"Poroshenko fired me at the insistence of then Vice President, because I was investigating Burisma."
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President Trump was impeached by the US House over having called Ukraine's President Zelensky and asking about what part Vice President Joe Biden had to play in the firing of prosecutor Viktor Shokin. They claimed Trump had engaged in election interference.
Now, in an interview with Brett Baier, Victor Shokin has revealed what has long been suspected, wich is that he was fired at the behest of Joe Biden, and under the threat of $1 billion being withheld from Ukraine.
"I have said repeatedly in my previous interviews that Poroshenko fired me at the insistence of then Vice President, because I was investigating Burisma," Shokin told Baier. He attests that there were no complaints against him or his work.
"There were no complaints whatsoever, no problems, with how I was performing at my job, but because pressure was repeatedly put on President Poroshenko, that is, what ended up in him firing me," Shokin said.
"I developed a very firm understanding of the fact that Vice President, the Vice President was only acting in his own interests. He generally speaking, handled Ukraine like it was his own backyard. He would put people that were suitable for him. He would arrange for them to be put in certain positions," Shokin said.
Shokin said he was handling the Burisma case and that it merited "special attention" because Biden's son Hunter Biden sat on the board of the energy company, and because his father was overseeing Ukrainian affairs for the White House. Shokin said he has "no doubt that there were illegal activities engaged in by Burisma." The criminal investigation into the company had started before Shokin was even involved in it.
With Hunter Biden's help, Burisma was seeking entry into the American energy market. An FBI FD-1023, a record from a paid informant, gives reason to believe that additionally, payments were made not only to Hunter but to Joe Biden by Burisma. Burisma paid $5 million to each of the Biden's for a $10 million total. This, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene said after reading the form, is in part why they were being investigated by Shokin.
The document shows a Burisma exec saying "he paid $5 million to one Biden and he paid $5 million to another Biden. And it was all a bribery to get Shokin fired and end the investigation into Burisma," Greene said. She also said that it was recorded by the informant that the Burisma CEO thought it would take ten years for their misdeeds to be unravelled.
And Joe Biden was no stranger to the company. In December 2015, while he was serving his second term, VP Biden was brought into a meeting with Burisma execs. The meeting was in Dubai, where Hunter and his associate Devon Archer were meeting with the Burisma board at the Burj Al Arab Hotel. Hunter and Archer went to the Four Seasons to meet up with friends when Burisma exec Vadym Pozharskyi called the duo into a call with Burisma owner Mykola Zlochevsky. Hunter was asked "can you ring your dad?"
Hunter told his VP father that Burisma needed their support. The call was pleasant, vague, and brief. Shokin was fired in March 2016.
Biden bragged about withholding Congressionally approved aide until such time as Shokin was fired. Biden said that he demanded a state prosecutor, Shokin, be fired before the money was turned over. He did this with full impunity, and even got laughs from the assembled crowd at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Trump, who was also in a position to deliver aide to Ukraine, was interested to know if Biden had pressured Zelensky's predecessor President Petro Poroshenko to fire Shokin under threat of withholding $1 billion in Congressionally approved load guarantees to the nation. Trump made the call to Zelensky on July 25, 2019.
The House alleged that Trump had committed an "abuse of power." The House claimed that the phone call from July 25, 2019, constituted interference in the 2020 election, their reason being that Joe Biden was running in that election. Biden announced his candidacy in April 2019.
"Using the powers of his high office, President Trump solicited the interference of foreign government, Ukraine, in the 2020 presidential election. He did so," the House attested in December 2019, "through a scheme or course of conduct that included soliciting the Government of Ukraine to publicly announce investigations that would benefit his reelection, harm the election prospects of a political opponent, and influence the 2020 United States Presidential election to his advantage."
They alleged that because Trump asked questions about VP Biden's involvement in the firing of Shokin he was interfering in an election. Yet Biden did ask for Shokin to be fired, and he did so because Shokin was looking into a company in which his son, and likely himself, had a financial interest.
Yet the House said that Trump "acting both directly and through his agents within and outside the United States Government—corruptly solicited the Government of Ukraine to publicly announce investigations into— a political opponent, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.; and a discredited theory promoted by Russia alleging that Ukraine—rather than Russia—interfered in the 2016 presidential election."
They cite the phone call from July 25, 2019. During that call, Trump spoke about the massive sums of aid the US sends to Ukraine. Trump spoke to Zelensky about the funds being sent, Zelensky was appreciative.
The only indication in the phone call that the investigation into the reasons behind Shokin's firing would be done publicly is when Zelensky said "I guarantee as the President of Ukraine that all the investigations will be done openly and candidly. That I can assure you."
In response, Trump said, "Good because I heard you had a prosecutor who was very good and he was shut down and that’s really unfair. A lot of people are talking about that, the way they shut your very good prosecutor down and you had some very bad people involved."
Corruption in Ukraine has long been something Democrats and Republicans have been concerned with. In fact, it was under the guise of prosecutorial corruption that Biden said he withheld $1 billion in loan guarantees until Shokin was fired. He said Shokin was corrupt.
"There’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son," Trump said to Zelensky on that call, "that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it... It sounds horrible to me." Zelensky said that an investigation would be undertaken, and would restore honesty.
The House further claimed that Trump abused his power by using "the same corrupt political motives" while "acting both directly and through his agents within and outside the United States Government—conditioned two official acts on the public announcements that he had requested."
Those were the promised $391 million in Congressionally approved aid to Ukraine, and a meeting at the White House. The Pentagon promised $250 million to Ukraine on June 18. The funds were delivered on September 11.
Trump was impeached in December. Investigations into Hunter Biden, which had already begun, were sidelined, IRS whistleblower Gary Shapely testified, by officials at the Department of Justice as soon as it became clear that Biden was the apparent Democrat nominee for president. Trump's impeachment was congressional election interference by a Democrat-led House.
Now, in an interview with Brett Baier, Victor Shokin has revealed what has long been suspected, wich is that he was fired at the behest of Joe Biden, and under the threat of $1 billion being withheld from Ukraine.
"I have said repeatedly in my previous interviews that Poroshenko fired me at the insistence of then Vice President, because I was investigating Burisma," Shokin told Baier. He attests that there were no complaints against him or his work.
"There were no complaints whatsoever, no problems, with how I was performing at my job, but because pressure was repeatedly put on President Poroshenko, that is, what ended up in him firing me," Shokin said.
"I developed a very firm understanding of the fact that Vice President, the Vice President was only acting in his own interests. He generally speaking, handled Ukraine like it was his own backyard. He would put people that were suitable for him. He would arrange for them to be put in certain positions," Shokin said.
Shokin said he was handling the Burisma case and that it merited "special attention" because Biden's son Hunter Biden sat on the board of the energy company, and because his father was overseeing Ukrainian affairs for the White House. Shokin said he has "no doubt that there were illegal activities engaged in by Burisma." The criminal investigation into the company had started before Shokin was even involved in it.
With Hunter Biden's help, Burisma was seeking entry into the American energy market. An FBI FD-1023, a record from a paid informant, gives reason to believe that additionally, payments were made not only to Hunter but to Joe Biden by Burisma. Burisma paid $5 million to each of the Biden's for a $10 million total. This, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene said after reading the form, is in part why they were being investigated by Shokin.
The document shows a Burisma exec saying "he paid $5 million to one Biden and he paid $5 million to another Biden. And it was all a bribery to get Shokin fired and end the investigation into Burisma," Greene said. She also said that it was recorded by the informant that the Burisma CEO thought it would take ten years for their misdeeds to be unravelled.
And Joe Biden was no stranger to the company. In December 2015, while he was serving his second term, VP Biden was brought into a meeting with Burisma execs. The meeting was in Dubai, where Hunter and his associate Devon Archer were meeting with the Burisma board at the Burj Al Arab Hotel. Hunter and Archer went to the Four Seasons to meet up with friends when Burisma exec Vadym Pozharskyi called the duo into a call with Burisma owner Mykola Zlochevsky. Hunter was asked "can you ring your dad?"
Hunter told his VP father that Burisma needed their support. The call was pleasant, vague, and brief. Shokin was fired in March 2016.
Biden bragged about withholding Congressionally approved aide until such time as Shokin was fired. Biden said that he demanded a state prosecutor, Shokin, be fired before the money was turned over. He did this with full impunity, and even got laughs from the assembled crowd at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Trump, who was also in a position to deliver aide to Ukraine, was interested to know if Biden had pressured Zelensky's predecessor President Petro Poroshenko to fire Shokin under threat of withholding $1 billion in Congressionally approved load guarantees to the nation. Trump made the call to Zelensky on July 25, 2019.
The House alleged that Trump had committed an "abuse of power." The House claimed that the phone call from July 25, 2019, constituted interference in the 2020 election, their reason being that Joe Biden was running in that election. Biden announced his candidacy in April 2019.
"Using the powers of his high office, President Trump solicited the interference of foreign government, Ukraine, in the 2020 presidential election. He did so," the House attested in December 2019, "through a scheme or course of conduct that included soliciting the Government of Ukraine to publicly announce investigations that would benefit his reelection, harm the election prospects of a political opponent, and influence the 2020 United States Presidential election to his advantage."
They alleged that because Trump asked questions about VP Biden's involvement in the firing of Shokin he was interfering in an election. Yet Biden did ask for Shokin to be fired, and he did so because Shokin was looking into a company in which his son, and likely himself, had a financial interest.
Yet the House said that Trump "acting both directly and through his agents within and outside the United States Government—corruptly solicited the Government of Ukraine to publicly announce investigations into— a political opponent, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.; and a discredited theory promoted by Russia alleging that Ukraine—rather than Russia—interfered in the 2016 presidential election."
They cite the phone call from July 25, 2019. During that call, Trump spoke about the massive sums of aid the US sends to Ukraine. Trump spoke to Zelensky about the funds being sent, Zelensky was appreciative.
The only indication in the phone call that the investigation into the reasons behind Shokin's firing would be done publicly is when Zelensky said "I guarantee as the President of Ukraine that all the investigations will be done openly and candidly. That I can assure you."
In response, Trump said, "Good because I heard you had a prosecutor who was very good and he was shut down and that’s really unfair. A lot of people are talking about that, the way they shut your very good prosecutor down and you had some very bad people involved."
Corruption in Ukraine has long been something Democrats and Republicans have been concerned with. In fact, it was under the guise of prosecutorial corruption that Biden said he withheld $1 billion in loan guarantees until Shokin was fired. He said Shokin was corrupt.
"There’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son," Trump said to Zelensky on that call, "that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it... It sounds horrible to me." Zelensky said that an investigation would be undertaken, and would restore honesty.
The House further claimed that Trump abused his power by using "the same corrupt political motives" while "acting both directly and through his agents within and outside the United States Government—conditioned two official acts on the public announcements that he had requested."
Those were the promised $391 million in Congressionally approved aid to Ukraine, and a meeting at the White House. The Pentagon promised $250 million to Ukraine on June 18. The funds were delivered on September 11.
Trump was impeached in December. Investigations into Hunter Biden, which had already begun, were sidelined, IRS whistleblower Gary Shapely testified, by officials at the Department of Justice as soon as it became clear that Biden was the apparent Democrat nominee for president. Trump's impeachment was congressional election interference by a Democrat-led House.
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