December 31, 2020
GUILTY AS CHARGED:
Hunter Biden's Guilty Laptop (PETER VAN BUREN, 12/31/20, American Conservative
In the final weeks before the election, Hunter's laptop fell into Republican hands. The story went public in the New York Post, revealing that Hunter Biden introduced his father, then vice president, to a top executive at Ukrainian energy firm Burisma less than a year before the elder Biden pressured government officials in Ukraine into firing a prosecutor who was investigating the company. The meeting is mentioned in a message of appreciation that Vadym Pozharskyi, an adviser to the board of Burisma...
Explainer: Biden, allies pushed out Ukrainian prosecutor because he didn't pursue corruption cases (Courtney Subramanian, 10/03/19, USA TODAY)
At the heart of Congress' probe into the president's actions is his claim that former Vice President and 2020 Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden strong-armed the Ukrainian government to fire its top prosecutor in order to thwart an investigation into a company tied to his son, Hunter Biden.But sources ranging from former Obama administration officials to an anti-corruption advocate in Ukraine say the official, Viktor Shokin, was ousted for the opposite reason Trump and his allies claim.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."
Both the VP and Donald did exactly what they are charged with: Joe got the corrupt prosecutor fired and Donald tried strong-arming an ally to smear an opponent.
Posted by Orrin Judd at December 31, 2020 9:01 AM
