Comer seeks State Department details on Biden’s Ukraine involvement.
House Oversight Committee Chairman Requests Information on Biden’s Actions in Ukraine
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) is house-republicans-demand-answers-on-pelosi-security-decisions-national-guard-deployment/” title=”House Republicans Demand Answers On Pelosi Security Decisions, National Guard Deployment”>seeking information from the State Department regarding then-Vice President Joe Biden’s involvement in Ukraine. Comer specifically wants details about Biden’s decision-making and actions, including his threat to withhold aid to Ukraine unless it fired its prosecutor general.
In a letter addressed to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Comer highlights a phone call made by Hunter Biden to “D.C.” at the request of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company where he served on the board. This call occurred just days before Joe Biden threatened to withhold aid to Ukraine.
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During a trip to Ukraine in December 2015, then-Vice President Joe Biden had initially planned to announce an additional $1 billion in loan guarantees to aid Ukraine’s economy. However, he changed his plans en route to Kyiv. Instead, on December 8, 2015, he delivered a speech criticizing the country’s prosecutor general, Viktor Shokin, for corruption.
During this visit, Biden also warned the Ukrainian government that the United States would withhold the loan guarantees unless they fired Shokin, who was widely criticized in the West for not doing enough to combat corruption. The U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, along with the European Union, the International Monetary Fund, and other allies, shared the same objective.
According to former Hunter Biden business associate Devon Archer’s testimony, officials at Burisma asked Hunter Biden to call “D.C.” before Joe Biden’s trip to Ukraine. They sought assistance with various issues, including pressure from the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office.
“I looked at them and said, ‘I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money,'” Biden stated at an event in 2018. “Well, son of a bitch. He got fired.”
Shokin was indeed fired in 2016.
“The timing of these events is significant to the Committee,” Comer emphasized in his letter. “During the Committee’s interview with Devon Archer, he revealed that by late 2015, Burisma’s corporate secretary, Vadym Pozharsky, was increasingly pressuring Hunter Biden to seek help from the U.S. government regarding pressure faced by Zlochevsky from the Office of the Prosecutor General and abroad. The Committee is investigating the nature of this call and the circumstances surrounding it, including its connection to the State Department.”
Comer is requesting that the State Department provide the committee with all documents and communications related to phone calls between Joe Biden and Ukrainian officials from January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2016. He also seeks internal documents and communications pertaining to any conditions placed on the $1 billion loan guarantee.
The question of whether Shokin was investigating Burisma remains a topic of debate. Democrats have highlighted a portion of Archer’s testimony where he mentioned that the “D.C. team” relayed to him that Burisma believed Shokin was under control and they did not want him removed. However, Archer also stated that he had no way to verify this information.
However, in an interview with Tucker Carlson on X, Archer changed his stance and claimed that Shokin posed a threat to Burisma.
“He was a threat,” Archer told Carlson. “He ended up seizing assets of [Burisma owner] Nikolai [Zlochevsky] — a house, some cars, a couple properties. And Nikolai actually never went back to Ukraine after Shokin seized all of his assets.”
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