BidenBurisma
Key Points
- Biden used $1b in US aid to prompt the removal of Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin in 2015.
- The US State Department, under Obama at the time, had an official policy position for Shokin's removal.
- Some believe Biden was attempting to protect Ukrainian energy company Burisma, the board of which his son, Hunter Biden, had joined in 2014.
- The State Department memo calling for Shokin's removal was dated November 25, 2015.
- The meeting between Biden and Poroshenko which led to Shokin's removal was in December 2015.
- The memo claimed Shokin was "widely regarded as an obstacle to fighting corruption, if not a source of the problem."
- The memo was published by John Solomon, a conservative commentator who still holds that Joe Biden was acting in Hunter's interests.
- Solomon believes Shokin was investigating Burisma.
- Biden acknowledges he used the $1b aid package to get Shokin fired.
- Hunter Biden was appointed to the board of Burisma, one of Ukraine's biggest oil and gas companies, in May 2014, holding the position until his resignation in April 2019.
- Shokin claims he was removed from office "at the insistence of the then Vice President Biden because I was investigating Burisma."
- There are no records showing the prosecutor general [Shokin] was actively investigating Burisma at the time.
- Devon Archer, one of Hunter's business partners, told a congressional committee it wasn't in the company's interest for him to be fired.
- Joe Biden has insisted he "never talked business" with his son.
Overview Article
Republican efforts to impeach President Joe Biden suffered a blow after fresh evidence emerged showing his bid to remove Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin in 2015 represented U.S. government policy.
Then-Vice President Biden met Petro Poroshenko, the Ukrainian president at the time, in December 2015, after which he claimed he'd threatened to withhold $1 billion in U.S. aid to Kyiv, unless Shokin was removed from his post, which he subsequently was.
Some conservatives have suggested Biden was attempting to protect Ukrainian energy company Burisma, the board of which his son, Hunter Biden, had joined in 2014, by moving against Shokin. However a pre-meeting memo prepared for Biden by the State Department, dated November 25, 2015, made it clear that removing Shokin was the Obama administration's policy.
The document called for Shokin's "removal," claiming he was "widely regarded as an obstacle to fighting corruption, if not a source of the problem." This document was published by John Solomon, a conservative commentator who has argued Biden did call for Shokin's removal to advance his son's business activities, on his Just The News website.
Speaking to Sean Hannity on Fox News, Solomon argued Biden was motivated by wanting to help his son, despite the memo showing moving against Shokin was U.S. government policy.
He said: "The Biden White House knew that this Shokin investigation posed a political threat to the family, a personal threat to Joe Biden's son's company, the company paying him a million dollars a year.
"And it's in that moment when all this is happening that Joe Biden flips the switch and goes from the recommendation giving the billion dollars to you're not getting the billion dollars until you fire Shokin and son of a b, they fire Shokin."
Biden later recalled his meeting with Poroshenko, stating: "I said, you're not getting the billion. I'm going to be leaving here in, I think it was about six hours. I looked at them and said: I'm leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you're not getting the money.
"Well, son of a b****. He got fired. And they put in place someone who was solid at the time."
Hunter Biden was appointed to the board of Burisma, one of Ukraine's biggest oil and gas companies, in May 2014, holding the position until his resignation in April 2019.
Shokin would later tell Fox News he was removed from office "at the insistence of the then Vice President Biden because I was investigating Burisma."
There are, however, no records showing the prosecutor general was actively investigating Burisma at the time with Devon Archer, one of Hunter's business partners, recently telling a congressional committee it wasn't in the company's interest for him to be fired. In August, Biden insisted he "never talked business" with his son.