Joe Biden May Have 'Fostered' Family's Corruption, Legal Analyst Warns

Legal analyst Jonathan Turley paints a stark picture of President Joe Biden and his family as corrupt "grifters" and "influence peddlers."

Turley, a professor of public interest law at the George Washington University Law School, said the Bidens are leaning into the "grifter defense" because it makes any alleged crimes or improper business dealings look less serious.

However, Turley told Newsweek, grifting is still corruption.

"If the president knew his family was engaged in 'influence peddling,' the president by definition is corrupt. The current defense doesn't have the legs to carry the president out of the scandal," Turley said via a telephone interview on Saturday. "Factually, it's becoming more difficult to see how the president wasn't aware of the influence peddling."

Throughout a recent column, Turley makes comparisons to lovable professor Harold Hill, the lead character in the movie, "The Music Man," who uses his charm to rip off townspeople, promising to train members of a new band.

"The Biden grifter defense is an effort to get the public to think less of the coked-up Henry Hill in 'Goodfellas' and more of the lovable professor Harold Hill in 'The Music Man,' the charming rascal ripping off hayseeds by selling marching bands," Turley writes. "The problem is that it is still corruption, and the President may have not only known about it but fostered it."

Newsweek reached out to Biden's office via email for comment. The president has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, and the White House has accused Republicans of spreading baseless accusations.

Hunter Biden, the president's son, has caused a host of issues for the White House, the Democratic Party and Biden's reelection campaign. House Republicans have seized on his foreign business dealings in an effort to launch an impeachment inquiry into the president.

House Republicans have subpoenaed Hunter as part of the probe, requesting that he appear for a closed-door testimony, which he said he would not do during a recent appearance on Capitol Hill, instead offering to provide testimony in a public hearing.

Hunter faces nine federal tax-related charges, as well as three federal gun charges.

Meanwhile, it was recently revealed that James Biden, the president's brother, was caught on an FBI audiotape in a corruption investigation, while Ashley Biden, the president's daughter, is facing demands for unpaid taxes.

Turley, who has been documenting issues related to influence peddling for decades, writes that James' upcoming appearance before the House could solidify this new line of defense: that the Bidens are "harmless grifters." He also argues that by "selling influence" and by peddling Joe Biden's name to foreign clients, they were able to make millions as a collective.

Turley says the FBI tape shows how the Bidens have marketed their name and access.

The FBI surveillance occurred in the bribery investigation into Mississippi trial attorney Richard Scruggs, who eventually went to prison. Scruggs said he paid $100,000 to James Biden when he was seeking to reinforce support for tobacco legislation.

Scruggs told the Washington Post recently, "I probably wouldn't have hired [James Biden] if he wasn't the senator's brother." Joe Biden served as a senator for Delaware from 1973 until 2009, when he became vice president under former President Barack Obama.

Turley compares this incident to Hunter Biden's business associate, Devon Archer, admitting they were selling the "Biden brand," in an alleged bribery scheme with executives from Burisma, the Ukrainian energy firm in which Hunter Biden served as a board member.

Turley said, Joe Biden's previous and current denials about direct involvement in Hunter's business deals could eventually fall flat.

"They need to recognize this narrative may help with the immediate news cycles, but ultimately, it could collapse in any real impeachment fight," he told Newsweek. "The best defense is actually the opposite of the current, showing he (Joe Biden) took clear steps to prevent his family from using its name and office to acquire payments from foreign assets and other sources.

"The problem is, they've been so busy denying that it's not clear any of those steps were taken."

Turley wrote in his column, investigations into the Biden family, and Joe Biden, especially, are going to come down to "knowledge."

"Under federal case law, money and gifts going to one's family is often treated as a benefit for the purposes of corruption or bribery. Indeed, many of the current Democratic members previously voted that money going to family members of a judge was impeachable," he said. "It is highly implausible that the president did not know about the influence peddling. There were news articles on the allegations, and the Biden family has been accused of influence peddling for decades. It is a virtual family business."