Tea at Trianon: Bribery Scheme

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Tuesday, June 13, 2023

Bribery Scheme

From The Post Millennial:

Speaking on the Senate Floor on Monday, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) revealed that a Burisma executive cited in the FBI 1023 form alleging a bribery scheme with then-Vice President Joe Biden kept 17 audio recordings of his conversations as an "insurance policy." Grassley stated that the FD-1023 form has a redacted reference stating the Burisma executive possesses 15 audio recordings of phone calls that took place between himself and Hunter Biden. The document also states that the Burisma executive possesses two audio recordings of phone calls between himself and then-Vice President Biden.

"These recordings were allegedly kept as a sort of insurance policy for the foreign national in case that he got in a tight spot. The 1023 also indicates that then-Vice President Joe Biden may have been involved in Burisma employing Hunter Biden," Grassley said.

"Based on the facts known to the Congress and the public, it’s clear that the Justice Department, the FBI haven’t nearly had the same laser focus on the Biden Family," Grassley added, noting that "Special Counsel Jack Smith has used a recording against former President Trump."

"Getting a full and complete 1023 is critical for the American people to know and understand the true nature of the document and to hold the Justice Department and the FBI accountable. It’s also important for a serving constitutional congressional oversight powers against an out-of-control executive branch, obviously drunk with political infection."

"Remember, Congress has received 1023s in the past and they’ve been made public. So asking for this 1023 to be turned over to the American people to read is not an unusual thing." (Read more.)