Newly unearthed government documents from the Obama era thoroughly debunk Joe Biden’s repeated claims that former Ukraine Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin had to be fired because he was corrupt. The memos reveal that Biden likely acted alone and counter to US policy when he threatened in December 2015 to withhold $1 billion in US loan guarantees for Ukraine in exchange for Shokin’s ouster.
“There was never any evidence that Shokin was corrupt,” declared House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) Wednesday.
In fact, in the weeks leading up to Biden’s December 2015 visit to Kyiv, multiple Obama officials said they were “impressed” with the “progress” Shokin’s office had made in rooting out corruption.
Victoria Nuland, then-Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs at the State Department, complimented Shokin in a letter in the summer of 2015.
“We have been impressed with the ambitious reform and anti-corruption agenda of your government,” Nuland wrote.
“The IPC [Interagency Policy Committees] concluded Ukraine has made sufficient progress on its reform agenda to justify a third guarantee” of aid money,” White House Director of International Economic Affairs Christina Segal-Knowles wrote to government officials advising the IPC in September 2015.
Segal-Knowles added that the IPC recommended “moving forward with a third loan guarantee for Ukraine in the near‐term.”
Shokin at the time was investigating Burisma Holdings, a corrupt Ukrainian gas company that had given Hunter Biden a lucrative position on its board.
Throughout the fall and early winter, US foreign policy officials reportedly continued to make the case for Ukraine to receive the loan guarantee and invited senior leadership of Shokin’s office to join them in Washington for meetings in January 2016.
During this visit, officials on the IPC task force were stunned to learn that US aid to Ukraine was now tied to Shokin’s ouster.
One of those officials was Eric Ciaramella, the “whistleblower,” whose complaint against President Donald Trump in the summer of 2019 spurred the Democrats’ impeachment inquisition.
“Yikes. I don’t recall this coming up in our meeting with them on Tuesday, although we did discuss the fact that the [Prosecutor General’s Office Inspector General] condition has not yet been met,” Ciaramella wrote in a memo.
The anti-Trump operative added, “We were super impressed with the group, and we had a two-hour discussion of their priorities and the obstacles they face,” referring to the DC meeting with Shokin’s aides.
Despite this, Ciaramella went on to “blow the whistle” on Donald Trump’s “perfect” phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky four years later because Trump had asked for an investigation into the Biden family’s corrupt activities in Ukraine.
By the time Shokin was booted from his post in March 2016, the narrative about the “impressive” prosecutor had changed, and there was “a consensus” that he was blocking major cases against allies and influential figures.
“What we’re finding is they created this narrative that Victor Shokin was corrupt,” said House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer on Fox Business Wednesday.
“We now know that the Obama Secretary of State’s office sent Shokin a letter praising him for his reform efforts,” Rep. Comer told host Elizabeth MacDonald.
Shokin said in a recent interview with Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade that Hunter was brought on to the gas company’s board in 2013 to “provide protection” for its CEO, from his investigation into the company’s alleged bribery schemes.
Burisma was accused of evading one billion Ukrainian Hryvnia (up to $63 million) of taxes during Hunter’s time as a board member, particularly in 2014 and 2015, opening up possible liabilities for those signing off on its accounts.
Shokin told Kilmeade that he has “long been concerned” about his “personal safety and security” and that there have been attempts on his life because of his probe into the alleged corruption.
Shokin said that if he had been allowed to continue his investigation unhindered by outside influenced, he would have uncovered a scheme involving both of the Bidens and Archer as well.
Over the summer, an FBI FD-1023 FBI file detailing the bribery scheme was released to the public. The document alleges that the Bidens accepted bribes of $5 million apiece from Burisma’s founder and CEO, Mykola Zlochevsky, in exchange for Shokin’s firing. Zlochevsky allegedly told an FBI confidential source that he was “coerced” into paying Joe and Hunter Biden $5 million apiece “so everything will be okay.” The CHS alleged that the Bidens pressured Zlochevsky to retain Hunter on Burisma’s board, which he did, despite believing that “Hunter was stupid and his [Zlochevsky’s] dog was smarter.”
Zlochevsky also told the CHS that he had many text messages and audio recordings of phone calls between him and the Bidens to support his claim, including 15 audio recordings of phone calls between him and Hunter, and two recordings between him and then-VP Joe Biden.
Meanwhile, according to a new, perhaps related report, secret audio tapes of Joe Biden incriminating him in an unspecified bribery scheme, will soon be released to the public.
“There is incontrovertible evidence of Joe Biden’s corruption that is about to be made public,” declared Newsmax host Greg Kelly this week. Kelly said “people in the know” had told him the release of the tapes would happen sometime between Labor Day and Halloween.
“Once it is heard, Joe Biden will have only two options,” Kelly said. “Number one, he will not be able to be a candidate for the presidency for reelection. It will be over and done with,” he said. The host added that it was questionable whether Biden would even be able to remain president after the audio comes out.
“I am told this tape is that incriminating,” he said. “They’re worried about it at the White House. They know about it. They know it’s out there. There may be more than one.”
🚨BREAKING: Newsmax host Greg Kelly reveals secret audio tapes of Joe Biden directly INCRIMINATING him in bribery:
“There is incontrovertible evidence of Joe Biden's corruption that is about to be made public."
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) August 30, 2023
Evidence continues to pour in that Biden was heavily involved in his son’s corrupt business schemes.
Documents released by the National Archives and Records Administration reveal that at least one of Hunter Biden’s shell companies exchanged over 1,000 emails with Joe Biden’s office during his time as vice president, the New York Post reported.
The 861 emails that reference Rosemont Seneca were sent or received by the Office of the Vice President between January 2011 and December 2013, according to America First Legal, which obtained the messages from the National Archives and Records Administration and released them on Wednesday.
The White House refused to allow the release of 200 emails referencing Hunter Biden’s firm, citing executive privilege.
“How ironic is it that the guy who created 20 fake companies to receive money from foreign nationals that would then be laundered to family members, also has at least three fake names—three pseudonyms that he used in receiving official government emails,” Comer said on Fox Business Wednesday.
“The most concerning thing is Hunter was copied on them—which ties Joe to Hunter and the shady business dealings,” the Oversight Chairman added.
Comer said that’s why he’s trying to find out exactly how many times they flew together on Air Force Two while Joe was veep. Unfortunately, according to the Oversight Chair, getting information from the Biden government is like “pulling teeth.”
“No one in the Biden orbit is cooperating with us, the government is obstructing, yet we’re still able to find more evidence that I think everyone in the Republican conference sees now that we have no choice but to move toward an impeachment inquiry,” he said.