Top Oversight Dem Raskin says Hunter Biden did ‘really unlawful and wrong things’

 Top Democrats on the House Oversight Committee gently dinged Hunter Biden on Sunday while distancing President Biden from his son’s scandals.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), ranking member on the Oversight panel, argued politicians should let the “justice system run its course” — conceding Hunter Biden did “wrong things.”

“It does seem clear that this guy was addicted to drugs and did a lot of really unlawful and wrong things,” Raskin told ABC’s “This Week.”

On Friday, US Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that Delaware US Attorney David Weiss would be granted special counsel authority to investigate Hunter Biden.

The announcement came in the wake of congressional testimony from IRS whistleblowers alleging political favoritism in the federal probe and the implosion of Hunter Biden’s plea deal last month.

Raskin acknowledged the federal investigation of the elder Biden was “bumpy,” but indicated he still has faith in the system.

Jamie Raskin also pointed to Jared Kushner’s $2 billion deal with Saudi Arabia after leaving the White House.

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“This is why we have a Justice Department. Let’s just let them do their job,” he said.

The Maryland Democrat contended the crumbled plea dead for Hunter over tax and firearm charges paved the way for the special counsel appointment.

“And with the collapse of the plea agreement that he had apparently worked out with Hunter Biden, now he wants to be certain that he’s got the authority to go bring charges wherever he wants,” Raskin said, referring to Weiss.

After a judge tore into the initial plea pact, Hunter Biden ultimately pleaded not guilty last month to two misdemeanors charges for willful failure to pay federal income taxes and a felony illegal possession of a firearm while addicted to illicit drugs.

Fellow Oversight colleague Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) steered clear of bashing Hunter Biden outright, but acknowledged allegations from Hunter’s longtime business partner Devon Archer that the first son leveraged the family brand for financial gain.

Dan Goldman commended President Biden for not interfering in the inquiry of his son.

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“I think that same witness also made very clear that they never discussed business [and] that Hunter Biden was trying to promote an illusion of access to his father for his own reasons,” Goldman told CNN’s “State of the Union”.

“That’s Hunter Biden. And you can make it whatever judgment you want to make about whether that was appropriate or not,” he added, distancing President Biden from the ordeal.

The New York congressman emphasized the “only official action” the elder Biden took related to his son’s business dealings was to push for the ouster of Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin, who was investigating Burisma Holdings.

“It was detrimental to Burisma as Devon Archer, this new star witness for the Republicans, said because the Burisma had the corrupt prosecutor general — and I quote — the witness under control,” Goldman said.

President Biden insists that he loves and his proud of his son Hunter despite all the political drama that’s been kicked up.

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Shokin had been probing Burisma, an energy giant whose board Hunter sat on.

Goldman also juxtaposed Democrats’ handling of Hunter Biden with Republicans’ reaction to the indictments against former President Donald Trump.

“If Hunter Biden has committed crimes, he should be charged with them. I’m a Democrat saying that,” said.

“You don’t hear any currently elected Republicans saying that if Donald Trump committed crimes, he should be charged,” he added. “That’s a critical distinction that the public needs to understand.”

Both Raskin and Goldman underscored that Weiss was appointed to his Delaware post by Trump.

The White House has maintained the president hasn’t discussed his son’s dealings.

“I never talked business with anybody,” President Biden told a reporter last week.

Meanwhile, congressional Republicans are ratcheting up their scrutiny of the Biden family.

On Wednesday, the Oversight Committee highlighted financial records and revealed the Biden family and its allies raked in at least $20 million from foreign sources — including in Russia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine.

President Biden is also facing a special counsel investigation of his own from Robert Hur, who’s probing the president’s handling of classified documents.

https://nypost.com/2023/08/13/top-oversight-democrat-jamie-raskin-says-hunter-biden-did-really-unlawful-and-wrong-things/

NYC 'vax equity' plan to screen seniors, disabled more widely

Mayor Eric Adams’ administration is launching a new “vaccine equity” campaign aimed at persuading thousands of older and disabled New York City residents to get their updated COVID-19 and flu shots this fall and winter.

The NYC Community Partnerships for Vaccine Access and Equity (CompPass) will launch the outreach effort to distribute the shots in the South Bronx, Far Rockaway in Queens and the Brooklyn neighborhoods of East New York, Brownsville, Coney Island, Sheepshead Bay and Brighton Beach.

The city Health Department’s fundraising arm, the Fund for Public Health put out a request for bids to operate in those zip codes.

The six-month initiative will begin in September, and allocate $394,500 to hire three community or faith-based groups that will conduct on-the-ground efforts to connect with seniors and residents with disabilities and encourage them to vax up.

The effort to boost inoculation rates is also being supported by federal funding through the National Council on Aging.

“Selected community and/or faith-based organizations (C/FBOs) will support a fall 2023/winter 2024 vaccination campaign to boost protection and limit the anticipated flu and COVID-19 surge,” the Health Department proposal says.

City Hall is launching a “vaccine equity” campaign to encourage seniors and disabled New Yorkers to get the COVID-19 and flu vaccines this fall and winter.

AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File

“The goal is to increase the number of older adults (OA) and persons living with disabilities (PLWD) receiving COVID-19 and Influenza ‘flu’ vaccinations.”

The proposal adds: “Wherever possible, vaccine champions will be ethnically, culturally, demographically, and age-appropriate for the target populations which promotes messaging credibility and raises community confidence.”

In May, the COVID-19 emergency was officially declared over. But the coronavirus is still a significant concern, according to some in the medical community, and in some places, cases have been rising.

The city vax campaign comes on the heels of the state Health Department reporting a double-digit spike in both COVID-19 cases and hospital admissions across the country.

The initiative includes hiring community or faith-based groups to connect with disabled and senior citizens and encourage them to get vaccinated.

Ricardo Rolon/The News-Press via AP

More than 80,000 New Yorkers and over 1 million Americans have died from COVID-19, though fatalities have slowed considerably with vaccines and drug treatment that helped end the pandemic.

However, the elderly and residents with pre-existing medical conditions are more vulnerable to getting sick or dying from COVID-19 or the flu.

Meanwhile, a new variant — dubbed EG.5, or eris — has arisen as the dominant strain, causing about 17% of COVID cases nationwide, according to a new alert from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

This new initiative is part of the city Public Health Corps (PHC) whose mission is to help communities that were disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which typically have lower vaccination rates than the citywide average.

The Mayor’s Taskforce on Racial Inclusion and Equity will also be involved in the campaign.

“In addition to the deliverables of the contract, the executive leadership of selected
contractors is expected to work with the NYC Health Department on strengthening capacity of
and building trust with communities that have been disproportionately harmed by COVID-19,” health department officials said.

The contractors will target at least 9,000 older New Yorkers and persons with disabilities in the selected neighborhoods — 2,700 in The Bronx; 4,500 in Brooklyn and 1,800 in Far Rockaway.

The effort includes conducting street canvassing and sponsoring community outreach and vaccine events, distributing 51,100 pieces of literature, making 31,100 phone texts, and arranging or scheduling ride-sharing and Access-A-Ride trips for seniors and residents with disabilities to get their shots.

The Health Department must approve the contractors’ educational materials for medical accuracy before release.

The contractors also must screen the targeted seniors and disabled for other health issues and refer them to the proper medical providers in a broader bid to bolster health outcomes.

A Health Department spokesman said of the vaxx campaign, “COVID and flu can be serious for many New Yorkers and vaccination could be the difference between a few days recovering at home and a few days in the hospital. We will continue to promote vaccines to protect New Yorkers.”

https://nypost.com/2023/08/13/nyc-launches-covid-flu-shot-campaign-for-seniors-disabled-residents/

Erie County refuses NYC migrants after two sex assaults at Buffalo-area hotels

 A top upstate Dem official and previous vocal supporter of housing migrants there now says he will refuse additional resettlements — after a second local alleged sex assault involving an asylum-seeker.

The frustrated pol, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, added that the National Guard will start providing security at the three hotels-turned-migrant shelters in Cheektowaga in Erie within a day or two, after he learned the facilities are not safe, according to a weekend report.

Poloncarz said the county’s “trust and good faith has been betrayed,” including potentially by the New York City-hired firm paid hundreds of millions of dollars to oversee the relocation of migrants from the Big Apple to other areas.

The county exec said the company, DocGo, “may have interfered” with a Cheektowaga police investigation into the second assault case, which involves a hotel-worker victim. 

“I demanded [New York City] Mayor [Eric] Adams pause all further transportation of asylum-seekers to our community until such time as we can resolve all security issues,” Poloncarz said during a Saturday press conference, according to Spectrum News.

“He agreed and informed me they will not send any additional persons to Erie County at this time,” the official said. “We also discussed the need for a new and improved security plan.”

About 540 asylum-seekers have been brought to Erie County to ease the Big Apple’s flood of migrants. Some local officials had already been calling for them to be removed from the hotels-turned-shelters, saying the migrants hadn’t been vetted properly in terms of safety and that the communities couldn’t handle the influx.

Last week, a migrant from Venezuela who was bussed from New York City to a Cheektowaga hotel was charged with raping a woman in front of a 3-year-old child at the site.

Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said Erie County’s “trust and good faith has been betrayed.”

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Then an asylum-seeker from the Democratic Republic of the Congo was arrested Friday and is being charged with sex abuse and unlawful imprisonment after allegedly sexually assaulting an employee inside the Best Western hotel in Cheektowaga near Buffalo Airport.

“Erie County opened its arms to try to welcome these new Americans,” said Poloncarz — who in May scoffed at issuing a declaration of emergency as some other counties did to try to prevent the migrants being bussed in.

“Unfortunately we believe we can’t make the program, as it is presently run, sustainable without significant changes,” the county exec said Saturday.

New York City has sent close to 540 asylum seekers to Erie County.

Polaris

Migrants wait in long and slow lines to be processed at the Roosevelt Hotel in midtown Manhattan.

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“Our refugee agencies did their best to provide support and assistance. But our community’s trust and good faith has been betrayed,” he said.

The second migrant-hotel sex-assault victim was a 27-year-old woman from Buffalo who was working at the Best Western and employed by Platinum Community Care, one of the agencies providing services to the migrants, said Cheektowaga Police Department Chief Brian Gould. 

“I’m asking for the immediate discontinued use of the Best Western hotel on Dingens Street,” Gould said Saturday. “The hotel is located in a residential neighborhood and is causing not only safety concerns to nearby residents but also quality-of-life issues. 

An asylum seeker allegedly sexually assaulted an employee inside the Best Western hotel in Cheektowaga.

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“I’m calling for extra funding to cover overtime shifts so that we can increase police presence in the community around the hotels.”

A rep for the governor told The Post in a statementSunday, “Sexual assault is a horrific crime. 

“The Governor is grateful to Erie County law enforcement for their work in this matter and has directed State personnel to provide all necessary support.”

As for DocGo, Hochul has already said her staff is looking into whether the company – which was awarded a massive $432 million contract by the Adams administration to relocate migrants upstate – has allegedly mistreated and misled asylum-seekers. 

Another migrant was charged with raping a woman in front of a 3-year-old child at another Cheektowaga hotel.

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DocGo said in a statement to The Post on Sunday, “The safety and wellbeing of all employees and guests on site are paramount. 

“We are providing support to the staff still on site and remain focused on the individual directly impacted. DocGo has fully cooperated with authorities throughout the investigation and will continue to do so.”

A rep for Adams said in a statement about Poloncarz’s move, “As we’ve been saying for months, we are in the midst of a humanitarian crisis, having opened approximately 200 emergency sites to serve almost 100,000 asylum seekers that have arrived in our city.

“Every day, we receive hundreds of additional asylum seekers and we are out of space. New York City has done and will continue to do its part, but we need counties, cities, and towns across the state to do their part as well, especially when New York City is willing to pay for shelter, food, and more.

“We are appreciative of all our partners across the state, especially in Erie County, who are stepping up and doing their part to meet the needs of asylum seekers,” the e-mailed statement said.

“This past week, we held a call with our counterparts in the state to discuss where we can move families with school-aged children as the school year approaches. As a result, we have been and will continue to make the necessary adjustments and movements with all of our populations to ensure we have the space necessary to meet the needs of families with children.”

https://nypost.com/2023/08/13/ny-erie-county-denies-nyc-migrants-amid-sex-assaults-by-buffalo/