Former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin made explosive allegations about Joe and Hunter Biden during a Fox News interview scheduled to air Saturday evening.
Shokin opined he was fired during the Obama administration due to his investigation into Burisma, the energy company that added then-Vice President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, as a board member.
Even though Joe Biden’s son had no experience with energy companies, the Ukrainian energy company paid Hunter Biden approximately $400,000 per year for being a member of the board.
Joe Biden was the U.S. vice president at the time Shokin was conducting his corruption investigation of Burisma. The current president’s own words prevent him from denying he had a hand in Shokin’s dismissal.
During a 2018 Council on Foreign Relations event, he explained how he pressured Ukrainian officials to fire Shokin by threatening to withhold promised foreign aid money.
“I said, ‘Nah, I’m not going to – we’re not going to give you the billion dollars,'” Biden said. “‘They said, ‘You have no authority. You’re not the president.'”
“I said, ‘Call him,'” Biden continued. “I said, ‘I’m telling you, you’re not getting the $1 billion.’”
“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 added. “Well, son of a bitch, he got fired. And they put in place someone who was solid at the time.”
The fired Ukrainian prosecutor pulled no punches when told Fox News host Brian Kilmeade the reasons behind his firing.
“I have said repeatedly in my previous interviews that Poroshenko fired me at the insistence of the then Vice President Biden because I was investigating Burisma.”
“[Poroshenko] understood and so did Vice President Biden, that had I continued to oversee the Burisma investigation, we would have found the facts about the corrupt activities that they were engaging in,” he continued. That included both Hunter Biden and Devon Archer and others.”
The former prosecutor also expressed his belief that both Joe and Hunter Biden might have received bribes related to the case, though he did not provide concrete evidence.
“I do not want to deal in unproven facts, but my firm personal conviction is that, yes, this was the case,” Shokin stated. “They were being bribed.”
“And the fact that Joe Biden gave away $1 billion in U.S. money in exchange for my dismissal, my firing – isn’t that alone a case of corruption?”
In response to these claims, White House spokesperson Ian Sams said, “For years, these false claims have been debunked, and no matter how much air time Fox gives them, they will remain false.”
Shokin claimed he was investigating Burisma and its owner, Mykola Zlochevsky. He claimed Burisma was involved in illegal activities related to natural gas supplies during the time Hunter Biden was on its board of directors.
Hunter’s former business partner Devon Archer testified that Burisma leaders sought Hunter’s assistance when faced with investigations. Archer mentioned that Hunter “called D.C.” to help get Shokin dismissed.
“Devon Archer’s testimony today confirms Joe Biden lied to the American people when he said he had no knowledge about his son’s business dealings and was not involved,” said House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY).
The White House countered those claims, pointing to reports from The Washington Post, The Associated Press and The New York Times from 2019 that stated Shokin’s office wasn’t investigating Burisma at the time of his dismissal.
Former Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland testified in 2020 that Shokin’s lack of action on the Burisma investigation and other corruption cases were reasons for his firing.
“It was our conclusion by then that, in fact, the dismissal of Prosecutor Shokin would be counter to Burisma’s interests, because not only was he not pursuing the Burisma case, he was responsible for protecting those who had helped get the case dismissed,” Nuland said.
Scroll down to leave a comment and share your thoughts.
