Charging Luft
Your friendly neighborhood FBI and DOJ, hard at work:
A fugitive who claimed to have provided the FBI with information on the Biden family’s business dealings in China is facing decades behind bars for alleged arms trafficking and other charges involving Iran.
Gal Luft, a 57-year-old dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, is charged with acting as an unregistered agent of China and seeking to broker the sale of Iranian oil in violation of sanctions, federal prosecutors in Manhattan said on Monday.
The indictment, handed down by a grand jury in 2022 and unsealed Monday, also accuses Luft of recruiting and paying a former high-ranking U.S. government official on behalf of principals based in China in 2016, without registering as a foreign agent as required by law.
They say the best defense is a good offense, and this is a good offense to protect the Biden family, who appear to be guilty of all of that and more. Of course, I don’t know much about Luft, who may be a scumbag himself. But then there are the other scumbags, including those in the FBI and the DOJ. In the island of the liars, who is telling the truth?
At any rate:
The indictment comes days after The New York Post published a 14-minute video of Luft, recorded at an unknown location, in which he claimed he was arrested in Cyprus to stop him from testifying to the House Oversight Committee that the Biden family had allegedly been bribed from a source with ties to the Chinese military.
In the video, Luft claimed to have provided this information to officials from the FBI and the Department of Justice during a March 2019 meeting in Brussels, but this was supposedly covered up.
There are certain types of criminal charges that are very very useful to a partisan FBI and DOJ and partisan prosecutors in certain states such as New York. Among them are FARA violations and lying to the FBI, which are prosecuted differentially depending on the politics of the defendant. It’s quite apparent at this point, and anyone who’s been following the Hunter Biden case at all can see what’s going on.
It doesn’t matter to this administration or to the FBI and the rest. They are flaunting their power and basically saying just try and stop us. They don’t care how it looks, they are that arrogant and confident.
Robert Henoch, an attorney for Luft, called the indictment “a vicious attempt to silence a witness to corruption.” The attorney said “there was no arms trading whatsoever” and that Luft didn’t act as an agent for a foreign entity or lie to federal agents, as alleged.
The Institute for the Analysis of Global Security also defended Luft in a statement, saying he is an expert on energy security, economics and geopolitics…
Henoch said Luft met with two prosecutors and four FBI agents in Brussels to share allegations about Biden family financial dealings with the Chinese government. “He told the DOJ prosecutors things which they did not want to hear, so they charged him with lying,” Henoch said.
Lying to the FBI shouldn’t even be a crime. And when the FBI lies – which it seems to do almost constantly – it seems that’s perfectly okay. But the FBI has no credibility whatsoever anymore.
“But the FBI has no credibility whatsoever anymore.”
Sure it does. Just ask any of your Democrat friends. And that probably goes for a majority of the population. It’s only here on the conservative side that it has lost all credibility and is seen as the Stasi of the left.
physicsguy:
I wrote that it HAS no credibility. I didn’t write that some people don’t still PERCEIVE it as credible. They are not paying attention, or they are deceived by their politics, or they simply don’t care.
they played the same game in the 00s, fitzgerald protected radler and other members of the hollinger board, as well richard armitage, funny thing once upon a time, the latter thought he was being libeled by ross perot, so he hired lewis libby to take his case, and won,
but as chuck ross, notes if cefc counts as a lobbying principal for luft, same would go for hunter, sarc
“Lying to the FBI shouldn’t even be a crime.”
Exactly.
Note that Wray won’t comment, as the crime he is committing is ongoing. As usual.
But Neo it is the public perception that gives the institution its credibility, and thus its legitimacy.
physicsguy:
There are also objective standards of what is credible. In addition, polls indicate a lot of concern about what the FBI has been doing lately.
Neo – the poll you cited is amazing, yet the outcry to reform the fbi by Congress seems muted.
Is this due to fear, shared politics with the fbi, or ?
A tangled web. Silencing witnesses. Covering up corruption.
I would not want to be in Luft’s shoes. Can he get his story out and will it be corroborated? Definitely a David versus Goliath situation. It would be a great thing if his story can be checked out and be a part of the case against the Barens.
I’m impressed by the bulldog determination of James Comer. He seems like the sort of person who just keeps plodding forward and damning the torpedoes sent his way by his foes. If he and Senator Johnson are correct, it could be the most b explosive case of political corruption in our history. The Bidens are so arrogant and corrupt it would be so satisfying to see them brought to ground.
JJ,
From your keyboard to God’s ears.
The lesson of the Kavanaugh hearings for me is that “credibility” is in the eye of the beholder. Like so much else in politics, credibility is a battleground. The Johnson administration lost credibility with just about everyone over Vietnam. Nixon lost credibility over Watergate. Something similar may have happened with Carter or the younger Bush. Nowadays, half the country is going to believe Biden, the DOJ, and the FBI, whatever they do. Often they’re just keeping their eyes closed, but they aren’t going to open them. Polarized America is an Orwellian world where older expectations don’t apply anymore.
It’s assumed that politicians and officials lie, but if they tell people what they want to hear or claim to be fighting on the right side, half the country will believe them.
I wish it were true that people would stop believing habitual liars, but people believe what and whom they want to believe. When there’s serious conflict over the meaning of a word, maybe it’s a sign that two words are needed to fit the two concepts that we find in the word.
Oops – Bidens not “Barens”. 🙁 Macular degeneration isn’t my friend.
I love your work Neo but…
Perjury should absolutely be a crime. Perjury in court under oath should carry a 15 year sentence. Can we not have one place in American society where we are confident that the truth is spoken?
The FBI as currently constituted can go straight to #$%# Hell, but lying under oath is a malicious crime that can carry huge consequences against those wrongly accused.
Erronius
Related, from the (Jack-Smith) “We-have-one-set-of-laws-in-this-country-and-they-apply-to-everyone” File):
Amazingly, Andrew McCarthy wakes up—yet again!! (Is there such a thing as Repetitive Rip Van Winkle syndrome??)—and excoriates the mega-meretricious Merrick Garland:
“The deceit behind Hunter Biden’s sweetheart plea deal gets even more audacious by the day”—
https://nypost.com/2023/07/11/the-deceit-behind-hunter-bidens-sweetheart-plea-deal-gets-even-more-audacious-by-the-day/
Key grafs:
“The Justice Department’s deceitfulness regarding Hunter Biden’s sweetheart plea deal gets more audacious by the day.
“Thanks to the media-Democrat complex’s partisanship, it also gets tougher to pierce — which, of course, is the point.
“Delaware US attorney David Weiss is in a vice of DOJ’s own making….
“…Garland, who is Weiss’ boss, has insisted — preposterously — that Weiss has always been the ultimate decision-maker and that all he needed to do was ask Garland for any extra authority he needed to file charges wherever he thought appropriate.
“Garland claims he was never asked.
“On Monday, Weiss tried to squirm his way out of this vice in a terse, disingenuous letter to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)….
“…There can be no greater conflict of interest than that posed by the president’s Justice Department’s having to investigate the president himself and/or a close family member of the president.
“It is the textbook case for a special counsel.
“The Biden Justice Department could not credibly investigate the Biden family. Garland knows that, yet he refused to appoint a special counsel.”
[Emphasis mine; Barry M.]
And so the penny drops ONCE AGAIN for McCarthy…but it seems, alas, that he’s STILL NOT able to connect all the dots.
WHEN will he finally get it??
…Well, they say that patience is a virtue….
yes go back to sleep mccarthy,
I’m reminded of george nader, his proclivities didn’t stop him from being involved in peace talks with george mitchell, then he worked for the iraqis to buy Russian weapons, then the emir of abu dhabi hired him, so he was in proximity with kushner, devlin barrett, breathlessly spooned copy from mueller who cited him 150 times, then spoiler, they indicted him for they knew he had done already,
not a lawyer,
Lying to the FBI is a crime. Period. Nothing to do with perjury or being under oath.
If an FBI agent interviews you and you say you went to the market on Monday and they say it was Tuesday, the Democrats can put you in jail for years. Even if you were correct that it was Monday. If they can try the case in a blue city, you’re toast.
Never talk to a cop or an FBI agent. They aren’t your friend. They don’t operate in good faith. They can’t be trusted.
re: W’s credibility (mentioned above)
W lost his mojo over the Meier nomination. Lots of conservatives said no. Because the GOP base is made up of independent thinkers (no matter what insane, irrational blathering David French decides to write).
This is the fundamental difference with Democrat voters for whom loyalty to the team (cult) is the only important moral value.
Heck, GOP voters generally hate their team.
sometimes you have to deal with them, look we have seen how they can screw over a good guy like carter page, or papadopoulos or general flynn or lewis libby (need I go on) they will make up statements or omit others
stan. Should there be an honest DoJ agent honestly looking into a real crime with a real victim, the current situation is unfortunate. Never talk to the guy because the way to bet is he’s setting up a “lie to a federal agent” or perjury trap to pressure you to testify about something according to a script they have for you.
Too bad about the real crime thing, whatever it was. But the feds created it and the rest of us have to be smart about it.
not_a_lawyer:
When a person speaks to the FBI that person is NOT under oath. It has nothing to do with perjury.
The FBI uses the charge of lying as a way to get people it wants to get, whether they’re committed any other crime or not. But lying to the FBI should not be a crime – plus of course the FBI itself lies all the time with impunity.
The FBI considers itself near-sacred. It most certainly is not.
Some more details on the Luft/Biden nexus with ex-CIA chief James Woolsey added to the lurid mix…
“Hunter Biden’s Chinese Partners Recruited Ex-CIA Director To Do Beijing’s Bidding;
“Think tank official who gave FBI info on Hunter Biden reached out to former CIA director James Woolsey, prosecutors say”—
https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/hunter-bidens-chinese-partners-recruited-ex-cia-director-to-do-beijings-bidding/
H/T Powerline blog.
Final graf:
“…Neither Hunter Biden nor Woolsey, who served as Clinton’s CIA chief until 1995, have been charged with any crimes related to their work for CEFC China Energy.”
Curious that(!)…
But—FORTUNATELY!!—“Biden” has LUFT!!!
(“FORTUNATELY”…because Luft has the dope on Biden…)
Speaking of which, another extraordinary Obama/”Biden” transformational VICTORY is in the works: the total erosion of the US Armed Forces.
“General Charles Q. Brown—Too Many Red Flags”—
https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2023/07/12/general_charles_q_browntoo_many_red_flags_965439.html
H/T Powerline blog.
Obama’s strategy of fundamental transformation—AKA Marxist infiltration and usurpation—is working very effectively.
Just another nail in the American coffin…and precisely why the Democrats had to ensure they “WON” the 2020 election.
(And why Trudeau MUST be able to remain in power, as well…IOW, Master Schwab is a patient man, but his patience is not infinite…and there is an entire world just waiting to be, um, “transformed”…)
Thank you for your replies, both of you, I appreciate it.
I always considered talking to the FBI to be implicitly ‘under oath’. I know that I cannot go into my local Sheriff’s office to report a crime that never happened. I humbly acknowledge my error.
I suppose the solution is to simply decline to be interviewed by federal criminal justice authorities. Simply give them your lawyer’s number and tell them to call him.
Erronius
not_a_lawyer:
Exactly. Refer them to your lawyer.
Of course, that’s part of the punishment, because a lawyer costs money.
For those who believe that Biden’s corruption has been successfully suppressed such that most Americans don’t get it:
___________________________
Less than one-third of voters believe President Joe Biden is innocent of allegations connected to a “bribery scheme” involving foreign payments.
A Convention of States Action poll showed only 31.4% of voters said they do not believe the Biden family has received foreign payments to influence national policy decisions.
However, the poll showed that 53.3% of overall general election voters now believe Biden is guilty following Congress’s investigations into the Biden family’s foreign business dealings.
“The congressional investigation is not even complete, and this poll shows the majority of the Americans have already seen enough documented proof to believe a disgraceful and illegal scam was/is being run by President Biden’s family,” President of the Convention of States Mark Meckler said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/white-house/biden-losing-ground-voters-belief-innocence-poll
___________________________
I think the majority of Americans do understand that the Biden administration is corrupt, as well as hard left and outside American norms.
But they have also seen what happens to those who stand up to the current regime. They are therefore unsure what to do beyond voting in elections.