Washington, D.C
Inside the secret restaurant lair where Joe Biden met Hunter’s cronies
After a half-century working in the “swamp,” Joe Biden knows how to play hide-and-seek.
So when the then vice-president of the United States had clandestine dinner meetings with some of his troubled son Hunter’s cronies, he did so in a very private room at his favorite Washington, DC, restaurant, Café Milano.
According to records found on Hunter Biden’s laptop, a dinner with Vadym Pozharskyi, an executive of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma, took place in the restaurant’s Garden Room in April of 2015.
The Bidens are also said to have met with Kazakh oligarch Kenes Rakishev and former Kazakhstan prime minister Karim Massimov at Milano.
A source told The Post that Biden, who usually eats at Table 100, has also used the pricey Italian eatery’s private Wine Room on the second floor.
James Comer (R-Ky.) — chairman of the House Oversight Committee that is probing alleged foreign influence peddling by Hunter — referenced the swank Georgetown eatery Wednesday, saying that Hunter appeared to give Russian, Kazkhstani and Ukrainian business people access to his father.
“During Joe Biden’s vice presidency, Hunter Biden sold him as ‘the brand’ to reap millions from oligarchs in Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine. It appears no real services were provided other than access to the Biden network, including Joe Biden himself,” Comer said in a statement.
“And Hunter Biden seems to have delivered. This is made clear by meals at Café Milano where then-Vice President Joe Biden dined with oligarchs from around the world who had sent money to his son.”
Milano, as it’s been known to the Beltway’s cognoscenti since its grand opening on January 3, 1992, has been the place to be seen — and do private wheeling and dealing — since the Clinton administration.
As Milano’s popular owner, Franco Nuschese, 62, once boasted: “We make our guests feel comfortable, at ease. Their privacy is safe and safeguarded here … and our lips are sealed.”
Insiders confirmed as much to The Post.
“Joe’s been a Café Milano regular for so long that he knows the place like the back of his hand, and he and Franco are so close they’re like Italian cousins,” one revealed.
Café Milano, which also has a private dining room named for canceled opera star Placido Domingo, was once even targeted in an assassination plot in 2011, when hitmen plotted to kill Milano regular Adel Al-Jubeir, then the Saudi ambassador to the US — by bombing the restaurant.
While the restaurant once dubbed the “second White House cafeteria” by Page Six is considered the capital’s ultimate lair for political and media power players and other elites, it doesn’t exactly garner five-star reviews.
For a first-time visitor, Milano can be a surprising disappointment.
“I figured if you have presidents and vice-presidents and members of Congress eating there, it would be a great place for an evening of power people-watching, with fine food and wine and atmosphere,” a recent guest told The Post. “Instead, my wife and I found it to be more like the Cirque de Soleil on an off night.”
The restaurant walls are covered with framed designer scarves to go with the Milan fashion scene vibe,
according to one wag.
Tom Sietsema, veteran food critic of the Washington Post, gave the place one star and wrote: “Cafe Milano hands diners an overpriced wine list ahead of serving them their depressing food: thick, tasteless veal Milanese that’s not the least bit crisp, and branzino that’s void of flavor … “
It doesn’t fare better on Yelp, where one diner commented, “The angel hair tasted like it’d been boiled for 30 minutes.”
And you’ll pay for the privilege.
A plate of pasta runs as much as $49. The wine list is than 40 pages and permits corkage with a hefty “service fee of $50 per bottle.” A bottle of vintage Alberelli di Giodo, 2017, costs $150 and a glass of champagne, La Grand Dame, Vueve Clicquot, is $95.
A “Deluxe Special Cocktail” called the “Nobile” — French Caviar Vodka, Vermouth and a “spoon of caviar”
— carries a whopping $150 price tag.
Moreover, there’s a “Dear Guests” note on the menu: “Due to the extraordinary increases in the cost of doing business, Café Milano will implement a 3% surcharge to all checks.”
Still, the power players continue to arrive, mostly in chauffeur-driven black Chevy Suburban SUVs. (There’s notoriously a lack of parking.)
The president reportedly was last there in June with granddaughter Naomi, ordering a $23 dish of Capellini Ann Hand, named for a Washington jeweler beloved by the old-guard likes of Nancy Pelosi.
You could spot Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni. West Virginia Democratic senator Joe Manchin. John Kerry. Kellyanne Conway, Anthony Scaramucci, Sean Spicer. Vice President Kamala Harris and husband Doug Emhoff, who were joined for a pre-Christmas dinner by George and Amal Clooney and Bono. MSNBC’s Stefanie Ruhle, the New York Times’ Maureen Dowd, CBS News anchor Norah O’Donnell. Goldie Hawn, Liev Schrieber, Justin Theroux, Bradley Whitford.
Among the 1,000 guests at a 2017 anniversary party were various Real Housewives of Potomac.
The Obamas were regulars, even holding a party there when daughter Malia graduated from Sidwell Friends School in 2016 and celebrating Michelle Obama’s 49th birthday there. Bill and Hillary Clinton loved the place, with her reportedly “eating anything” and Bill subsisting mostly on vegan fare, according to Milano chef Franco Sangiacomo.
Donald Trump wasn’t known to dine there during his time in the Oval Office, although daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner have.
“Did I eat well? No,” Sietsema said in an interview. “Was there a sense that I crashed a private
party? I mean, I understand the allure.”
Washington, D.C
Teen killed in Northeast D.C. shooting, police say
D.C. police are investigating a Saturday night shooting that left a 15-year-old boy dead.
Police responded about 10:30 p.m. to reports of a shooting in the 600 block of 18th Street in Northeast Washington, officials said. They found a victim suffering from a gunshot wound, who was later taken to a hospital and pronounced dead, according to authorities.
Washington, D.C
Police investigate 4 separate overnight shootings across DC
WASHINGTON (7News) — The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) is investigating four separate shootings across the District.
The first shooting police responded to was in the 1700 block of Gales Street, Northeast around 10:40 p.m. Saturday. Police said they found a boy unresponsive, and the homicide unit is investigating the shooting. Police are looking for a white four-door Kia sedan in connection to the shooting.
Police then responded to a shooting on the 1200 block of Sumner Road, Southeast around 11:30 p.m. Officers found a man injured from a gunshot wound and he was taken to a nearby hospital.
The next shooting happened just after midnight in the 1600 block of S Street, Southeast. A girl was found suffering from gunshot injuries. She was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.
MPD then responded to a shooting in the 1000 block of Connecticut Avenue, Northwest around 3 a.m. Police found a man suffering from a gunshot wound, and he was taken to a local hospital to treat his injuries.
Washington, D.C
Republicans join effort to change confederate statues representing MS in Washington
Statuary Hall could have changes coming in 2025
Several Republican Mississippi lawmakers are now seeking to replace confederate statues representing the state in Washington, D.C. just weeks after Arkansas installed a statue of a civil rights activist next to Mississippi’s Jefferson Davis.
During the 2024 session, several bills were filed to either replace or establish a commission to find replacements for Davis, a U.S. Senator and most notably president of the Confederate States of America, and James Z. George, a Confederate politician, military officer and namesake of George County. However, those bills died without ever being brought up in House or Senate Rules Committees.
The statues, meanwhile, have been displayed for about 100 years in the U.S. Congress’ Statuary Hall. The Davis statue now stands adjacent to that of Arkansas’ Daisy Bates, a Black civil rights leader involved in the integration of Little Rock’s Central High School among many other efforts. The juxtaposition of thew two is notable.
House Rules Committee Chairman Fred Shanks, R-Brandon, who previously declined to comment on a related report in February, told the Clarion Ledger Tuesday he is planning to address changing the statues in the 2025 session.
More on 2024 efforts Confederate symbols removal pushed by Mississippi Democrats in State Capitol, Washington DC
“It’s a big deal, and it’s going to be an extremely hot topic,” Shanks said. “I wanted some time to look at it when we don’t have some of the other major things that impact the state going on like we did this past session.”
Senate Rules Chairman Dean Kirby, R-Pearl, did not respond to several calls and messages seeking comment, nor did House Speaker Jason White, R-West. Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann’s staff declined to comment.
Sen. Nicole Boyd, R-Oxford, told the Clarion Ledger she has been quietly working on this legislation for a few years, and she plans to pitch an outside group connected to tourism to lobby, advocate and spearhead efforts for replacing Davis and George with more modern historical representations of Mississippi.
“It’s not about who’s coming down. It’s about who we can put there,” Boyd said. “It’s about what are the things that we want to promote in the state that we want to use as tourism to attract people.”
Senate Minority Leader Derrick Simmons said he believes it has bipartisan support.
“Even though this effort has been laid by Democrats, Democrats and Republicans want to honor someone who is more representative of a modern day Mississippi,” Simmons, who is from Greenville, said.
Several other House and Senate Democrats had harsh words for Republican leaders waiting until now just to address the statues.
“It shows that the leadership of those various committees had the opportunity to review that legislation but turned their eye and turned away from doing what’s right,” Rep. Chris Bell, D-Jackson, said.
Sen. David Blount, D-Jackson, said the state can simply do better than have Davis and George representing the state in the Capitol.
“I anticipate that we will file this bill again. It sets up a commission to study who best represents Mississippi,” he said. “There are any number of controversial subjects that go to the Rules Committee and (it’s) generally not the place for controversial topics, and I understand that, but this is important.”
What is Statuary Hall, and who is Daisy Bates?
Statuary Hall was established in the U.S. Congress’ Capitol building in 1807, but it was destroyed by British troops in 1814. The hall, along with the Capitol, was rebuilt a few years later.
Over the many years, states have submitted so many statues that the Architect of the Capitol has had to display several in other places around the capitol building. Mississippi is also one of only a few states with confederate statues still in the building. Arkansas, a previous member of that list, voted to change its statue in 2019.
Since 2000, 17 states have changed their statues, according to congressional records, and some Southern states have or are replacing Confederate people with modern historical figures, civil rights activist and even prominent Native Americans. Arkansas now has Bates; Virginia has Barbara Johns, and Florida now has Mary McLeod Bethune, one of the most important Black educators of the 20th century.
According to the National Women’s History Museum, Bates was a prominent civil rights activist in Little Rock Arkansas. Throughout the 1900s, she helped lead a popular newspaper, The Arkansas Weekly, served as the President of the NAACP Arkansas chapter and pushed the state’s schools to integrate after the U.S. Supreme Court deemed segregation unconstitutional in 1954.
She was widely known for her efforts with the Arkansas Nine, a group of nine students she regularly drove and assisted to integrate Central High School in Little Rock.
“She regularly drove the students to school and worked tirelessly to ensure they were protected from violent crowds. She also advised the group and even joined the school’s parent organization,” the Museum wrote about her.
The Arkansas NAACP chapter, nor the chapter representing her native Union County, responded to several calls or messages asking for comment on Bates or her statue’s placement in Congress.
How to replace a statue, who is being considered?
Boyd said that even if the Legislature approves replacing Davis and George, it will need approval from a congressional committee, and locations to move the two existing statues will need to be submitted and approved as well.
All the costs associated with removing the old statues and the construction and installation of the new statues would be put on the state.
Sen. John Horhn, D-Jackson, who spoke to the Clarion Ledger earlier this year, floated rock’n’roll legend Elvis Presley and Blues icon B.B. King. Another name suggested by Democrats was famous civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer.
Read about Tunica Casino project See which former Mississippi casino could house undocumented immigrant children
Grant McLaughlin covers state government for the Clarion Ledger. He can be reached at gmclaughlin@gannett.com or 972-571-2335.
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