Never-Trumper Exposé Backfires, as FOIA Documents Unveil Biden-Ukraine Corruption

Nov. 25, 2019 (EIRNS)—The Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by self-styled liberal watchdog group American Oversight’s to “nail” illegal actions by Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani has “backfired in spectacular fashion” Zero Hedge reported Nov. 24. The group’s request prompted the U.S. State Department to release detailed allegations of corruption against former Vice-President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, which Zero Hedge published yesterday.

A similar document release is now likely, to Senate Judiciary Chair Lindsey Graham, who has made a request to Secretary of State Pompeo and appears to be planning hearings.

In response to an FOIA lawsuit from American Oversight, Zero Hedge reports, the State Department released almost 100 pages of records detailing Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani’s efforts to investigate corruption, which include contacts with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) during 2019.

As in many stories with a moral twist, American Oversight’s intended “exposé” was that Giuliani had had multiple contacts with Pompeo and others while investigating Ukraine corruption—which, strangely, they considered an offense. The group completely ignored notes on the interview with former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, whom Joe Biden had had fired, along with those of his successor, Yuriy Lutsenko, who, on the record, “believes Mr. Viktor Shokin, the former Prosecutor General, is honest.”

The notes discuss a Jan. 23, phone call with Giuliani, Igor Fruman, Lev Parnas, and George Boyle, and Shokin, who said “He was appointed to the position of General Prosecutor of Ukraine from 2015 until April of 2016, when he was removed at the request of Mr. Joseph Biden the Vice President of the United States.” Shokin reported he had begun investigating Mykola Zlochevsky, the former Minister of Natural Resources in Ukraine, and owner of Burisma Holdings. Shokin, according to the notes, said, “The case was opened asa result of Mr. Zlochevsky giving himself/company permits to drill for gas and oil in Ukraine. Mr. Zlochevsky is also the owner of Burisma Holdings.” The criminal case lists five complaints against Zlochevsky: laundering money; obtaining assets by corrupt acts, bribery; removing approximately $23 million from Ukraine without permission; and, while a sitting minister, “he approved two additional entities to receive permits for gas exploration”; and, as “owner of two secret companies that were part of Burisma Holdings and gave those companies permits which made it possible for him to profit” as incumbent minister. Shokin further reports that there were several more Burisma board appointments made in 2014, including Hunter Biden; Joseph Blade, a former CIA anti-terror official; former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski; and Devon Archer, a roommate of Secretary of State John Kerry’s stepson, Christopher Heinz.

(Coup plotters against President Trump have routinely told compliant media that this Shokin investigation never existed.)

Shokin stated that these appointments were made by Zlochevsky to protect himself. Shokin describes that he had been contacted by then-U.S. Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt in July 2015 and told to handle the investigation with “white gloves,” which Shokin took to mean he should do nothing.

In February 2016, Shokin said that warrants were placed on the accounts of a number of people in Ukraine. Requests that were made for information on Hunter Biden received no response. “It is believed that Hunter Biden receives a salary, commission plus $1 million,” said Shokin. “President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko ... told Mr. Shokin not to investigate Burisma as it was not in the interest of Joe and/or Hunter Biden,” read the notes.

“Mr. Shokin stated that on or around April of 2016 Mr. Petro Poroshenko called him and told him he had to be fired as the aid to the Ukraine was being withheld by Joe Biden. Mr. Biden told Mr. Poroshenko that he had evidence that Mr. Shokin was corrupt and needed to be fired. Mr. Shokin was dismissed in April of 2016 and the U.S. aid was delivered within one and one half months.”