Release the Biden tapes

Some people will argue against releasing the audio of former President Joe Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur. “Unnecessary,” they say. “Vendictive,” whispers the wind. 

The plain truth of it, however, is that nothing could be more right than to release the audio.

After all, this is the interview in which Mr. Hur determined Mr. Biden was not only guilty of mishandling highly sensitive classified documents but also too feeble to be held accountable. 

A transcript has been made public, but the audio remains secret. Why? Makes no sense. I want to hear that tape for myself because it may help me answer two questions swirling in my mind and the nation’s, too. 

1. 1. Was Mr. Biden really too far gone to be prosecuted?
   
2. 2. If so, why didn’t it trigger removal from office? 

These are the questions by which to judge the Biden presidency. 

While I reserve the right to alter my take after hearing the tapes, I remain of the opinion that we, indeed, had a dysfunctional president who was led by his arm by his wife through most of the events that happened during his time in office. A part-time commander in chief, in which unelected minions played while the cat napped away his presidency. 

The mice made policy. Poured gas on the Ukrainian conflict. Shackled Israel. Encouraged Hamas. Let violent antisemitism go unchallenged on college campuses. 

And, perhaps the worst, they infected federal agencies with methods to provide kickbacks to organizations run by friends and associates. They arranged for government money in the 10s of billions to enrich their “friends” without accountability.

So, the Trump administration is considering releasing the audio of the former president. 

Hell, yes! Release it because what went on during the Biden years requires more scrutiny, not less. If our own Department of Justice concluded, based on this tape, that Joe Biden was too incapacitated to be charged with his crimes (which were slam-dunk, by the way), then why in the world did that not ring a bell for his removal from office?

OUTRAGE OF THE WEEK

Outrage of the week goes to the Nevada public figure everyone loves to hate: Disgraced Las Vegas City Councilwoman Michele Fiore who said on a podcast that after she finishes law school, don’t be surprised if she’s appointed to the federal bench. 

You will remember that Ms. Fiore is the GOP flamethrower convicted for raising money for a statue of a slain police officer and then using the money for herself to have a little plastic surgery done. It was a righteous conviction, so far as I can see. 

How much more icky can a public official get?

President Trump pardoned her, initially without comment, then later contending she was unfairly targeted and prosecuted because she’s a friend of Trump. 

I’m not saying the Biden DOJ didn’t do that in several instances nationwide. I’m only saying Nevadans, left, right, and center, are not convinced that’s what happened here. She did, in fact, raise money for one thing and spent it on another.

If that’s wrong, Ms. Fiore or her attorneys or anybody else, for that matter, are welcome to provide proof to the contrary. So far radio silence from the woman so aggrieved, which ought to tell you something. 

LANGUAGE, PLEASE

You must chuckle at news reports that describe Chicago native Robert Prevost as the “first pope from the United States in the 2,000-year history of the Catholic Church.”

I mean, seriously. In the first 1,776 years of the Catholic Church, the idea of an American pope seems rather remote, don’t you think?