11-29 13:34:382024-11-29 13:34:38Ball of Thread: Rudy’s Hunter Biden Witch Hunt
6replies
zscoreUSA says:
Are you going to cover the new tax charges against Smirnov?
There are some relevant dates added surrounding ETT’s payments to Smirnov.
Feb: Smirnov opens Avalon bank account, which the indictment refers to Avalon as his “alter ego”
August: ETT makes agreement with Avalon to pay $1.35M and 135k shares of ETT in exchange for shares of Avalon . Avalon is worthless, so Smirnov gives ETT shares of bitoftrade instead
9/22: 1st payment from ETT to Smirnov/Avalon, $600k which we already knew about; occurs a week after Brady submitted his report to DOJ
12/14: the rest of the money, $750k sent from ETT to Smirnov/Avalon
Also, I’m struggling to follow along with Manafort’s role here, with this specific line, the allegations of Biden receiving a bribe.
Is there an article here with the same content about Manafort talked about in the video? That might be easier for me to follow the specific details.
I’ve been trying to look at specifically the narrative of the allegations of Biden himself taking a bribe by Zlochevsky, which is central to the Smirnov FBI statement.
For example, here is an OANN documentary, originally airing 8/29/20, about Biden Bribes and Ukraine, where they added 5 hours of secret tapes to the 5/19/20 Derkach tapes.
During this documentary, OANN frames the bribery as Biden bribing Poroshenko with the Billion $ loan guarantees. Same narrative looking at contemporary social media narratives.
However, in the video, Rudy is interviewed and he describes the bribe as Zlochevsky bribing Biden to fire Shokin for protection. So really, only Rudy is saying that. Which matches Smirnov, which *theoretically* Rudy has no idea about. But really only makes sense to me if Rudy is intimately familiar with Smirnov and Brady.
Remember, Rudy also stated on 2/4/20 in a podcast interview, that Biden received a bribe from “the big guy” who owns Burisma, which would be Zlochevsky.
Rudy also says in this 8/29/20 video, that the allegations have been there for “3 years”. Which would be 2017. I don’t know where he is getting that. Is he making a reference to Smirnov 2017 FBI report? A narrative from Paul Manafort which is either not public or not a viral narrative? The Biden CFR comments about, well son of a bitch l they fired the prosecutor, were January 2018. And then didn’t really get much traction on social media, until Spring 2019.
According both Lev and Mac Isaac’s claims, the universe coincidentally aligned them to overtly push Hunter Biden Ukraine digital materials within a couple hours of each other. Lev claims he was en route to get a Hunter hard drive from Firtash when he was arrested. Mac Isaac claims he mailed his dad a copy of the hard drive and then the dad went to FBI.. on the same day, Wednesday, October 9, 2019.
For context here, when Marcy is discussing John Paul Mac Isaac and the conflicting dates on when he reaches out to FBI, and miraculously its just 2 hours before Lev is arrested en route to get a different Hunter hard drive. Shapley’s notes indicate the dad went to FBI on October 16.
1. The FBI date is exactly 1 week later than JPMI stated date. In his book, JPMI goes on and on about his routines which vary day by day, his shop opens or closes at different times, which effects his route walking home, which effects his recollection of when a phone conversation with his dad would have occurred. So he could potentially claim he just misremembered the exact date but knew which day of the week.
2. When Lev was arrested, the effort was thwarted for Hannity to interview Shokin. One of Hannity’s producers, who would have helped arrange that interview, was later imported by Miranda Devine in April 2020 to the NY Post, where she would, as a rookie reporter, pen the bombshell Hunter laptop story in October.
3. Lev’s claim that he was actually on the way to get a Hunter hard drive when he was arrested, is a new claim. This claim started in 2023 as part of his information operation to get left wingers to believe Russia was responsible for the Hunter Biden laptop that went through Mac Isaac and Rudy- an operation that MSNBC appears to have willingly engaged. He has changed his story, first it was the FSB that compromised the laptop, now he says it was the GRU. Then he says it was actually Ablow where the Mac Isaac laptop came from. In contrast, in real time, October 2020, Lev did not mention that or the alleged Firtash hard drive. He even stated back in 2020 that the Russian theft of Hunter’s laptop was in 2014, not 2019, so unrelated to Mac Isaac. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/24/hunter-biden-hard-drive-lev-parnas-432108
I can’t say 100% what is going on with the JPMI dates, but I believe the week later FBI date makes more sense. For his dad to walk into the FBI office, just a couple hours before Lev is arrested, thwarting a similar plan targeting Biden and Ukraine, just too much of a coincidence. If really true, then that would even suggest to me an effort to sync the timing.
But, I think more likely, that when Lev was arrested, and whatever operation he & Rudy were engaging fell apart, that triggered some sort of back up plan involving the Mac Isaacs to get the laptop to the FBI.
Keep in mind, also, that JPMI claims in his book that first mailed the hard drive to his dad in September 2019 in a stuffed Garfield. But, under oath in his written statement in Mac Isaac v Hunter Biden, he admitted he didn’t give his dad the electronic data until 2/5/20, which is coincidentally the date Senate voted to acquit impeachment. So it appears that when the dad went to FBI Albuquerque, he didn’t already have a copy of the hard drive with him. Which matches Shapley’s notes that the “son is in possession” of the data and that the dad has not personally viewed it.
Which I believe indicates the Mac Isaac operation to get the Hunter laptop data out, which eventually came out in October 2020, was a lot of failed efforts along the way, plans B & C & D, finally they just gave up and pushed it through the NY Post. The NY Post with Devine even appears to have been setup from the beginning (based on hire dates, cover stories, etc), they tried to get to the public more organically, but more ethical journalists refused to print without fact checking, and then they all said f- it and released through the Post.
Are you going to cover the new tax charges against Smirnov?
There are some relevant dates added surrounding ETT’s payments to Smirnov.
Feb: Smirnov opens Avalon bank account, which the indictment refers to Avalon as his “alter ego”
August: ETT makes agreement with Avalon to pay $1.35M and 135k shares of ETT in exchange for shares of Avalon . Avalon is worthless, so Smirnov gives ETT shares of bitoftrade instead
9/22: 1st payment from ETT to Smirnov/Avalon, $600k which we already knew about; occurs a week after Brady submitted his report to DOJ
12/14: the rest of the money, $750k sent from ETT to Smirnov/Avalon
Yes. Probably next week.
Also, I’m struggling to follow along with Manafort’s role here, with this specific line, the allegations of Biden receiving a bribe.
Is there an article here with the same content about Manafort talked about in the video? That might be easier for me to follow the specific details.
I’ve been trying to look at specifically the narrative of the allegations of Biden himself taking a bribe by Zlochevsky, which is central to the Smirnov FBI statement.
For example, here is an OANN documentary, originally airing 8/29/20, about Biden Bribes and Ukraine, where they added 5 hours of secret tapes to the 5/19/20 Derkach tapes.
During this documentary, OANN frames the bribery as Biden bribing Poroshenko with the Billion $ loan guarantees. Same narrative looking at contemporary social media narratives.
However, in the video, Rudy is interviewed and he describes the bribe as Zlochevsky bribing Biden to fire Shokin for protection. So really, only Rudy is saying that. Which matches Smirnov, which *theoretically* Rudy has no idea about. But really only makes sense to me if Rudy is intimately familiar with Smirnov and Brady.
Remember, Rudy also stated on 2/4/20 in a podcast interview, that Biden received a bribe from “the big guy” who owns Burisma, which would be Zlochevsky.
Rudy also says in this 8/29/20 video, that the allegations have been there for “3 years”. Which would be 2017. I don’t know where he is getting that. Is he making a reference to Smirnov 2017 FBI report? A narrative from Paul Manafort which is either not public or not a viral narrative? The Biden CFR comments about, well son of a bitch l they fired the prosecutor, were January 2018. And then didn’t really get much traction on social media, until Spring 2019.
https://youtu.be/_YXzFfXOtTk
[DISCLAIMER: this is not an endorsement of OANN or Rudy Giuliani. This is an endorsement for analyzing the flow of information.]
Jim Comer has a book out on his failed Biden impeachment.
MAGAs have taken shameless grifting to record lows.
According both Lev and Mac Isaac’s claims, the universe coincidentally aligned them to overtly push Hunter Biden Ukraine digital materials within a couple hours of each other. Lev claims he was en route to get a Hunter hard drive from Firtash when he was arrested. Mac Isaac claims he mailed his dad a copy of the hard drive and then the dad went to FBI.. on the same day, Wednesday, October 9, 2019.
For context here, when Marcy is discussing John Paul Mac Isaac and the conflicting dates on when he reaches out to FBI, and miraculously its just 2 hours before Lev is arrested en route to get a different Hunter hard drive. Shapley’s notes indicate the dad went to FBI on October 16.
1. The FBI date is exactly 1 week later than JPMI stated date. In his book, JPMI goes on and on about his routines which vary day by day, his shop opens or closes at different times, which effects his route walking home, which effects his recollection of when a phone conversation with his dad would have occurred. So he could potentially claim he just misremembered the exact date but knew which day of the week.
2. When Lev was arrested, the effort was thwarted for Hannity to interview Shokin. One of Hannity’s producers, who would have helped arrange that interview, was later imported by Miranda Devine in April 2020 to the NY Post, where she would, as a rookie reporter, pen the bombshell Hunter laptop story in October.
3. Lev’s claim that he was actually on the way to get a Hunter hard drive when he was arrested, is a new claim. This claim started in 2023 as part of his information operation to get left wingers to believe Russia was responsible for the Hunter Biden laptop that went through Mac Isaac and Rudy- an operation that MSNBC appears to have willingly engaged. He has changed his story, first it was the FSB that compromised the laptop, now he says it was the GRU. Then he says it was actually Ablow where the Mac Isaac laptop came from. In contrast, in real time, October 2020, Lev did not mention that or the alleged Firtash hard drive. He even stated back in 2020 that the Russian theft of Hunter’s laptop was in 2014, not 2019, so unrelated to Mac Isaac.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/24/hunter-biden-hard-drive-lev-parnas-432108
I can’t say 100% what is going on with the JPMI dates, but I believe the week later FBI date makes more sense. For his dad to walk into the FBI office, just a couple hours before Lev is arrested, thwarting a similar plan targeting Biden and Ukraine, just too much of a coincidence. If really true, then that would even suggest to me an effort to sync the timing.
But, I think more likely, that when Lev was arrested, and whatever operation he & Rudy were engaging fell apart, that triggered some sort of back up plan involving the Mac Isaacs to get the laptop to the FBI.
Keep in mind, also, that JPMI claims in his book that first mailed the hard drive to his dad in September 2019 in a stuffed Garfield. But, under oath in his written statement in Mac Isaac v Hunter Biden, he admitted he didn’t give his dad the electronic data until 2/5/20, which is coincidentally the date Senate voted to acquit impeachment. So it appears that when the dad went to FBI Albuquerque, he didn’t already have a copy of the hard drive with him. Which matches Shapley’s notes that the “son is in possession” of the data and that the dad has not personally viewed it.
Which I believe indicates the Mac Isaac operation to get the Hunter laptop data out, which eventually came out in October 2020, was a lot of failed efforts along the way, plans B & C & D, finally they just gave up and pushed it through the NY Post. The NY Post with Devine even appears to have been setup from the beginning (based on hire dates, cover stories, etc), they tried to get to the public more organically, but more ethical journalists refused to print without fact checking, and then they all said f- it and released through the Post.