Tangle - The Hunter Biden trial.

Episode Date: June 10, 2024

Hunter Biden's trial. On Friday, federal prosecutors rested their case against Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden’s son, who is facing three felony charges related to a 2018 firearm purchase he allegedly made while using drugs.You can read today's podcast⁠ ⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠, our “Under the Radar” story ⁠here and today’s “Have a nice day” story ⁠here⁠.You can catch our latest YouTube video, an interview with Alyssa Cass and Pat Rosenstiel, and their efforts to make the popular vote the official decision in electing the US President, here.Catch up on episode 3 of our podcast series, The Undecideds, where our focus shifts from Donald Trump toward President Joe Biden. Our undecided voters share their observations on the current commander in chief and how his decisions on the world stage affect their decision in the voting booth. You can listen to Episode 3 ⁠⁠here.⁠⁠ Episode 4 will be released tomorrow.Today’s clickables: A quick note (0:45), Quick hits (2:21), Today’s story (4:34), Left’s take (9:16), Right’s take (13:38), Isaac’s take (17:25), Listener question (22:14), Under the Radar (25:13), Numbers (26:13), Have a nice day (27:29)You can subscribe to Tangle by clicking here or drop something in our tip jar by clicking here. Take the survey: Do you think Hunter Biden should face prison time? Let us know!Our podcast is written by Isaac Saul and edited and engineered by Jon Lall. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet 75. Our newsletter is edited by Managing Editor Ari Weitzman, Will Kaback, Bailey Saul, Sean Brady, and produced in conjunction with Tangle’s social media manager Magdalena Bokowa, who also created our logo. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Based on Charles Yu's award-winning book, Interior Chinatown follows the story of Willis Wu, a background character trapped in a police procedural who dreams about a world beyond Chinatown. When he inadvertently becomes a witness to a crime, Willis begins to unravel a criminal web, his family's buried history, and what it feels like to be in the spotlight. Interior Chinatown is streaming November 19th, only on Disney+. The flu remains a serious disease. Last season, over 102,000 influenza cases have been reported across Canada, which is Chinatown is streaming November 19th, only on Disney+. yourself from the flu. It's the first cell-based flu vaccine authorized in Canada for ages six months and older, and it may be available for free in your province. Side effects and allergic reactions can occur, and 100% protection is not guaranteed. Learn more at flucellvax.ca.

From executive producer Isaac Saul, this is Tangle. Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening, and welcome to the Tangle podcast, a place where you get views from across the political spectrum, some independent thinking, and a little bit of my take. I'm your host, Isaac Saul, and on today's episode, we're going to be talking about the Hunter Biden trial. The prosecution rested last week, so we're going to break down exactly what happened, share some views from across the political spectrum, and as always, I will give you my take. As always, I will give you my take. Before we do jump into that, I want to give you a quick heads up that on Sunday, yesterday,

we published a little bit of a different podcast. In case you missed it, I wanted to make sure I pointed it out to you guys. Ari and I did a little hypothetical where Congress gets dissolved and we are elected co-presidents, you could call us. And the task is to draft a 15 person Congress using only people currently serving in the House and the Senate. So Ari and I separately made up our own draft boards, tried to justify our picks, did some research on different members of Congress, and then we did a snake draft. It was really fun. It was super fun because it was interesting to hear why we pick different people, argue about what their value was or whether they should be included. And then the whole episode is just full of all these fun facts

about members of Congress because we all did research on our picks and, you know, read Wikipedia pages and looked up profiles and did, you know did what are the red flags about this person and any interesting facts about them that seem relevant. And I thought it turned out really funny. I thought it was an interesting, entertaining exercise. I had fun recording it, so I hope you have fun listening to it. It's up on our podcast channel.

You can go back to tomorrow and check it out. All right, with that out of the way, I'm gonna pass it over to it. It's up on our podcast channel. You can go back to tomorrow and check it out. All right, with that out of the way, I'm going to pass it over to John to break down today's main story, and then I'll be back with my take. Thanks, Isaac, and welcome, everybody. Hope you all had a great weekend. Here are your quick hits for today. First up, an Israeli special forces operation in central Gaza freed four living hostages who were captured on October 7th. More than 270 Palestinians were killed in the operation, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said, as combatants and Israeli soldiers fought inside and around two residential apartment buildings where the hostages were being held. inside and around two residential apartment buildings where the hostages were being held. Separately, opposition leader Benny Gantz announced his resignation from Israel's war cabinet after a deadline passed for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to set a post-war plan for Gaza.

Number two, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has reached 15% in three approved national polls, one short of the four required to participate in CNN's presidential debate on June 27th. Number three, French President Emmanuel Macron dissolved the lower house of parliament to call for snap elections after the far-right National Rally Party defeated pro-European centrists in elections to represent the country in European parliament. And number five, the United States is planning to offer a landmark defense treaty to Saudi Arabia in an effort to spur a normalization of relations with Israel. Well, opening statements begin this morning in Hunter Biden's criminal trial in Delaware. He faces three felony charges related to a gun purchase in 2018.

He's the first ever child of a sitting U.S. president to go on trial. Tonight, Hunter Biden fighting back tears as his eldest daughter, Naomi, testified in his defense, saying in August 2018, she considered her father to be on the road to recovery from his drug addiction. It was the clearest I'd seen him since my uncle died. He seemed really great, she said. It was two months before Hunter filled out that government background check to purchase a gun, checking no on the form that asked if he was an active drug user. And the felony gun case against Hunter Biden could be in the hands of the jury by the end of the day.

Prosecutors rested their case last week. Now the president's son will have to decide if he'll take the stand in his own defense. be in the hands of the jury by the end of the day. Prosecutors rested their case last week. Now the president's son will have to decide if he'll take the stand in his own defense. On Friday, federal prosecutors rested their case against Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden's son, who's facing three felony charges related to a 2018 firearm purchase he allegedly made while using drugs. Some background on the case. Hunter Biden is accused of falsely stating on a gun purchase form that he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs on October 2018. Prosecutors alleged that he had then unlawfully possessed the handgun for 11 days. Last year, Biden had reached an agreement with the Justice Department to plead guilty to two

misdemeanor tax charges and avoid prosecution on the gun charge. The deal would have insulated Biden from ever facing any criminal charges for his past unlawful behavior, but collapsed amid criticism that the terms were too lenient. If prosecutors prove Biden was on or addicted to drugs at the time he purchased the weapon, he could face up to 25 years in prison. A sentence of that length would be unusual for a first-time offender like Biden, and presiding judge Mary Ellen Noriega may not sentence him to prison even if he is found years in prison. A sentence of that length would be unusual for a first-time offender like Biden, and presiding judge Mary Ellen Noriega may not sentence him to prison even if he is found guilty. Separately, Biden still faces a federal trial in California later this year for failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes. During the trial this week, prosecutors played the jury recordings

from an audiobook of Hunter Biden's 2021 memoir, Beautiful Things, that detailed his addiction before, during, and after the gun purchase. Prosecutors argued that the four-year period of crack cocaine addiction that Biden described in his memoir covered the time when he purchased the firearm. Addiction may not be a choice, but lying and buying a gun is a choice, one of the prosecutors said in court. Nobody is above the law. Hunter Biden's lawyer, Abby Lowell, has argued that Biden was not using drugs when he filled out the form, asserting that he bought the gun in a time of relative sobriety following a two-week stint in rehab in August 2018.

However, one witness for the prosecution testified that she met Biden at a gentleman's club and saw him using drugs in September of 2018, the month before the gun was bought. One of the witnesses called by the defense was Hunter's 30-year-old daughter, Naomi, who they hope portrayed her father as a more sympathetic character. However, the strategy seems to have backfired. While Naomi testified that her father appeared to respond well to drug treatment in the weeks before purchasing the gun, during cross-examination, prosecutors presented old text messages from that October in which Naomi seemed exasperated with her dad over his drug use. The prosecution's star witness was Haley Biden, the widow of Hunter Biden's brother Beau, with whom Hunter had a brief relationship after Beau died of brain cancer in 2015. Haley testified that she discovered Hunter Biden's

Colt revolver and ammunition in his truck, and that she panicked before deciding to throw it away in a trash can outside a market near her home. She added that she saw what she believed was drug residue when she discovered the gun in Hunter's truck. The trial will continue on Monday as the defense prepares to rest its case. Biden's lawyers have decided not to call Hunter Biden to the stand, and after Naomi's testimony seemed to backfire, they scrapped plans to call President Biden's brother, James, to the stand. Once the defense rests, both sides will present their closing arguments. President Biden has continued to express support for his son, but has pledged not to pardon him if he is convicted. Today, we're going to look at some

arguments from the left and the right about the latest in the trial, and then Isaac's take. We'll be right back after this quick commercial break. It's your last chance to get 40% off the Father's Day gift that he already can't stop talking about. Have you ever been on the golf course or tried calling an Uber and your phone died? Or giving your kid your phone to watch a show at a restaurant for a little bit of peace of quiet and, well, you get it. We all need a portable charger, but no one likes those big, bulky, brick-sized chargers.

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at Aquavolt.com. That's TANGLE to buy your charge card for 40% off by going to aquavolt.com. The flu remains a serious disease. Last season, over 102,000 influenza cases have been reported across Canada, which is nearly double the historic average of 52,000 cases. What can you do this flu season? Talk to your pharmacist or doctor about getting a flu shot. Consider FluCellVax Quad and help protect yourself from the flu. It's the first cell-based flu vaccine authorized in Canada for ages six months and

older, and it may be available for free in your province. Side effects and allergic reactions can occur, and 100% protection is not guaranteed. Learn more at FluCellVax.ca. Based on Charles Yu's award-winning book, Interior Chinatown follows the story of Willis Wu, a background character trapped in a police procedural who dreams about a world beyond Chinatown. When he inadvertently becomes a witness to a crime, Willis begins to unravel a criminal web, his family's buried history, and what it feels like to be in the spotlight. Interior Chinatown is streaming November 19th, only on Disney+. All right, first up, let's start with what the left is saying.

The left says the case against Hunter Biden is strong, but questions why it was brought to trial at all. Some suggest the trial invalidates the right's claim of a two-tier justice system. Others say Biden is being prosecuted for political reasons. In Politico, Ankush Kordori wrote, The Hunter Biden case is solid. There's something rotten about it, too. Almost every federal prosecutor, myself included, will at one point prosecute a case involving the unlawful purchase or possession of a firearm. Along with immigration and drug cases, gun charges are the bread and butter of federal prosecutors, for better or worse, Cordori said. These cases almost always result in

convictions, but they usually end in plea deals, not jury verdicts. The statutes in this area are both broad and punitive, and the elements of the offenses are relatively easy to prove. As a result, there are very few credible lines of defense at trial, and the logic of a guilty plea, which ensures at least some time off of the ultimate sentence, tends to be inescapable. Federal prosecutors often charge defendants with lying on federal forms to purchase guns for other people, usually convicted felons who cannot lawfully buy guns on their own. But it is rare for prosecutors to charge someone with lying about being a drug user at the time of the purchase, Cardori said. If I had been asked to prosecute a case against a former drug addict using his memoir of recovery as the centerpiece of the case,

I don't think I would have been able to bring myself to do it. That's particularly true because it is far from clear that the conviction of Biden to say nothing of a potential prison sentence would serve any meaningful purpose. In CNN, Oliver Darcy argued, the Hunter Biden trial shows America's justice system isn't so rigged after all. The same media outlets and figures who have told their audience that there is a two-tiered justice system in America are now prominently covering a trial in which Biden's own Justice Department prosecutes his son. If Biden is rigging the justice system, he's doing a lousy job, Darcy said. To be clear, the unprecedented nature of Biden's own son going on trial for felony charges warrants significant coverage.

However, while Trump's trial was treated as an illegitimate sham by the MAGA media machine, the Hunter Biden trial is being portrayed in a markedly different light. Oddly, the charges brought against President Biden's son don't represent election interference. These same outlets are also dishonestly attempting to tie President Biden to the alleged crimes of his son, despite the fact that the GOP has been unable to uncover any evidence establishing such a link, Darcy said. Regardless of what

happens in the Hunter Biden trial, however, Trump's media allies will still undoubtedly claim that the justice system is rigged. Even if Hunter Biden is found guilty, audiences will still be told that he got off easy and should have been hit with more severe charges. In USA Today, Charles M. Oberle said, I ran the office prosecuting Hunter Biden. I can't fathom why this trial is happening. Even accepting all the government's allegations as true, it's hard to understand why it is prosecuting the younger Biden. At the time he purchased a firearm, Biden was a non-violent 40-something

struggling drug addict with zero criminal history. He proceeded to possess a firearm for 11 days and did not use it for any purpose, let alone a crime, Oberle wrote. The office prosecuting this case, the office I once led, now rarely prosecutes even the most violent gun offenders. Of those thousands of gun charges in Delaware, the U.S. Attorney's Office prosecutes even the most violent gun offenders. Of those thousands of gun charges in Delaware, the U.S. Attorney's Office prosecutes very few. The purpose of prosecutorial discretion is to make the law work for its intended purpose. Addicts and non-addicts alike make mistakes every day. No office has the ability or desire to prosecute each infraction, and certainly no office should chase felony convictions in jail time in a misguided effort to appease either side in Congress, Oberle said. On the federal side, this is where the Attorney General's guidance is important. Here, he is strained to stay far away from the case.

I do not know his motives, but I fear his desire to tell investigating Republicans that he did not interfere has caused the pendulum to swing so far that this particular defendant is being targeted in a way that no other individual would. All right, that is it for what the left is saying, which brings us to what the right is saying. The right believes Hunter Biden is clearly guilty and says President Biden is to blame for the case getting to this point. Some say Hunter has built in advantages that could help him escape a jury verdict. Others explore whether Hunter will be exonerated via jury nullification. The Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote about the sad case

of Hunter Biden. Hunter's defenders say that he's being singled out for unfair treatment because few people are tried for lying on their gun application form. But former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy says that's only true when the purchase isn't fulfilled, the board said. Hunter purchased a gun and handled it irresponsibly. He would have retained it for more than those 11 days if Haley Biden hadn't found it and tossed it in a grocery store dumpster. than those 11 days if Haley Biden hadn't found it and tossed it in a grocery store dumpster. A Republican Senate and a Democratic House increased the penalty for this gun offense to 15 from 10 years in 2022, signaling that they want those cases prosecuted. Joe Biden signed that legislation. It's fair to ask why this case took six years to bring to trial. Thank U.S.

Attorney David Weiss and the way the president handled the evidence of his son's laptop when the New York Post reported it in October of 2020, the board wrote. Mayor Garland boxed himself into a political corner after he named Jack Smith a special counsel to investigate Mr. Trump. Mr. Weiss followed with the gun and tax indictments against Hunter. As we warned when Mr. Smith was appointed, using the legal system against political opponents would inevitably hurt Democrats, too. In The Federalist, Margo Cleveland argued, Hunter Biden's trial does not exonerate America's two-tiered justice system. One obvious difference between the criminal cases of Donald Trump and Hunter Biden concerns the involvement of politically motivated investigators and prosecutors.

Both the Manhattan prosecutor, Alvin Bragg, and Fulton County DA, Fannie Willis, are hard-carrying Democrats who became party favorites by targeting Donald Trump, Cleveland said. In contrast, it was career investigators who worked the Hunter Biden investigation and political appointees and D.C. bureaucrats who mucked up their case. There is one similarity between the current trial of Hunter Biden in Wilmington, Delaware, and Trump's just-ended Manhattan trial, the political predilections of the jury pool. In 2020, Biden won Manhattan by 84.5% to Trump's 14.5%, with the breakdown in Wilmington slightly higher at 87% for Biden to Trump's not even 12%. This similarity, though, may soon provide the final proof of the two-tiered justice system

by acquitting the president's son. In The Hill, Jonathan Turley suggested Hunter Biden may be seeking jury nullification rather than vindication. Even without his earlier plea deal, a guilty plea could significantly reinforce a request to avoid jail time in the case. It would also avoid an embarrassing trial for himself and his father during a presidential election, Turley wrote. While Hunter could always throw in the towel before the start of the testimony, there is currently no discernible strategy beyond hoping that a pending case in the Supreme Court might undermine the indictment. There may also be another possible strategy in play, jury nullification. Biden may be hoping that testimony on his travails with drugs will prompt one or more jurors to ignore the law and vote to acquit. Notably, virtually all of the selected jurors

have said that they know someone who has struggled with drugs, Turley said. Biden's case has all the characteristics of a nullification defense. Even if he cannot secure acquittal, the combination of political and social elements at play in Delaware could produce a hung jury. Trying a Biden in Delaware is a challenge for any prosecutor, even without the potential sympathies for a reformed drug addict. Now let's head over to Isaac for his take. All right, that is it for what the left and the right are saying, which brings us to my take. So, oddly enough, and in contrast to what some other writers have said, the similarities between this Hunter Biden trial and the Donald Trump trial we just witnessed

actually kind of pop off the page to me. For one, I thought both were pretty obviously guilty of the actions they were accused of. The evidence that Hunter Biden was using drugs and addicted to them at the time he purchased this firearm is pretty much overwhelming. Second, I don't think this case would have gone to trial if the defendant wasn't politically relevant. It is obviously excessive for the Justice Department to spend five years and significant resources prosecuting a normal defendant for lying on a form to apply for a gun. Third, I don't think either Hunter Biden or Donald Trump should spend a day behind bars. Hunter could technically face 25 years in prison, but a harsh prison sentence here

for a first-time offender is quite rare, and I don't see any reason to make an exception here. And finally, neither case has anything to do with the most serious allegations the person in question is facing. For Biden, that would be selling his family connections in corrupt deals with Ukrainian and Chinese-linked businesses. That last point is definitely the most resonant for me. I had a hard time getting excited about Trump's hush money trial in New York, and I feel similarly blasé about this case. Hunter Biden is obviously not a very sympathetic character. He seems like a sleazy guy who was born into a powerful and close-knit family,

and the trial once again confirmed the contents of his laptop that showed just how corrupt he was at least attempting to be. But he also just seems deeply troubled. The trial has made it clear he went off the rails after his brother died, and the evidence presented against him also paints the picture of a dad attempting but failing to rebuild a relationship with his daughter. So while he's not a very sympathetic character, it isn't hard to have some sympathy for him. Even President Donald Trump, who has used the case to his political advantage, expressed sympathy for Hunter. Look, I feel very badly for them in terms of the addiction part of what they have right now, Trump said, because I understand the addiction world. And I've also, not only a brother, I've lost a lot of friends to addiction, drugs,

alcohol. If Hunter Biden was in the throes of his addiction when he bought this gun, which again, I think he pretty clearly was, that means he is guilty of the crime he is accused of. And if his lawyers and the Justice Department hadn't pushed the envelope as far as possible in last year's plea deal, he probably wouldn't be standing trial right now. And yet, this trial still seems a little gratuitous, like one giant tabloid grab. Reading testimony about all the different relationships he ruined through his addictions, the pleading texts from his daughter to spend more time with him, and stories from his ex-girlfriends or escorts depicting how out of his mind he was, it feels more like reality TV than serious criminal

court. That doesn't make me feel bad for the guy, but it does give me the icky feeling that I'm peering too deeply into someone's personal life. However, even though this case has gone on too long and probably could have been resolved last year, I do think it reflects somewhat positively on the Justice Department. At a time when Merrick Garland is being accused of all sorts of political partisanship, the DOJ is now prosecuting President Biden's son, Democratic Senator Bob Menendez from New Jersey, and Democratic Rep Henry Queller from Texas. To bring us back to reality, these are not signs of a banana republic. The U.S. is not a country defined by political prosecutions. People who gain political power have abused that power since forever, and this is just what happens when law enforcement prosecutes them without political favor.

In fact, I'd say that the number of recent trials and indictments reflects much more poorly on the prosecuted than it does on the Justice Department itself. And here's the final similarity between this case and Trump's. I really don't know what will happen if Hunter gets convicted. I have a hard time imagining him going to jail as part of his sentence, and I also think it is increasingly unlikely, and would be very unwise, for President Biden to get involved in any way, like by trying to pardon him. What I do think, though, is that the odds of getting him convicted are strong. And then, just as the 2024 campaign comes into its final weeks,

Hunter will have to take the stand for his charges over unpaid taxes. For the president, it's a headache that will not go away anytime soon. And for Hunter, it's genuine legal peril. We'll be right back after this quick break. inadvertently becomes a witness to a crime, Willis begins to unravel a criminal web, his family's buried history, and what it feels like to be in the spotlight. Interior Chinatown is streaming November 19th, only on Disney+. The flu remains a serious disease. Last season, over 102,000 influenza cases have been reported across Canada, which is nearly double the historic average of 52,000 cases. What can you do this flu season? Talk to your pharmacist or doctor about getting a flu shot. Consider FluSilvax Quad and Thank you. protection is not guaranteed. Learn more at fluselvax.ca.

All right, that is it for my take, which brings us to your questions answered. This one is from Christian in Houston, Texas. Christian said, do you choose some of the more extreme examples of what the left and right are saying to paint the whole spectrum of the argument? Or is that actually the best representation of what that side is saying? Sometimes I read what the right is saying and think this is way too conservative. The typical Republican can't be thinking that and vice versa with what the left is saying and find it crazy to think that the most representative response of what the left is saying as it seems far too left. I sometimes wonder if Tangle sometimes chooses the most extreme viewpoints to further the point that traditional media is too biased and partisan, and dashes my hope for America that we can have rationality on either side of the political

spectrums that isn't oozing in partisan bias. So generally speaking, I think that if you read Tangle top to bottom without finding some opinions you think are a little out there, we probably aren't doing our jobs. Collectively, the perspectives we choose to highlight should represent a full spectrum of opinions we're reading in the media ecosystem. If we only cited center-right or center-left opinions, then you wouldn't get a sense of what is actually out there. You'd be getting a more milquetoast and less realistic version of the country. Conversely, if all we did was publish more fringe views, then you'd be left with the inaccurate perspective that there aren't a lot of moderates on both sides. So yes, some of the opinions we publish will be towards an end pretty far from where you are, but only because those opinions are held by a lot of people. Since we always want to include a

range of opinions from the right and left, they shouldn't all strike you as too far out there, but odds are at least one will feel pretty far removed from the way you interpret the events we cover. I can actually put it even more simply. If there weren't thousands of people willing to read an article or click it to drive ad revenue or buy a subscription to support a publication, then the media outlet publishing it wouldn't exist. Partisan media as a business works. It's the uphill battle we're always fighting at Tangle. Trust me, if I wanted to cynically find the easiest path towards riches and journalism, there are easier ways than exaggerating the extent of media bias to try

to paint myself as one of the sane ones. If tomorrow I said, actually, the right is all crazy, or, you know what, the left has lost its collective mind, I'd probably make a killing. But turning a profit off Tangle is not what motivates me. I'm genuinely interested in trying to get people of all political stripes under one roof, reading and trusting one source of news. We are a big tent at Tangle, and hopefully we'll get people with different perspectives to better understand each other along the way. At the same time, I don't want to pretend more radical or fringe views don't exist. I even hold some radical and fringe views myself. All right, that is it for your

questions answered. I'm going to send it back to John for the rest of the show, and I'll be back here tomorrow. Have a good one. Thanks, Isaac. And here's your Under the Radar story for today, folks. GameStop stock, which after recently seeing another meteoric rise, is plummeting again. Meme stock leader Keith Gill, also known as Roaring Kitty, was behind the recent push, returning to YouTube after three years away from the platform with a

live stream that generated more than 600,000 viewers. GameStop reported its quarterly results four days ahead of schedule on Friday, which sent the stock shooting up 50% before Gill even went live. Investors exchanged $10 billion worth of GameStop shares on Friday, more than any other stock on Wall Street except Nvidia and Apple, and the stock finished trading at $28.22 after trading was halted several times ahead of and during the much-anticipated live stream. After briefly trading above $60 per share on Thursday, the stock has fallen back to below $27. Fox Business has this story, and there's a link in today's episode description. All right, next up is our numbers section. The percentage of

Americans who say Hunter Biden's legal troubles have no impact on their likelihood of voting for Joe Biden is 58%, according to a February 2024 Reuters Ipsos poll. The percentage of Americans who say Hunter Biden's legal troubles makes them less likely to vote for Joe Biden is 23%. The percentage of Americans who say Hunter Biden is receiving favorable treatment from U.S. prosecutors because he is President Biden's son is 59%. The percentage of Americans who said Hunter Biden was receiving favorable treatment from U.S. prosecutors because he is President Biden's son in June of 2023 was 50%. The percentage of Americans who say Hunter Biden's indictment on criminal charges was politically motivated is 50%. The percentage of Americans who said Hunter Biden's indictment on criminal charges was politically motivated in June of 2023 was 34%. The approximate amount in cash withdrawals

made by Hunter Biden between September and November of 2018, including $5,000 on the day he bought the gun at the center of his criminal trial, is $150,000. And the maximum fine Hunter Biden could face if convicted in trial is $750,000. And last but not least, our Have a Nice Day story. The United Nations released its mid-2024 World Economic Situation and Prospects report, and the outlook is pretty good. The UN expects the world economy to grow by 2.7% in 2024, surpassing the 2.3% prediction made in January, attributing the jump to the growth in the United States economy with additional significant improvements in

several large emerging economies, particularly Brazil, India, and Russia. The report also projected a 2.8% increase in 2025. These changes are actually coming from better-than-expected performance in some of the large developed and emerging economies, said Shantanu Mukherjee, director of the UN's Economic Analysis and Policy Division. Nice News has this story, and there's a link in today's episode description. Alright everybody, that is it for today's episode. As always, if you'd like to support our work, please head over to readtangle.com and sign up for a membership. like to support our work, please head over to readtangle.com and sign up for a membership. Yesterday's Sunday podcast was pretty fun. It was a fantasy draft conducted by Isaac and Ari.

They went over their analysis, statistics, and opinions. It was a really interesting and fun thought experiment. And if you haven't gotten a chance to listen to it yet, you can just go back today to yesterday's pod to take a listen. We also released a new YouTube video, which is the interview with Alyssa Cass and Pat Rosensteil about how they think the national popular vote will actually pick the president in 2028. We'll be right back here tomorrow. For Isaac and the rest of the team, this is John Law signing off. Have a great day, y'all. Peace. all. Peace. Lena Bokova, who is also our social media manager. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet75. If you're looking for more from Tangle, please go to readtangle.com and check out our website.