Jim Biden's Qatari deals and a Charlotte police standoff (04-29-2024--Hour3)

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[00:00:29] We're starting new details about Joe Bride, Joe Briden.

[00:00:33] Well, yeah, Joe Briden's brother, Joe Biden's brother, Jim, Jim Biden.

[00:00:43] Do you remember the name AmeriCorps? Do you remember that name? It was the name of a

[00:00:50] hospital chain that was connected to some shady shenanigans as if there's any other

[00:00:57] incident regarding the Biden family business of influence peddling? We're going to come

[00:01:04] back to that name. Just keep that in the back of your mind and it will reemerge.

[00:01:07] Spoiler alert. Okay. This is by the way from Politico, the right wing reg Politico.

[00:01:14] New details about Jim Biden's foreign fundraising efforts are spilling out in a Kentucky

[00:01:21] bankruptcy court where recent testimony indicates that President Joe Biden's

[00:01:26] partner with Qatari government officials in his quest to find money for US

[00:01:34] healthcare ventures. Qatari money. This warrant testimony by fund manager Michael

[00:01:42] Lewitt, a former business partner of Jim Biden's attests that two companies that

[00:01:48] facilitated the efforts were partly owned by members of the Qatari government.

[00:01:55] Two companies partly owned by Qatari government officials. One company named in the

[00:02:02] testimony had partnered directly with Jim Biden in the multi-year fundraising efforts.

[00:02:07] The second company provided financial backing for a series of loans that a hospital

[00:02:13] chain AmeriCorps paid to Jim Biden to arrange, according to documents and

[00:02:22] testimony Lewitt submitted in the course of the federal bankruptcy proceedings.

[00:02:26] So you got two different companies, Jim Biden acting with Qatari government

[00:02:31] officials in both of these different deals but they're connected.

[00:02:35] If substantiated the alleged arrangements would constitute some of the

[00:02:39] closest known financial links between a relative of President Joe Biden and a

[00:02:43] foreign government. The alleged arrangements stem from an effort by

[00:02:48] Jim Biden to raise money from Qatari sources for ventures in the US beginning

[00:02:53] in the months after Joe left the VEAPS office. At the time Qatari was in a

[00:03:00] bit of a jam. Qatari was having some problems or Qatar sorry, Qatar was

[00:03:06] having some problems. Qatari was having some problems. They got a lot of gas.

[00:03:10] Might have been something they ate but they were facing a financial

[00:03:15] blockade from its neighbors. And so how do you break the

[00:03:24] obstacles there apart? How do you get the gas flowing again?

[00:03:29] How do you get the money flowing? Well, you got to spend a little to make a

[00:03:34] little or spend a little to make a lot. So they said you know what we're

[00:03:39] going to spend to increase our political standing in the West aka

[00:03:46] bribes. Right? We're going to spread a whole bunch of money around and we've

[00:03:50] seen this. This has been part of a lot of stories we've been covering over

[00:03:53] the last few years about the Qatari money that's been at the college

[00:03:56] level right into these universities. By the way, you know where the Hamas

[00:04:03] leaders are holding up? Qatar. Yeah, that's where they're hanging out.

[00:04:09] By the way, that's why they got jammed up in the first place was because

[00:04:12] their neighbors were like yo, yo, yo, you guys are you guys are

[00:04:17] sponsoring a whole bunch of terrorism. You're giving shelter to a bunch of

[00:04:21] terrorists like Hamas leaders. So they started directing financial

[00:04:25] blockades, trade barriers, public records, indicate and emails by

[00:04:34] put that have been obtained by Politico offer a window on fundraising

[00:04:39] efforts in which Jim Biden invoked his ties to his older brother and sought

[00:04:44] workarounds to restrictions on international money movements.

[00:04:47] Transactions related to the efforts are also at the heart of a recently

[00:04:51] settled fraud case brought by the SEC and are scrutinized as part of a

[00:04:55] federal criminal investigation down in South Florida. A lot of the efforts

[00:05:00] remain unknown. In the White House, the Qatari embassy, a representative

[00:05:06] for Jim Biden, none of them are responding to requests to comment on the

[00:05:11] story, which I am completely shocked that that hasn't happened.

[00:05:14] Jim Biden suggested to congressional investigators a couple months ago,

[00:05:19] back in February, that his fundraising efforts stalled because he didn't

[00:05:23] have enough viable projects to back. That that was the problem.

[00:05:28] He just couldn't find more projects. But the previously unreported

[00:05:33] testimony by fund manager Michael Lewitt about the ownership of the two

[00:05:37] companies at the heart of this thing, these Qatari companies, Platinum Group USA

[00:05:41] and Obermeyer Engineering Consulting, indicate that Jim Biden forged closer

[00:05:45] ties to Qatari's government than previously understood.

[00:05:49] So he did not tell us all of the information? You don't say.

[00:05:54] Lewitt was a former business partner of Jim Bidens. And he is

[00:05:59] probably going to face some questions now as part of a planned interview with

[00:06:02] the House impeachment inquiry. No date has been announced for that interview yet.

[00:06:08] And I think really what we all need to keep an eye out for, it being

[00:06:12] pouncing season is for Republicans to pounce on this news.

[00:06:16] That's really the story, right?

[00:06:19] Journalism in rule number two. Rule number one is the journalist or lazy.

[00:06:24] Rule number two is when the scandal involves a Republican, the story is the

[00:06:30] scandal. And when the scandal involves a Democrat, the story is the

[00:06:34] Republican reaction to that scandal. And then that leads to

[00:06:38] rule number three, which is to use seizing or pouncing.

[00:06:42] In June 2017, Cutter's neighbors, led by Saudi Arabia,

[00:06:46] ganged up and cut diplomatic ties with the country, citing

[00:06:50] its alleged support for terrorism.

[00:06:54] Yes, pot, meat, kettle. Right, I get it.

[00:06:58] But this was Saudi Arabia's effort to sideline Cutter.

[00:07:04] Probably a little bit of competition going on there, right?

[00:07:08] They both sell a lot of oil and gas.

[00:07:12] In response, Cutter's rulers began showering well-connected

[00:07:16] Westerners with gifts and financial benefits.

[00:07:20] Around the time of the blockade, Jim Biden was embarking on a foray

[00:07:24] into the healthcare business in which he worked closely with a troubled

[00:07:28] hospital chain named AmeriCorps. And to raise money for the company,

[00:07:32] he teamed up with the platinum group CEO, a Florida businessman

[00:07:36] named Amer Rustam, who has boasted of his ties to

[00:07:41] officials in the Middle East and to this guy, Luit.

[00:07:46] Or LeWitt. Jim Biden and his partners, Rustam and Luit,

[00:07:51] said that Qatari officials had expressed an interest in investing

[00:07:55] more deeply into the U.S. healthcare sector.

[00:07:59] And by healthcare sector, they meant Joe Biden.

[00:08:03] No, no, no, I'm sure Joe Biden's brother's

[00:08:08] name had nothing to do with their interest in

[00:08:13] getting hooked up to a hospital chain

[00:08:17] that was circling the drain towards bankruptcy.

[00:08:21] Politico reporting on this connection that Joe Biden

[00:08:25] and Jim, Joe Biden's brother rather, Jim Biden, has with

[00:08:29] Qatar. And Jim

[00:08:33] and one of his partners, this guy named Rustam,

[00:08:37] Amer Rustam, they worked up a draft

[00:08:41] letter to a Qatari official at the

[00:08:45] Qatari Sovereign Wealth Fund, which the Qatar

[00:08:49] Investment Authority. The draft letter

[00:08:53] from Jim included this sentence.

[00:08:57] My family could provide a wealth of

[00:09:01] introductions and business opportunities at the highest

[00:09:05] levels that I believe would be worthy of the interest of his

[00:09:09] Excellency. On behalf of the Biden family,

[00:09:13] I welcome your interest here.

[00:09:19] Yeah, that doesn't look good. That does not look good.

[00:09:23] If you're trying to tell me, as our friends on the left have been,

[00:09:27] in the media, but I repeat myself, they've been trying to tell me that all this time

[00:09:31] there is no Biden family business.

[00:09:35] Nobody is selling influence and if they were, Joe had nothing to do with it.

[00:09:39] It was just Hunter Biden. Just Hunter, right? It's just his son and Joe had no idea

[00:09:43] he was just being a good dad. He was just taking a phone call from his son.

[00:09:47] That's all. He loved his son. He loved his son. You leave Joe Biden

[00:09:51] alone. Leave Hunter Biden alone. He's just a father who loves his son.

[00:09:55] Okay, well now we see his brother is trading on his family name too.

[00:09:59] And not only trading on it, he's saying I can't, my family,

[00:10:03] my family. Now, maybe Joe doesn't know anything about this either.

[00:10:07] Right? Maybe he's just completely oblivious

[00:10:11] to all of the business dealings that his brother Jim,

[00:10:15] his son Hunter, that they've been working with all of these foreign despots

[00:10:19] and tyrannical regimes and such.

[00:10:23] The oligarchs, these shady characters, which

[00:10:27] I of course always wonder like why can't you just do business with legit

[00:10:31] countries? But whatever reason,

[00:10:35] he promised that his family could provide a wealth of introductions and business

[00:10:39] opportunities at the highest level and he signs it on

[00:10:43] behalf of the Biden family. So he's conveying to the Qataris

[00:10:47] hey, my brother is the former vice president, we have connections.

[00:10:51] We are following breaking news out of East Charlotte.

[00:10:55] Original reports were incorrect that this was occurring up

[00:10:59] on the north side. This is East Charlotte in the Shannon Park neighborhood

[00:11:03] Galway Drive, 1901 Galway

[00:11:08] Drive in the Shannon Park neighborhood. This is sort of along the

[00:11:12] boundaries of the Plaza, Milton Road, Shamrock

[00:11:16] Drive area, a little bit to the north or so of the

[00:11:20] Charlotte Museum of History. Right? So East

[00:11:24] Charlotte, Eastway, Shamrock area.

[00:11:28] And the initial reports were an active situation. What we are now learning is that it's

[00:11:32] an active shooter situation. Multiple

[00:11:36] people have been taken to local hospitals, including law enforcement

[00:11:40] officers. Brett Jensen from WBT Newsroom

[00:11:44] and the host of Breaking with Brett Jensen here right here on WBT

[00:11:48] at 7 o'clock weekdays is joining us now. Hey Brett, what's going on? Where are you?

[00:11:52] So I'm on my way to the media staging area which

[00:11:56] is right near the scene. We'll be at a family dollar

[00:12:00] and on the Plaza and I can tell you from

[00:12:04] multiple sources that it appears as though

[00:12:08] early on that at least four officers have been injured and

[00:12:12] been shot. And I can tell you that other sources,

[00:12:16] multiple sources have just confirmed to me in the last seconds

[00:12:20] that there is a fatality involved. I don't know if it's an officer or not

[00:12:24] but there is at least one fatality is what I'm being told by multiple people.

[00:12:28] And so it is an active situation. The SWAT team is currently

[00:12:32] on hand as we speak and it is, they have got several things

[00:12:36] closed. Again, they have asked for help from the Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Department,

[00:12:40] State Troopers, multiple fired departments have

[00:12:44] headed that way and it is a very, very

[00:12:48] hairy situation to say the least. WSOC TV is reporting

[00:12:52] several closures. We've been reporting various road closures including

[00:12:56] apparently I-77 at the John Belk Freeway has been shut down.

[00:13:00] So traffic is just a mess all over the area. The scene

[00:13:04] is still active. Charlotte Mecklenburg Police urging people to

[00:13:08] avoid the area as far as I know and I guess as far as you know as well,

[00:13:12] Brett, that there is no resolution at this time

[00:13:16] to the situation as far as we know it is still an ongoing active shooter

[00:13:20] situation. Yes, as far as we know it's still ongoing and active.

[00:13:24] The last thing publicly that CMPD put out

[00:13:28] was that the SWAT team was on scene and that

[00:13:32] Dunfire was still being exchanged. Right.

[00:13:36] And police ask drivers to avoid the area. If you

[00:13:40] live near the area and you are home, stay in

[00:13:44] your home. Shelter in place notices are, you know,

[00:13:48] are going out here to anybody in the area do not leave your house because

[00:13:52] obviously we don't know where the shooter is and where he is

[00:13:56] shooting from and if it's, as I understand it, he is or

[00:13:59] I don't even know if it's a he. I assume it's a he but

[00:14:02] they're in a house someplace or they're holed up

[00:14:05] someplace in a dwelling is what I've been told.

[00:14:08] Yeah, that would make the most sense since it is, as you mentioned earlier,

[00:14:12] it is in a neighborhood area and so but it's all for

[00:14:16] Galway as you mentioned, Galway and so but that would make the most

[00:14:20] sense that it is in a dwelling be it an apartment or a house

[00:14:24] but that would make the most sense given the neighborhood

[00:14:27] location. Are you even able to navigate over to the plaza at this point

[00:14:32] because of the traffic? Well, I'm sitting in traffic right now

[00:14:36] because there have been multiple service vehicles, emergency

[00:14:40] service vehicles, driving passes at a very high rate of speed, state troopers, fire trucks as well

[00:14:45] and you know without if there were no traffic GPS says

[00:14:49] I'm seven minutes away with traffic GPS says I'm 17 minutes away

[00:14:53] any word on

[00:14:57] where the whether the victims I guess they got

[00:15:01] they were able to get the people who got shot they were able to get them

[00:15:05] out of the line of fire it sounds like

[00:15:09] and I mean I've seen or heard reports that

[00:15:13] some of the victims were transported in just private vehicles

[00:15:17] rather than emergency vehicles. That I am not

[00:15:21] completely aware of but I do know they were being transported

[00:15:25] to Novant. I do know that the Novant main hospital

[00:15:29] is where they were being transported. Okay.

[00:15:33] Apparently and I'm seeing regarding the hospitals according to a source at

[00:15:37] this is WSOC saying atrium hospital in uptown a mass

[00:15:41] casualty response has been called which I guess is sort of their standard protocol

[00:15:45] when anything like this happens. Yeah and like I said and I know

[00:15:49] there are I'd like I do know for fact that

[00:15:53] some of the victims are headed to Novant. Yeah. I do know that

[00:15:57] and so it would only make sense that you've got atrium involved as well. Yeah.

[00:16:01] Alright Brett anything else before we let you go and continue to navigate your way over to the

[00:16:05] to the plaza? No and I will let you guys as I get more

[00:16:09] information I will completely update you guys and the listeners. Yep we know you

[00:16:13] well thank you Brett appreciate it man. Thank you. Okay if you're listening

[00:16:17] to this podcast you are obviously paying attention to the world around us.

[00:16:21] You also have really great taste I might add but if you haven't started getting

[00:16:25] prepared for various emergencies I gotta ask what are you waiting for?

[00:16:29] Please call my friends Bill and Jan at Carolina readiness supply

[00:16:33] and they'll help get you started if you have no idea how to start they can help you

[00:16:37] if you're an experienced prepper they can help you too. Being prepared is just smart.

[00:16:41] We've already established that you're smart I mean you listen to this podcast after all

[00:16:45] so let's put those smarts into action. Go to

[00:16:48] carolinerediness.com that's carolinerediness.com

[00:16:52] or call them at 828-226-7239

[00:16:56] Carolina readiness supply has 2,000 square feet of supplies

[00:17:00] as well as educational materials that you're gonna need for any kind of emergency.

[00:17:04] Veteran owned Carolina readiness supply will you be ready when the lights go out?

[00:17:08] Alright so during the break I did a little bit more

[00:17:12] checking around here and

[00:17:16] let's see WBTV's reporting

[00:17:20] multiple people were rushed to hospitals

[00:17:24] and residents along with anybody in the area of an east Charlotte neighborhood

[00:17:28] are asked to avoid the area as active gunfire continues

[00:17:32] the situation was first reported at around one fifty so about

[00:17:36] an hour ago it's taking place along Galway Drive that's

[00:17:40] GALWAY Drive near Denson Place

[00:17:44] for folks who are not aware of this area

[00:17:48] it is solidly east Charlotte

[00:17:52] I know the area well I used to live over there a couple blocks away actually

[00:17:56] a lot of the street names over there are named after Irish places

[00:18:00] obviously Galway, Tipperaries over there and

[00:18:04] sort of your old 1950s

[00:18:08] old Barra Charlotte neighborhood

[00:18:12] kind of the old country club estates zone I think it's Shen and Park

[00:18:16] is the actual neighborhood designation you know these are

[00:18:20] 1,000 to 1500 square foot homes

[00:18:24] you know ranch style brick three bed one bath kind of

[00:18:28] your standard 1950s construction that was

[00:18:32] Charlotte back then that was like the end of the earth

[00:18:36] for Charlotte that was like one of the first

[00:18:40] one of the early suburbs you know where people started pushing out

[00:18:44] it has since become it's like a mid ring

[00:18:48] area now as it's called because you have so many suburbs on the

[00:18:52] outside of these older neighborhoods but it is an older neighborhood

[00:18:56] residential completely residential where this

[00:19:02] occurred it's like tucked into the neighborhood it's

[00:19:06] yes it's a couple blocks away but it's still sort of far enough away from

[00:19:10] eastway drive that it's not really an urban setting

[00:19:14] we know according to the reports that multiple people have been

[00:19:18] shot officers included

[00:19:22] for seeing reports of four injuries

[00:19:26] and so we don't know who they are we don't know who's been hit

[00:19:30] we know that a lot of people though are very very worried right now their

[00:19:34] members are police officers and they're worried that it might be their

[00:19:38] loved one and so our prayers go out for all of the

[00:19:42] CMPD officers and their families for comfort and for strength

[00:19:46] you know we support you guys and your families

[00:19:50] and we're hoping for the best

[00:19:54] SWAT is on scene a lot of roads have been shut down including parts

[00:19:58] of I-77 I-277

[00:20:02] closed in order to facilitate faster ambulance

[00:20:06] transports

[00:20:10] Charlotte area transit system has notified people on the gold line

[00:20:14] that emergency vehicles had blocked the tracks

[00:20:18] from Elizabeth and Hawthorne

[00:20:22] to Sunnyside station

[00:20:26] I mean everything's on lockdown all the roads get emptied out basically

[00:20:30] get all the cars off the roads because this was a problem when they first arrived

[00:20:34] and they were trying to get the wounded out of the scene

[00:20:38] and they're taking fire you know

[00:20:42] and then when you have all of the traffic in the area that gets all clogged up

[00:20:46] now the ambulance is once you can get them

[00:20:50] out of the fire zone you can get them to a vehicle

[00:20:54] now you're trying to get them through that traffic

[00:20:58] so that's why they've shut down so many of these roads

[00:21:02] the media is staging

[00:21:08] at a family dollar on the plaza

[00:21:12] that's the name of the road for folks who aren't aware it's called the plaza

[00:21:16] but they are asking you know people do not get the media do not go to the scene

[00:21:20] okay also

[00:21:24] when you are showing these images the video from your choppers

[00:21:28] you can guarantee that the shooter is also watching your feed

[00:21:32] so probably best not to give away law enforcement

[00:21:36] position just want to throw that one out there because sometimes it needs to be said

[00:21:40] avoid the area

[00:21:44] where the shooting is occurring go to the staging area media

[00:21:48] US Marshals Task Force which is comprised of officers

[00:21:52] from multiple agencies was apparently conducting an investigation

[00:21:56] investigation in the 5,000 block of Galway Drive

[00:22:00] when they were engaged by active gunfire from a subject

[00:22:04] okay so now this means you've got officers from multiple agencies

[00:22:08] that are apparently involved because this was the US Marshals Task Force

[00:22:12] which means also then that this is probably them going to serve warrants

[00:22:16] or taken to custody somebody who is

[00:22:20] wanted for something right multiple law enforcement officers have been

[00:22:24] struck by the gunfire and are being transported to the hospital

[00:22:28] CMPD SWAT is currently on the scene you heard from

[00:22:32] Brett Jensen he is on his way to the media

[00:22:36] staging area and that's usually you know the police will come and give a

[00:22:40] they'll give a report you know when they can

[00:22:44] obviously it's still an active scene so they don't have

[00:22:48] their first priority is not to notify the media of every single development and what we're going to be asking

[00:22:52] everybody always asks which is you know who is this guy how did it happen

[00:22:55] who are the injured who are the victims

[00:22:58] how did all of this unfold and in the early stages I always

[00:23:01] urge patients because people don't know all of the information

[00:23:05] much like CMPD itself

[00:23:08] put out the wrong address in its Twitter feed right

[00:23:12] they initially said it was somewhere up in North Tryon and it's not

[00:23:16] it's a well I mean

[00:23:20] it's up to the North Tryon division right I mean it's

[00:23:23] but it's not what was it

[00:23:26] originally Galloway with an O in there and it's Galway

[00:23:30] not Galloway Galloway is up near Mallard Creek Church Road

[00:23:34] Galway is East Charlotte so that's where it is occurring so again

[00:23:37] I just point these things out because people are naturally going to ask these questions

[00:23:41] I'm not chastising anybody I'm not attacking anybody I'm just saying

[00:23:44] keep in mind these situations are always

[00:23:47] fluid information that you initially hear

[00:23:50] stuff that comes over the scanners

[00:23:53] notoriously not always accurate

[00:23:56] people take information and they run with it and it's not true

[00:23:59] and so it's very important to

[00:24:02] to practice some levels of

[00:24:05] restraint. WSOC TV reported

[00:24:08] around 215

[00:24:11] Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department confirms multiple people

[00:24:14] take into local hospitals

[00:24:17] according to a source at Atrium

[00:24:22] Hospital in Uptown a mass casualty response has been called

[00:24:25] which is I believe standard protocol

[00:24:28] when you have this kind of an event

[00:24:31] Atrium Main is the level one

[00:24:34] trauma center and every trauma surgeon

[00:24:37] is being called in according to WSOC TV because

[00:24:40] you know right now you've got four injured you don't know how many more there could be

[00:24:43] because the SWAT team is there

[00:24:46] if this person was

[00:24:49] supposed to be picked up on warrants and this was

[00:24:52] I don't know what because it's been years since I've covered the police

[00:24:55] and crime beat here in Charlotte but they used to have

[00:24:58] it was called like the ASVAP or something

[00:25:01] or ASVAP or something it was like

[00:25:04] a multi

[00:25:07] jurisdictional entities

[00:25:10] and all these different officers from Sheriff's Office

[00:25:13] and CMPD and Marshals

[00:25:16] and they had all these different agents that were involved in this thing and they would go

[00:25:19] you know take in some of these

[00:25:22] some of the worst offenders that were skipping bail

[00:25:25] or they were wanted and rumored to be hiding out

[00:25:28] they get tips and stuff and so they go and try to take these people into custody and such

[00:25:31] I don't know if that's what this was

[00:25:34] but it was a multi agency

[00:25:37] and it was a workforce that was

[00:25:40] that had apparently gone to that area

[00:25:43] in order to conduct some sort of an investigation of some kind

[00:25:46] quote unquote investigation and it

[00:25:49] it quickly turned into gunfire

[00:25:52] all right that'll do it for this episode thank you so much for listening

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