Ops Desk Sunday Report
US AID and Hunter: Like peanut butter and jelly!
So I guess it had to happen — Hunter Biden’s name has surfaced in the US AID scandal.
I’m shocked. Shocked, I tell you!
The connection stems from Hunter’s investment firm, Rosemont Seneca. Now, this space put a lot of time and effort into attempting to untangle the web of Hunter’s corrupt finances — and despite the decades of investigatory experience here, we always felt we only scratched the surface.
That Hunter had a significant interest in Rosemont is a matter of record. This would be the Rosemont Seneca, just for instance, that received $3.5 million from Russia’s richest woman (and the wife of the former Moscow mayor) while Joe Biden was Vice President. Hunter, by the way, was Chairman of Rosemont at the time. (There’s more to Rosemont, of course, but we’re only on this earth a short time).
But quick aside: Let that sink in: $3.5 million from Russia, to the sitting Vice President’s son, for entirely murky reasons. If JD Vance’s wife, for instance, received that amount from a prominent Russian, our entire media would stroke out.
Now among the positions Hunter’s Rosemont apparently held was a 13.4% interest in a San Francisco “global health” firm called Metabiota. Metabiota is apparently much beloved by the left: it’s received write-ups in The New York Times and The Guardian, and, near as I can tell, is solely funded by donations and grants and describes itself as “dedicated to enhancing the well-being of individuals who are actively striving to better their physical, mental, and overall health.”
Wow, how perfectly… vague.
In any case — and you see it coming here — among those who has been providing grants to Metabiota is US AID.
So: US AID to Metabiota, which Hunter’s Rosemont has a significant stake in.
Now, let’s be clear: no evidence has surfaced that any member of the Biden family steered grants to a firm Hunter partly owned.
But in light of the fact that US AID’s own website describes Metabiota as a “partner”… in 2016, while Joe Biden was VP… well, Chairman Hunter’s stake is sort of interesting, no?
Let’s just file the fact that Hunter appears to have benefited from the Dems’ US AID slush fund under “least surprising investigative findings in world history.”
But poor Hunter: the multi-million dollar home he’d been renting in the Hollywood hills — a home he affords despite having no discernible expertise in anything — burned to the ground as part of the L.A. fires.
Fortunately, he’s got Metabiota to “enhance his well-being as he strives to better his physical, mental, and overall health.”
A Different Sort of Whitehouse Scandal
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) (did I really need to put the “D”?) has been among the most vociferous critics of DOGE, decrying the agency’s actions as “brazen” and “illegal.”
And in another shocker, it turns out that Whitehouse, a “climate hawk,” has been voting for multi-million dollar grants that go to a climate-change group headed by… his wife.
According to the reporting, Sandra Whitehouse is President of something called, “Ocean Wonks LLC,” which has received more than $14.2 million in grants since 2008. In 2024 alone, the group got grants totaling $6.9 million — including $1.7 million from the EPA.
You know — the EPA we covered recently as siphoning off $20 billion to a murky group of climate change Obamanoids, and which hit the news again recently for steering $2 billion to a group involving failed gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. A group that had previously reported $100 in revenue.
Now Sandra Whitehouse is apparently involved with numerous “ocean conservation” groups that lobby Congress — just one of which, “Ocean Conservancy,” has paid her roughly $2.7 million in salary since 2010. Over $190k-per-year. From one of her government-funded groups.
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse has been in government pretty much his entire adult life, earning a government salary. As of 2023, his net worth was estimated as over $19 million.
Zelensky would’ve been better off founding a climate change NGO.
And Speaking of DOGE…
Let’s be clear: it’s legal.
What Trump did was actually quite clever. Using an Executive Order, he simply repurposed an Obama-era executive agency which had been founded to use technology to make the U.S. government more efficient.
As Trump’s Exec. Order puts it:
DOGE Structure. (a) Reorganization and Renaming of the United States Digital Service. The United States Digital Service is hereby publicly renamed as the United States DOGE Service (USDS) and shall be established in the Executive Office of the President.
He even got to keep the same acronym!
The mission is similar, but I’m pretty sure this is not what Obama had in mind. And importantly — as an already-existing agency, with its various powers established, DOGE is already fully funded by Congress. And has access to all federal data systems.
Thanks Barack!
I’d say Obama has been hoisted by his own petard — if I had the slightest idea what a petard is.
Blue City Madness Continues
Just to show that not every liberal pathology is finally getting some overdue attention, comes word now that a notorious Houston judge just cut a cop-killer loose on bail.
Instead of remanding the accused without the possibility of bail — an utterly routine move in a capital murder case — Judge Hilary Unger instead set $1 million bail for Dremone Francis, accused with an accomplice of fatally gunning down Harris County Sheriff’s Deputy Fernando Esqueda.
At the usual 10% bond rate, that means Francis would have to come up with $100k to get bailed out — a number well-within the reach of a bail bondsman, if Francis had someone to put up collateral (a house, etc).
Now, while Houston is in Texas, what many don’t realize is that it’s a very blue town, with not only elected judges like Unger, but a series of Soros prosecutors, including the present DA Sean Teare.
And so, at this writing, Houston’s crime rate remains more than 100% higher than the rest of Texas, and it’s violent crime rate is three times that of the rest of the nation.
But those are just numbers. Let’s do this in lives lost. Judge Unger, a former ACLU counsel who is apparently known for letting repeat offenders out on bond, and who has run her election campaigns on prioritizing "alternatives to incarceration,” has released no less than eight perps who are alleged to have committed murder after bonding out.
The Houston Chronicle, of course, endorsed Unger in her last election.
Now, Dremone Francis has major drug priors. So here are my questions:
Where did he get $100k? Did the D.A. ask for proof it was legit money?
In light of the fact that Trump just designated the cartels as terrorist organizations — can Francis be linked to a cartel? Thereby giving the feds jurisdiction — and putting a death penalty case against Francis back on the table?
Because I have far more faith in a Pam Bondi-led DOJ to bring that case in than the clown show that is the Houston court system.
RIP, Deputy Esqueda. You deserved better.
The Hackman Case
Later today we’ll be dropping a podcast with Paul, Chris, and Eric — 80 years of investigative experience among them — on the perplexing case of actor Gene Hackman and his wife.
Murder? Suicide? Natural causes?
The boys weigh in on the evidence that’s currently available… and actually go out on a limb to make their predictions.
Tune in if you can!
Bullets
A great bit of news: The main perpetrator in the case of DEA agent Kiki Camarena, kidnapped, tortured, and murdered by Mexican cartel members, has been extradited — reportedly after former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Rubio, and AG Bondi put the pressure on (translation: drone strikes). This is what happens when serious people do serious jobs. My question: Can we try the perp here now? Federally? On a death penalty case? (To say that this is a big deal to the DEA guys would be the understatement of all time. The Ops Desk is glad to see it).
While DNA hits are comparatively rare in the CODIS database, they are becoming more common as the database becomes more populated. Here’s a recent one: a DNA hit from an article of clothing that matched to DNA collected from an illegal at the border in 2023. An illegal who was still allowed to enter the country, to (allegedly) deal drugs and (allegedly) murder someone. Showing once again the importance of enforcement by serious people. Allegedly.
The Ops Desk asks: Why is it that among DOGE’s findings is that US AID funded a “DEI musical” in Ireland to the tune of $70,000? As well as $24,000 for an Irish college student’s DEI film project? Ireland? Huh? Oh, wait — US AID’s top administrator during the Biden years was Samantha Power — who grew up in Dublin. The luck of the Irish, indeed. At least those with powerful (and corrupt) American friends.
And finally…
Yes! DOGE on, fellas, DOGE on….
Finally Kiki's torturers are going to get theirs.