The Stream

Al’s Afternoon Tea: Trials and Testimonies

By Al Perrotta Published on June 4, 2024 •

Al Perrotta

Welcome back in for Al’s Afternoon Tea, where we settle in and sample some of the latest headlines. 

Arguments Underway at Hunter Biden Gun Trial

Opening arguments got underway at Hunter Biden’s gun trial in Delaware earlier today. They were delayed because five of the jurors didn’t make it to the courthouse on time. Amusingly, Hunter’s lawyers claimed the First Son wasn’t even intending to buy a gun on the day in question, but was in the store looking for other items and was “led” by the salesman to the weapons. What did he think he was there for? Was he getting a paperweight?

In reality, this is an open-and-shut case. Was he still using drugs when he purchased the gun and swore he was clean? Is Rehoboth Beach sandy? However, the case is in Delaware, which is the Biden family’s home turf, the prosecutor has already tried to let him slide, and Hunter’s got a friendly, sympathetic hometown jury in Wilmington. This is not to say the verdict is a given, like Donald Trump’s New York trial.

Please Support The Stream: Equipping Christians to Think Clearly About the Political, Economic, and Moral Issues of Our Day.

Some in the media are making hay of the fact that one of the jurors is an acquaintance of the Bidens. That one doesn’t catch my eye as much as the report that one of the jurors used to work for the Secret Service, and her husband still does.

As Politico reported in 2021, the owner of the gun shop where Hunter bought the weapon in October 2018 says Secret Service agents came to scoop up Hunter’s paperwork. The owner refused to hand it over, believing the agents were on clean-up duty. (Hunter was not under Secret Service protection at the time, as his father was no longer in office.) The Secret Service says they have no records of such a visit. Did Mr. “No One’s Above the Law” abuse his authority and call in some of his boys?

We’re curious to see if the prosecutors bring up that peculiar incident with the gun shop owner. We’re betting two scones they don’t.

Oh, That Fauci

After Dr. Anthony Fauci’s testimony yesterday, I am convinced that the word “Fauci” is Italian for “hubris.”

The COVID czar turned media star — with his sly, slippery smile firmly affixed — denied, denied, denied. Denied funding gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab. Denied not having an “open mind” about the origin of the COVID-19 virus. He shamelessly denied any involvement in the massive effort to pressure Big Tech and the research community to shut down the lab leak theory.

An exchange with Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) was classic Fauci.

 “Do you agree that there was a push to downplay the lab leak theory?”

“Not on my part.”

He also celebrated the COVID vaccines — and managed to blame those who didn’t get vaxxed for 200,000 to 300,000 “extra deaths” beyond the virus’s initial impact.

Further evidence Fauci is in it only for himself? He treated a longtime advisor like medical waste.

Dr. David Morens was a longtime special senior advisor to Anthony Fauci; he worked for him for 20 years. On Monday, Fauci acted like Morens was virtually a stranger who had little access to or influence with him. He may as well have been the janitor. Why? Because Morens implicated Fauci in an effort to deceive the public.

Earlier this year, Morens gave House investigators a trove of emails that laid out how he and the others around Fauci dodged open-records laws. He suggested that Fauci had been trying to protect EcoHealth honcho Peter Daszak, through whom Fauci’s gang funneled money for “gain of function” research at the Wuhan lab. He also said he would deliver messages to Fauci’s home to avoid leaving a paper trail.

At the hearing, Fauci acted like Morens was a Papa John’s pizza boy. “I know nothing” of Morens’s deleting and hiding of emails, he said.

While Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene’s (R-GA) epic rant against Fauci is getting a lot of play, we should focus more on the comments of Representative – and doctor — Richard McCormick (R-GA). McCormick was a front line doctor during the COVID epidemic, but was censored and had his medical license threatened because he dared treat his patients with ivermectin.

AG Merrick Garland Testifies

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland testified Tuesday on his refusal to hand over the audio of Joe Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur. He’s refusing to budge, claiming that releasing the audio might intimidate other witnesses — even though the transcript has already been released. 

We’ll have more on Garland’s stonewalling on tomorrow’s Brew. I’ll give you a hint: He unwittingly confirmed the Department of Justice’s moves are designed to get Trump and help Biden … all while denying any bias. 

Am I the Only One to Find This Funny?

Joe Biden signed an executive order on the border today. You know, the one he said a few months ago he didn’t have the power to make? As we talked about in this morning’s Brew, the order has a hole in it as wide as Biden’s border security protocols. 

Before the signing, The Associated Press posted this tweet. (Some people actually still think The Associated Press is an unbiased media outlet.)

 “Tough” means still letting a million illegal immigrants come into the country each year, not counting the endless numbers of getaways.

I’ve got this tough new home security system. The locks shut tight, but only after the thieves steal $2,500 worth of my stuff.

Anti-Trump Lawfare Update

Fani to Face Removal Hearing in October

Bad news for the lawfare fascists and the Biden campaign: It looks like you can forget about Trump’s Fulton County trial happening before the election.

A Georgia appeals court has set a hearing for October 4  on whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should be removed from the case because she hired her lover as special counsel, financially benefiting from the arrangement, and assorted other improprieties.  

Jack Smith Is Trying Again to Get a Gag Order on Trump, Judge Gives Trump Two Weeks to Respond

Apparently, there’s not a right the Left won’t shred to “protect democracy.” Special Persecutor Jack Smith again is aking the judge in Donald Trump’s Florida classified-documents case to slap a gag order on him. Smith is upset that Trump didn’t react kindly to news that Smith’s FBI thugs were prepared to shoot him, his family, his home, and the Secret Service agents assigned to them during the raid on Mar-a-Lago in August 2022.

Smith wants Trump to be shut up. Rather than quickly reject Smith’s bid as she did his first request, Judge Aileen Cannon is giving Trump’s lawyers until June 14 to respond. That means Trump has two weeks to talk all he wants about the “deadly force” authorization before the issue is even decided.

Boy, are the lawfare fans upset about that! Newsweek says Cannon’s critics are “outraged.”

More bad news for them: A federal judge has harshly rejected an “orchestrated campaign” to have Cannon removed from the case. Leftists flooded the court with 1,000 complaints in a single week last month, and 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge William Pryor finally said, “Enough with this nonsense.” Cannon stays. Critics want her gone because she’s not a Democratic puppet like Juan Merchan in New York.

Democratic Mayor in Minnesota Thanks Biden for Canceling His Student Debt. He Makes $130,000 a Year

St. Paul’s Democratic Mayor Melvin Carter pulls in more than $130,000 a year. Last week, he thanked Joe Biden for using your tax dollars to pay off his college debt. Carter is one of the beneficiaries of Biden’s “Cancelling Student Debt Despite the Supreme Court Ruling I Can’t While Accusing the Other Guy of Dangerously Undermining the Legal System By Getting Upset I’m Trying to Put Him in Jail” initiative.

Needless to say, hard-working Americans paying off the student debt of a progressive politician who makes more than 130 grand a year is not going over so well.

 

On The Stream Menu

David Marshall returns with  “The Temple of Heaven Revisted.” 

Meanwhile, John K. Amanchukwu Sr. has “Protect the Children, Part 8: How to Pressure Your School Board to Get the Right Results.”

 

Al Perrotta is The Stream’s Washington bureau chief, coauthor with John Zmirak of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration, and coauthor of the counterterrorism memoir Hostile Intent: Protecting Yourself Against Terrorism.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Like the article? Share it with your friends! And use our social media pages to join or start the conversation! Find us on Facebook, X, Instagram, MeWe and Gab.

Inspiration
The Good Life
Katherine Wolf
More from The Stream
Recommended
More

Equipping Christians to Engage Culture

Connect with Us