In today’s episode of ‘Things that should have come out during the impeachment,’ just-released diplomatic memos reveal that Vice President Joe Biden’s office was warned in 2015 that the Ukrainian oligarch who hired his son, Hunter, was deemed corrupt – and that the US Justice Department had gathered evidence to support that conclusion, according to Just The News.
“I assume all have the DoJ background on Zlochevsky,” wrote former US Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt in Kiev in a 2015 letter to Biden’s top advisers, referring to Burisma Holdings founder Mykola Zlochevsky.
“The short unclas version (in non lawyer language) is that US and UK were cooperating on a case to seize his corrupt assets overseas (which had passed through the US),” Pyatt added, noting that the asset forfeiture case against the Ukrainian billionaire “fell apart” when individuals in the Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office “acted to thwart the UK case.”
Talking points
Pyatt’s email also includes responses to several talking points Joe Biden’s Washington staff crafted, should he be questioned about Hunter’s role on the board of Burisma.
“Have you asked Hunter to step down from the board? Has he discussed that with you?” the talking points anticipated being asked.
“I’m not going to discuss private conversations with my family. Hunter is a private citizen and does independent work,” the memo recommended the vice president answer.
If pressed by a question asking whether Joe Biden thought “Zlochevsky is corrupt,” the talking points suggested the vice president respond, “I’m not going to get into naming names or accusing individuals.” –Just The News
As JTN notes, the New York Times published an article days after Pyatt’s email suggesting that Hunter’s role at Burisma while it remained under a corruption investigation was potentially undercutting US anti-corruption policy.
“Separately, a Russian-backed media outlet in Ukraine had written an even more scathing expose on what it called the “Ukrainian scam of the Biden family.” That article sent State officials scrambling to develop messaging for the U.S. government,” according to Just The News.
The memos, released last week by Senate committees investigating Hunter Biden, also reveal that the US Justice Department was involved in the 2014 asset forfeiture brought against Zlochevsky in the UK, right as Hunter Biden was hired to sit on the board of Burisma.
Multiple State officials have attested to the awkward appearance of conflict of interest posed by Hunter’s position on the board as the United States led efforts to fight corruption in Ukraine. In a September, 2015 speech, Pyatt railed against Ukrainian prosecutors for thwarting the UK asset forfeiture case against Zlochevsky.
Pyatt was recently deposed by investigators for the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee about the Ukraine controversy. Though his staff had reported an alleged Burisma bribe and believed the Bidens’ conduct in Ukraine created an apparent conflict, Pyatt said he never felt compelled to raise such concerns with the vice president.
“So you never gave thought of raising a concern to the Vice President about this board position his son had?” a Senate investigator asked Pyatt during the deposition back in September.
“No,” the ambassador answered. “He’s the Vice President of the United States, and it would have been wildly out of place for me to raise something like that, especially insofar as it had zero impact on the work that I was doing.” –Just The News
Meanwhile, let’s not forget that according to evidence from Hunter Biden’s laptop published by the New York Post, Biden didn’t just know about his son’s business dealings in Ukraine and elsewhere, he participated in them.
And Democrats impeached Trump for asking Ukraine to investigate.
Republished from ZeroHedge.com with permission
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