To the editor:

In response to a recent letter highlighting the irony of President Trump’s indictment, The Journal’s editor commented on allegations that Biden family members have enriched themselves off the family name. He concluded his statement by saying: “The latest report does not show any payments made directly to Joe Biden, either as vice president or after leaving office.”

The editor’s comments raise several questions. First, what product or service was being sold by the Biden family members? What did they have to offer in exchange for the millions of dollars that foreign corporations were paying them? They had no expertise or special knowledge that those companies wanted or needed. All they had to offer was the ability to influence Joe Biden and U.S. foreign policy. It is hard to view these payments as anything other than bribes.

Second, why did the Bidens set up a spider web of shell corporations to receive these payments? People who are engaged in honest business don’t do this. People who are trying to launder money do.

Third, why were none of the payments made directly to Joe Biden himself? Crime bosses never receive illegal payments directly. Payments are routed to related parties who are under the boss’s control. That’s why financial reporting regulations require corporations to list persons related to the owners, and to report related party transactions. Payments made to related parties are deemed to have been made to the person in control. A person would need to be quite naïve to look at the facts of the Bidens’ case and not be highly suspicious, as many of us are. It is a good thing that the House is investigating. If Joe Biden has sold out our country to enrich his family, we ought to know, and he ought to be punished.

Michael Thom

New Ulm