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Report This A Real Photo OF Meghan O’Sullivan Harvard Law School School
Board Member Talks With Susan Rice About The Russian Spies Using The
Clinton Foundation Influencing Presidential Election 2016 With Hunter Biden Ukraine’s Burisma.
Burisma Holdings is among Ukraine's largest independent natural gas companies. The
company was founded in 2002 by Mykola Zlochevsky, an ally of the former
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych — the pro-Russia leader who was ousted in 2014 and has lived in exile in Russia ever since. Burisma is owned by the Cyprus-based offshore company Brociti Investments Limited, which records show is owned Zlochevsky, BuzzFeed News reported. Zlochevsky served as Ukraine's ecology minister under Yanukovych, assuming the role in 2010. Zlochevsky also fled the country not long after Yanukovych went into exile, according to The New York Times,
as the office of Ukraine's prosecutor general opened multiple
investigations into him and his businesses — including suspicion of tax
evasion and money laundering.
Hunter Biden served on the Burisma board from 2014 to April of this year.
Photo:
Teresa Kroeger/Getty Images for World Food Program USA
By
Jessica Donati
WASHINGTON—A consulting firm hired by Burisma Group mentioned
that former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden’s son served on the Ukrainian
gas company’s board so the firm could leverage a meeting with the State
Department, according to documents and a former U.S. official. The
documents—email exchanges between State Department staff members made
public this week—show that the consulting firm, Washington-based Blue
Star Strategies, used Hunter Biden’s name in a request for a State
Department meeting and then mentioned him again during the meeting as
part of an effort to improve Burisma’s image in Washington.
Mr. Biden was appointed to the Burisma board in 2014, when the
company and its owner faced allegations of corruption, and he remained
there until April of this year. It isn’t clear whether the
younger Mr. Biden knew his name was being used by Blue Star in its
contacts with State Department officials on Burisma’s behalf in early
2016. A lawyer for Mr. Biden didn’t respond to a request for comment. Hunter
Biden served on Burisma’s board when his father, then the vice
president, was overseeing U.S. efforts to get Ukraine to reduce
corruption. That arrangement has drawn allegations from
President Trump and his allies that the younger Mr. Biden sought to
profit from his father’s name. Mr. Trump asked Ukraine’s leader to
investigate the Bidens—an act at the center of the House’s impeachment
inquiry. Both Bidens deny any wrongdoing.
Timeline: Interactions Between Trump's Camp and Ukraine
You may also like
President Trump's efforts to persuade Ukraine to investigate
his political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, have set off an
impeachment inquiry by House Democrats. WSJ's Shelby Holliday lays out a
timeline of interactions between the president's inner circle and
Ukrainian officials. Photo Composite: Laura Kammermann/The Wall Street
Journal
The email exchanges between State Department staffers show
that Karen Tramontano, chief executive of Blue Star, cited Mr. Biden’s
position in trying to secure a meeting with a senior official at the
State Department. “She
noted that two high profile U.S. citizens are affiliated with the
company (including Hunter Biden as a board member),” the special
assistant at the Office of the Undersecretary for Economic Growth,
Energy and the Environment wrote in the Feb. 24, 2016, email. Ms.
Tramontano met with the undersecretary, Catherine Novelli, on March 1,
2016, the documents show. During the meeting, Ms. Tramontano mentioned
Mr. Biden served on the company’s board, according to a former State
Department official familiar with the discussion. In the contacts
with the State Department, Ms. Tramontano said that Burisma hadn’t
engaged in corruption and wanted to change the view of the company in
Washington. The former official said that Hunter Biden’s position on the
board wasn’t the reason that Ms. Novelli took the meeting and that no
further action was taken after it took place. The State Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Blue Star declined to comment for this article. The
documents were released in response to a Freedom of Information Act
request submitted by John Solomon, who first published the documents on
the website Scribd.com. A copy of the emails were subsequently made
available to The Wall Street Journal by the law firm that represented
Mr. Solomon, Southeastern Legal Foundation, a conservative public
interest nonprofit. The documents don’t name Devon Archer, Hunter Biden’s longtime business partner, who was also on the Burisma board. The
documents were released after the Southeastern Legal Foundation filed a
complaint against the State Department. The U.S. District Court for the
District of Columbia ordered the department to release the documents. Blue
Star’s efforts for Burisma came as the company and its Ukrainian tycoon
founder, Mykola Zlochevsky, faced investigations in Ukraine focused on
allegations of tax irregularities, money laundering and illegal
enrichment Mr. Zlochevsky was never charged, and a lawyer for
Burisma said at the time that the investigations were closed because of a
lack of evidence. The dropping of the investigations in 2016
came after Ukraine’s prosecutor general was dismissed. Vice President
Biden and European Union officials had brought pressure on the
prosecutor, seeing him as a hindrance to anticorruption efforts. His
dismissal has been seized upon by Mr. Trump’s personal attorney Rudy
Giuliani as evidence that Vice President Biden exerted undue pressure on
Kyiv to help his son. President
Trump and Mr. Giuliani have asked Ukraine to investigate the Bidens.
State Department and other officials testifying in the House impeachment
inquiry have said that military aid and the prospect of a White House
meeting were withheld until the Ukrainian government agreed to
investigate. Last month, Ukraine’s prosecutor general said it was reviewing past investigations, raising the possibility of restarting probes. Write to Jessica Donati at jessica.donati@wsj.com
A Ukraine gas company tied to Joe Biden's son is at the center of Trump's impeachment
The obama regime gets kick out of Texas Vice
President Joe Bite Me Biden son Hunter Nuts Biden goes to Beijing December 4, 2013.
A Ukrainian gas
company with ties to former Vice President Joe Biden's son has
repeatedly been mentioned in relation to President Donald Trump's impeachment.
During
a July 25 phone call, Trump urged Ukraine's president to launch
investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter
Biden, as well as a debunked conspiracy theory related to 2016.
Trump wanted Ukraine to launch an investigation into Hunter's work for Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian natural gas company.
Hunter
began working for Burisma in 2014. This was around the same time the
former vice president was spearheading the Obama administration's
efforts to pressure Ukraine to root out corruption.
Trump and
his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani have suggested, without evidence, that
Biden improperly pressured Ukraine to fire a prosecutor who had at one
point been investigating Burisma Holdings.
Though some ethics
watchdogs have criticized Hunter's decision to work for Burisma in light
of who his father is, there's no evidence of wrongdoing or illegal
activity on his part or the former vice president's.
And there's nothing concrete to support the suggestion Biden pressured Ukraine to take actions to the benefit of his son.
With
the Senate impeachment trial underway, Trump's defense team has
continued to suggest the Bidens were guilty of corruption in Ukraine
despite a lack of evidence.
A Ukrainian gas company called Burisma Holdings has repeatedly come up in relation to President Donald Trump's impeachment. In a July 25 phone call, Trump urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Zelensky to launch investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden
and his son, Hunter Biden, as well as a bogus conspiracy theory that
Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the 2016 election. Trump
wanted Zelensky launch an inquiry into the Bidens in relation to
Hunter's work for Burisma, despite no evidence of wrongdoing or illegal
activity on the part of either of them. Here's what we know about the company and how it's involved in the back-and-forth between Trump and the Bidens.
Fast facts about Burisma Holdings:
Burisma Holdings is among Ukraine's largest independent natural gas companies.
Burisma is owned by the Cyprus-based offshore company Brociti Investments Limited, which records show is owned Zlochevsky, BuzzFeed News reported.
Zlochevsky served as Ukraine's ecology minister under Yanukovych, assuming the role in 2010.
Zlochevsky also fled the country not long after Yanukovych went into exile, according to The New York Times,
as the office of Ukraine's prosecutor general opened multiple
investigations into him and his businesses — including suspicion of tax
evasion and money laundering.
What we know about Hunter Biden's role at Burisma:
In April 2014, Biden's son Hunter joined the board of Burisma Holdings. Hunter served on the board until early 2019.
At the time, a news release
from the company said Hunter would be "in charge of the Holdings' legal
unit and will provide support for the Company among international
organizations."
Hunter told the New York Times that the news release was not accurate and he was never in charge of the company's legal affairs.
He
joined the company about a month after Russia annexed Crimea, a
cataclysmic moment that continues to put the US at odds with Russia and
is linked to ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine.
During his time with Burisma, Hunter reportedly received compensation up to $50,000 a month.
From the start, Hunter's role at Burisma was criticized by ethics watchdogs
as a conflict of interest for his father, who was still vice president
at the time and heavily focused on pressuring Ukraine to do a better job
rooting out corruption. But some ethics watchdogs at the time also said
that unless there was clear evidence Hunter got the job to influence US
foreign policy then there was no cause for concern.
His hiring
by Burisma was seen as an attempt by the company to bolster its image
and the perception it had strong ties to the US as the world vilified
Russia for its annexation of Crimea, the Times reported.
Yoshiko
M. Herrera, a professor of political science at the University of
Wisconsin at Madison and an an expert on Russia and Eurasia, told The Washington Post:
"I think there is a conflict of interest even if it doesn't break any
laws. It's a big deal. It's the vice president, who is the point person
of the Obama administration's policy on Ukraine, and his son is suddenly
hired to be a director on the board of Ukraine's largest private gas
producer."
With that said, Hunter has never been accused of wrongdoing regarding his work with Burisma.
Hunter also said he only had one brief conversation with his father about Burisma which did not go into substantive details about the deal. Joe Biden has said he learned about his son's role at the company from news reports.
Here's why this is now linked to Trump's impeachment:
Trump
and his attorney Rudy Giuliani have suggested that Biden improperly
leveraged his role as vice president to push for the ousting of a man
named Viktor Shokin as Ukraine's top prosecutor in order to help his son
avoid getting caught up in corruption investigations.
Trump has
admitted that in a July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Zelensky, who was elected in April, that he addressed investigating
Biden and his son.
The White House released a memo on the call that showed Trump repeatedly pressuring Zelensky to investigate the Bidens.
"There's
a lot of talk about Biden's son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and
a lot of people want to find out about that," Trump said to Zelensky on
the call, according to the memo. "If you can look into it … it sounds
horrible to me."
The call is also central to a whistleblower complaint
from an intelligence official that says Trump, among other things,
asked Zelensky to "initiate or continue an investigation into the
activities of former Vice President Joseph Biden and his son, Hunter
Biden."
The complaint alleges Trump has used "the power of his
office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 US
election."
The scandal surrounding the call and whistleblower
complaint sparked an impeachment inquiry into Trump that ultimately led
to his impeachment.
Trump has tried to flip the situation
around, contending that the real issue is the role Biden played in
Ukraine as vice president and keeps pointing to Shokin's firing and
Hunter's work for Burisma.
After Shokin was appointed as
Ukraine's prosecutor general in February 2015, he inherited the
investigations into Zlochevsky. He also ultimately launched another
probe into the profitable gas licenses that were awarded to Zlochevsky's
companies as he served as a top minister in Yanukovych's government.
For
months before that, the US and other countries had pressured for Shokin
to be ousted because he didn't make a concerted effort to fight
corruption. Biden, who was spearheading the Obama administration's
Ukraine work, was at the center of these efforts, and threatened to withhold $1 billion in loan guarantees from Ukraine if Shokin wasn't fired.
So,
it's true that Biden was among those who pushed for Shokin to be fired
as Ukraine's top prosecutor, but by the time this happened the probe
into Burisma was dormant, according to Bloomberg.
According to the Times,
Ukrainian and American officials have also debated whether Shokin was
using the threat of prosecution against Burisma in order to solicit a
bribe.
Daria Kaleniuk, co-founder of the Ukrainian Anti-Corruption Action Center told The Washington Post,
"Shokin was not investigating. He didn't want to investigate Burisma.
Shokin was fired not because he wanted to do that investigation, but
quite to the contrary, because he failed that investigation."
Yuriy Lutsenko, Ukraine's former prosecutor general who left the post at the end of August, told Bloomberg
in an interview in May that neither Biden nor Hunter are the subject of
investigations: "I do not want Ukraine to again be the subject of US
presidential elections. Hunter Biden did not violate any Ukrainian laws —
at least as of now, we do not see any wrongdoing. A company can pay
however much it wants to its board."
Lutsenko added: "At the end of the day, Shokin submitted his own resignation."
Additionally, Lutsenko on September 26 told The Washington Post: "From the perspective of Ukrainian legislation, [Hunter Biden] did not violate anything."
On October 4, it was reported Ukraine's new prosecutor general, Ruslan Ryaboshapka, is reviewing past investigations into the owner of Burisma. This raised the possibility of inquiries being restarted, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Ryaboshapka on October 4 also told Reuters
he's not aware of any evidence of wrongdoing on Hunter's part and that
he'd not been in touch with any foreign lawyers regarding the case.
Multiple
witnesses in the impeachment inquiry have said there's no evidence of
illegal activity on the part of the Bidens in relation to Burisma.
Witnesses
have also tied Trump's decision to freeze roughly $400 million in
military aid to Ukraine to his call for investigations, suggesting there
was an explicit quid pro quo. In short, they've alleged Trump withheld
the aid as part of an effort to pressure Ukraine into launching an
investigation that would smear Biden's name and benefit the president
politically.
In the Senate impeachment trial, Trump's defense
team has continued to shift attention away from the president and toward
Hunter and the former vice president.
Biden has rejected
suggestions from Republicans that he should testify in the impeachment
trial. "I have nothing to defend. This is all a game," Biden told
reporters on January 27.
GOP Senators Appear Likely to Block Witnesses in Impeachment Trial
Senate to vote Friday on whether to introduce additional evidence
Sen. Lisa Murkowski
(R., Alaska) said she would announce her position on voting to call
witnesses Friday after reviewing her notes.
Photo:
Julio Cortez/Associated Press
By
Andrew Duehren
WASHINGTON—Senate Republicans appear likely to end President Trump’s impeachment trial without considering new witnesses or documents on Friday, moving closer to acquitting him of both impeachment articles. The
Senate will vote Friday on whether to introduce additional evidence in
the trial after the House Democratic impeachment managers and the
president’s defense team each present arguments on the question for two
hours.
Sen. Lamar Alexander
(R., Tenn.), considered one of the key swing votes on the
measure, said Thursday night that he would vote no, bolstering
Republican chances of blocking Democratic efforts to extend the trial. Without new evidence or witnesses, the Senate could complete
the trial later Friday, though Democrats have indicated they may force
additional votes that some lawmakers are cautioning could extend the
process into early Saturday. While a simple majority is necessary to
consider more evidence, two-thirds of the Senate would need to vote to
convict Mr. Trump for him to be removed from office. The question
of bringing in new evidence has been at the heart of the nine days of
arguments and questioning, pitting Democrats—who want to acquire
additional material—against Republicans who have sought to quickly vote
to acquit Mr. Trump and avoid potentially dramatic testimony. Each
of the 47 Democrats in the chamber has previously voted in favor of new
evidence and at least four Republicans would need to join with
Democrats for the chamber to move forward with introducing new material.
Sen. Susan Collins
(R., Maine) said Thursday night that she would vote in favor of
new witnesses and
Sen. Mitt Romney
(R., Utah) has said he would like to hear testimony from
John Bolton,
Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska), another swing vote, said she would announce her position Friday after reviewing her notes.
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R., Tenn.) said Thursday he would vote no on calling witnesses.
Photo:
mary f. calvert/Reuters“I’m going to go back, put some eye drops in so I can keep
reading, and I’ve been forming a lot of thoughts,” she said Thursday
night. If Ms. Murkowski were to join Ms. Collins and Mr. Romney
to vote in favor of new evidence and every other Republican voted
against it, the Senate could tie 50-50 on whether to call witnesses. A
tie raises the possibility of Chief Justice
John Roberts
intervening in the vote, though experts have cautioned that is
unlikely and lawmakers in both parties have said they hope to avoid
needing a tiebreaker. In the question-and-answer session
Thursday, Ms. Murkowski joined Mr. Alexander and several other
Republicans to cast skepticism on the relevance of Mr. Bolton’s
testimony. In leaked manuscripts of his book,
Mr. Bolton wrote that Mr. Trump told him he was freezing security aid
to Ukraine until it opened investigations into former Vice President
Joe Biden,
a leading Democratic presidential candidate, and other matters.
Mr. Bolton has said he would testify if subpoenaed by the Senate. “Isn’t
it true that the allegations still would not rise to the level of an
impeachable offense, and that therefore for this and other reasons his
testimony would add nothing to the case?” the question signed by Mr.
Alexander and Ms. Murkowski read. Sen. Roy Blunt
(R., Mo.), a member of the GOP leadership in the chamber, said
the question encouraged the leadership that the senators would vote to
block new evidence in the trial. Ms. Collins and Mr. Romney didn’t join
the question. The charge that Mr. Trump linked the hold on roughly $400 million in security aid
this summer to opening investigations of Democrats was at the center of
the House impeachment inquiry. Mr. Trump has denied that the two were
related, saying he held the aid to both investigate corruption in
Ukraine and ensure other countries were contributing to its defense; he
has called the impeachment case against him a hoax. Mr. Trump and
his allies have alleged that it was corrupt for Mr. Biden during the
Obama administration to seek the ouster of a Ukrainian prosecutor who
had once investigated a Ukrainian gas company where Mr. Biden’s son
Hunter sat on the board. Mr. Biden sought the prosecutor’s removal as
part of a broad international effort to combat corruption in Ukraine.
The Bidens have denied any wrongdoing, though Hunter Biden has said it
was poor judgment on his part to serve on the Burisma board, which paid
him $50,000 a month, while his father was involved with Ukraine policy
as vice president.
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R., Tenn.) said Thursday he would vote no on calling witnesses.
Photo:
mary f. calvert/Reuters“I’m going to go back, put some eye drops in so I can keep
reading, and I’ve been forming a lot of thoughts,” she said Thursday
night. If Ms. Murkowski were to join Ms. Collins and Mr. Romney
to vote in favor of new evidence and every other Republican voted
against it, the Senate could tie 50-50 on whether to call witnesses. A
tie raises the possibility of Chief Justice
John Roberts
intervening in the vote, though experts have cautioned that is
unlikely and lawmakers in both parties have said they hope to avoid
needing a tiebreaker. In the question-and-answer session
Thursday, Ms. Murkowski joined Mr. Alexander and several other
Republicans to cast skepticism on the relevance of Mr. Bolton’s
testimony. In leaked manuscripts of his book,
Mr. Bolton wrote that Mr. Trump told him he was freezing security aid
to Ukraine until it opened investigations into former Vice President
Joe Biden,
a leading Democratic presidential candidate, and other matters.
Mr. Bolton has said he would testify if subpoenaed by the Senate. “Isn’t
it true that the allegations still would not rise to the level of an
impeachable offense, and that therefore for this and other reasons his
testimony would add nothing to the case?” the question signed by Mr.
Alexander and Ms. Murkowski read. Sen. Roy Blunt
(R., Mo.), a member of the GOP leadership in the chamber, said
the question encouraged the leadership that the senators would vote to
block new evidence in the trial. Ms. Collins and Mr. Romney didn’t join
the question. The charge that Mr. Trump linked the hold on roughly $400 million in security aid
this summer to opening investigations of Democrats was at the center of
the House impeachment inquiry. Mr. Trump has denied that the two were
related, saying he held the aid to both investigate corruption in
Ukraine and ensure other countries were contributing to its defense; he
has called the impeachment case against him a hoax. Mr. Trump and
his allies have alleged that it was corrupt for Mr. Biden during the
Obama administration to seek the ouster of a Ukrainian prosecutor who
had once investigated a Ukrainian gas company where Mr. Biden’s son
Hunter sat on the board. Mr. Biden sought the prosecutor’s removal as
part of a broad international effort to combat corruption in Ukraine.
The Bidens have denied any wrongdoing, though Hunter Biden has said it
was poor judgment on his part to serve on the Burisma board, which paid
him $50,000 a month, while his father was involved with Ukraine policy
as vice president.
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