Here’s What Happened With The Bidens And Ukraine
Lisette Voytko Forbes Staff
(Updated: 11:43 a.m. EST, 10/4/2019)
Topline: President Trump and his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani,
repeatedly claimed that Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden engaged in corruption while the two had dealings in Ukraine.
But
no evidence of corruption has ever been found—here’s what actually happened:
- In May 2014, Hunter Biden took a board seat on Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma Holdings. He was reportedly paid $50,000 per month.
- Burisma had ties to Ukraine’s previous president Viktor Yanukovych, who was ousted from office.
- As vice president, Joe Biden was tasked with reducing corruption in Ukraine after Yanukovych—eventually charged with “mass killing of civilians”— exiled himself to Crimea amid threats of civil war.
- The overlap between the vice president and his son raised concerns over a potential conflict of interest. The Obama White House said there was no issue with Hunter Biden’s work, and that no conflict of interest existed.
- In 2016, and with the support of other world leaders, Joe Biden threatened to withhold $1 billion of U.S. aid unless Ukraine’s leaders fired the country’s top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, for being too soft on corruption—which they did.
- Before Shokin was fired, he had been conducting an investigation of Burisma, and Hunter Biden allegedly was a subject. But the investigation had been inactive for over a year by the time Joe Biden pushed for Shokin’s ouster.
- Hunter Biden stepped down from his Burisma board seat in April 2019. He had been offered another term but refused because it could possibly hurt Joe Biden’s presidential campaign.
- Kurt Volker, the former U.S. special envoy for Ukraine, testified in an October 3 hearing before Congress that he warned Giuliani that he was being given “untrustworthy” information about the Bidens. Volker resigned his post September 28 after being named in the whistleblower report.
- Ukraine’s current top prosecutor Ruslan Ryaboshapka said October 4 he will review all old cases involving Burisma. He did not say when the review will be completed, or if the cases will be re-opened.
Here’s What Happened With The Bidens And Ukraine
Why Was Ukraine's Top Prosecutor Fired? The Issue At The Heart Of The Dispute Gripping Washington
September 24, 2019 13:31 GMT
"Ironically, Joe Biden asked Shokin to leave because the prosecutor failed [to pursue] the Burisma investigation, not because Shokin was tough and active with this case," Kaleniuk said.
Ukrainian prosecutors have described no evidence indicating that Biden sought to help his son by getting Shokin dismissed -- and have suggested that they have not discovered any such evidence.
But there is a long list of Western organizations, governments, and diplomats, as well as Ukrainian anti-corruption groups, that wanted to see Shokin fired.
They include the International Monetary Fund, the European Union, the U.S. government, foreign investors, and Ukrainian advocates of reform.
Why Was Ukraine's Top Prosecutor Fired? The Issue At The Heart Of The Dispute Gripping Washington
Explainer: Biden, allies pushed out Ukrainian prosecutor because he didn't pursue corruption cases
Courtney Subramanian
USA TODAY
It wasn't because Shokin was investigating a natural gas company tied to Biden's son; it was because Shokin wasn't pursuing corruption among the country's politicians, according to a Ukrainian official and four former American officials who specialized in Ukraine and Europe.
Shokin's inaction prompted international calls for his ouster and ultimately
resulted in his removal by Ukraine's parliament.
Without pressure from Joe Biden, European diplomats, the International Monetary Fund and other international organizations, Shokin would not have been fired, said Daria Kaleniuk, co-founder and executive director of the Anti Corruption Action Centre in Kiev.
"Civil society organizations in Ukraine were pressing for his resignation," Kaleniuk said, "but no one would have cared if there had not been voices from outside this country calling on him to go."
What really happened when Biden forced out Ukraine's top prosecutor