meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
The Political Scene | The New Yorker

Hunter Biden and the Mechanics of the “Scandal Industrial Complex”

The Political Scene | The New Yorker

The New Yorker

Politics, Washington, News, Obama, Wnyc, President, Lizza, Barack, Wickenden

4.33.9K Ratings

🗓️ 28 July 2023

⏱️ 41 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Washington Roundtable: This week, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy moved one step closer to calling for Congress to begin impeachment proceedings against President Biden, on the grounds that Biden has used the “weaponization of government to benefit his family.” For years, Hunter Biden’s dealings with Ukrainian and Chinese companies have been the focus of Republicans’ efforts to undermine the President, although investigations in the House and Senate have found no evidence of wrongdoing by Biden in relation to his son’s business dealings. Also this week, the federal judge Maryellen Noreika, in Wilmington, Delaware, put the brakes on Hunter Biden’s plea deal for tax and gun-possession crimes. Hunter Biden is not the first family member of a President to cause political headaches; the brothers of Presidents Nixon, Carter, and Clinton preceded him. What should we make of the latest news about the President’s son? More broadly, how do Oval Office political scandals arise and take hold of the public’s imagination? Hosted by the New Yorker staff writers Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hi there, I'm Lale Arikoglu, and this podcast is brought to you by Wilderness, a conservation-driven

0:06.4

hospitality company that offers intimate world life encounters in extraordinary remote landscapes.

0:12.5

Last year, I embarked on two separate solo adventures with Wilderness, one to Botswana and the other

0:18.2

to Namibia, where the expert guides delivered a truly once-in-a-lifetime

0:23.6

experience. I promise you, whatever you watch and see before you go won't prepare you for the thrill

0:29.4

of a wilderness adventure. eBay, it's a place to fall in love with new pre-loved vintage and rare

0:36.6

fashion over and over again.

0:39.0

Your favorite designers, expertly authenticated.

0:42.5

Yeah, eBay.

0:44.0

Things people love.

0:47.9

Okay, here's the Thai Cobb quote that is amazing.

0:51.3

Donald Trump's former lawyer.

0:52.8

I think this original indictment was engineered to

0:56.0

last a thousand years. And now this superseding indictment will last in antiquity. This is such a

1:01.9

tight case. The evidence is so overwhelming. It does get kind of hard at a certain point for him to

1:10.3

deny the fact that there's video, there's audio, there's this, there's that. What isn't there? What I love is like the way that these people talk to each other, it's like out of a third-rate mobster movie. I mean, you know, the boss wants you to do this, buddy. And then the other guy says,

1:28.0

well, I'm not sure I'm allowed to do it. And he says, but the boss wants you to do it.

1:31.5

I'm just sort of struck by history repeating itself. You know, it's always the cover-up that really

1:37.4

cooks the people. And I mean, and this is, to me, it's so reminiscent of the tapes in Watergate.

1:43.2

And here, but the difference is you've now got the boss telling Rosemary Wood to cut that bit out.

1:51.0

Yeah.

1:51.6

So it's hard to see your way out of this one.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The New Yorker, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The New Yorker and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.