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On a significant day in 2015, an email string that was active before President Biden’s notable trip to Ukraine that same year stirred a furore among Republican legislators. The controversy surrounding the email pertained to the disclosure of the underlying motive behind Hunter Biden’s role at Burisma Holdings, the Ukrainian energy titan.
The timeline is intriguing given that just a month prior to Joe Biden, the then-Vice President’s journey to Ukraine, discussions regarding a counter-propagandizing contract were underway between his son Hunter and executives of Burisma.
This contract was projected to ward off federal level scrutinizations into the activities of Burisma’s founder and then-chief, Mykola Zlochevsky.
The email discussions took place against the backdrop of Joe Biden’s impending visit where he was to negotiate a billion-dollar U.S. aid package, which might have been denied if Ukraine did not relieve their chief prosecutor of his duties.
The chain of events leading to the removal of Prosecutor Viktor Shokin, followed by the declaration from the then-Vice President Biden, has raised questions and triggered considerable speculation among Republican lawmakers.
Observers are beginning to question the underlying factors that influenced these events and why they were purposefully kept under wraps from the American citizenry.
In the words of Republican lawmaker Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, a member of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, the incidents surrounding Hunter Biden’s engagement, irrespective of how it’s perceived, hint at deep-seated corruption in the upper echelons. He called for a comprehensive inquiry into the matter.
The significant figures entangled in the controversy include President Biden, his son Hunter Biden, Rep. Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota, and Rep. James Comer of Kentucky. The latter two are noteworthy Republican Representatives that have been vocal about the case.
It was around the 2nd of November 2015 when a Burisma executive, Vadym Pozharskyi, had an email exchange with Hunter Biden.
At the time, Hunter held the seat of a Burisma board member and was in communication with his associate, Devon Archer, another board member, and Eric Schwerin, president of Rosemont Seneca Partners.
Discussions revolved around a ‘revamped proposal, contract and initial invoice for Burisma Holdings,’ from lobbying firm Blue Star Strategies. According to emails retrieved from Hunter Biden’s deserted laptop, which were authenticated by Fox News Digital, this was in the offing.
As per Pozharskyi’s email, the crux of securing the agreement with Blue Star Strategies was the motion to halt all ‘lawsuits/investigations against Nikolay in Ukraine.’
He referred to Zlochevsky, who also went by the name Nikolay. This was viewed as an exceptional attempt to mitigate the corruption charges levelled against Zlochevsky.
Hunter Biden, after his induction into Burisma, reportedly bridged the company with Blue Star Strategies to bolster the firm’s defences against the allegations on Zlochevsky.
Later, having sought to ‘have one last conversation’ with Blue Star, Hunter affirmed his confidence in the lobbying firm and encouraged signing the agreement on November 5, 2015.
This exchange happened a month before Vice President Biden’s anticipated Kiev tour. During his visit, cantered on political reforms and anti-corruption strategy, he drove pressure on Ukrainian officials to dismiss Prosecutor Shokin, who was investigating Zlochevsky then.
What followed was Shokin’s dismissal in March 2016, less than four months after the visit.
In the interim, specifically in February 2016, post the Vice President’s visit and just two months prior to Shokin’s dismissal, Hunter Biden expressed his gratitude to Zlochevsky for extravagant birthday gifts. However, the nature of these gifts remains ambiguous.
Biden later arrogantly claimed on camera in 2018 about his successful effort as Vice President to get Shokin sacked. Shokin, who was conducting an inquiry into Zlochevsky during Biden’s Ukraine visit, was given the marching orders within a span of less than four months from the trip.
The Senators Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, and Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, both members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, claimed that these unearthed email threads are indicative of the Bidens’ involvement in a foreign bribery scheme.
Grassley was quoted saying, ‘It is now unquestionable why Burisma paid Hunter Biden millions despite his apparent lack of industry acumen. It’s there for everyone to see.’
The alleged aim was to leverage the Biden name to influence U.S. policy and steer public perception towards a Ukrainian company that was then caught in a whirl of corruption investigations, according to Grassley.
Senator Hawley echoed Grassley’s sentiment, firmly decreeing the unearthed emails as a clear insinuation of the Bidens being involved in foreign bribery.
