Questions are being raised about then-Vice President Joe Biden’s role in pressuring Ukraine’s leaders to dismiss the country’s top prosecutor in 2016, The New York Times is reporting.
At one point, Biden threatened to withhold $1 billion in United States loan guarantees if then-prosecutor Viktor Shokin wasn’t ousted. Shokin, who had been accused of ignoring corruption in his own office, was soon voted out by the Ukrainian Parliament.
But the Times noted Biden’s son, Hunter, had a stake in the outcome. Hunter Biden at the time was on the board of an energy company, Burisma Holdings, owned by a Ukrainian oligarch, Mykola Zlochevsky, and making as much as $50,000 per month for his work. And the newspaper said the oligarch had been in the sights of the fired prosecutor.
The former vice president’s campaign maintained Joe Biden was acting to carry out U.S. policy and not protecting the interests of his son. In fact, Biden’s campaign claims he learned of his son’s role in the energy company from news reports.
But President Donald Trump and his allies are now raising questions about Joe Biden’s actions. On Twitter, Trump retweeted a posting of the Times story, despite the fact it was published by a newspaper he has referred to as “failing.”
Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani has discussed the whole thing with Shokin, the Times reported.
And David Bossie, who served as deputy campaign manager for Trump, said: "Biden must also be investigated fully over his alleged actions in Ukraine on behalf of his son Hunter and the investigation into Burisma Holdings…”