Report on Biden corruption and Kerry's knowledge of it released

Washington Examiner:

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“This is a good-government oversight investigation that relies on documents and testimony from U.S. agencies and officials, not a Russian disinformation campaign, as our Democratic colleagues have falsely stated,” the report says. “What the Chairmen discovered during the course of this investigation is that the Obama administration knew that Hunter Biden’s position on Burisma’s board was problematic and did interfere in the efficient execution of policy with respect to Ukraine. Moreover, this investigation has illustrated the extent to which officials within the Obama administration ignored the glaring warning signs when the vice president’s son joined the board of a company owned by a corrupt Ukrainian oligarch.”

The report says George Kent, former acting deputy chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, “raised concerns to officials in Vice President Joe Biden’s office about the perception of a conflict of interest with respect to Hunter Biden’s role on Burisma’s board” in early 2015. The report alleges that “Kent’s concerns went unaddressed” and that he wrote an email to his colleagues stating that “the presence of Hunter Biden on the Burisma board was very awkward for all U.S. officials pushing an anticorruption agenda in Ukraine” in September 2016. The report also contends that senior State Department official Amos Hochstein “raised concerns with Vice President Biden, as well as with Hunter Biden, that Hunter Biden’s position on Burisma’s board enabled Russian disinformation efforts and risked undermining U.S. policy in Ukraine” in October 2015.

During a phone call last summer, Zelensky expressed interest in purchasing anti-tank weaponry, and Trump asked Zelensky "to do us a favor though" by looking into a CrowdStrike conspiracy theory and possible Ukrainian meddling in 2016. Trump also urged Zelensky to investigate “the other thing,” referring to allegations of corruption involving Joe and Hunter Biden.

Trump and Republican allies have questioned why Burisma gave Hunter a high-paying position despite him having little experience in the energy sector and a well-documented problem with drug use. Trump, his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and other allies claim Biden improperly used his position as vice president to pressure Ukraine to fire Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin to protect his son from an investigation into Burisma. Democrats deny there was any wrongdoing, arguing that the claims of corruption are political smears. Biden threatened to withhold $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees if Ukraine did not fire Shokin, who was criticized by many in the West for not doing enough to crack down on corruption.

The new Senate report says that “the awkwardness for Obama administration officials continued well past his presidency” because former Secretary of State John Kerry “had knowledge of Hunter Biden’s role on Burisma’s board” but “falsely” said he did not when asked about it in December 2019. “I had no knowledge about any of that. None. No," Kerry is quoted as saying. But Kerry’s stepson, Christopher Heinz, who was also Hunter Biden’s business partner, emailed Kerry’s chief of staff on May 13, 2014, the day after Hunter Biden joined Burisma’s board, “to distance himself from that decision” and Kerry’s chief of staff, David Wade, “briefed him about press inquiries specifically relating to Heinz, Hunter Biden, and Burisma” in May 2014. The report also notes that State Department officials “sent the secretary articles” about the controversy, and “these records suggest that Kerry did, in fact, know about Hunter Biden and Burisma.”

“In addition to the over $4 million paid by Burisma for Hunter Biden’s and Archer’s board memberships, Hunter Biden, his family, and Archer received millions of dollars from foreign nationals with questionable backgrounds,” the report alleges, claiming that “Hunter Biden received a $3.5 million wire transfer from Elena Baturina, the wife of the former mayor of Moscow” and that Hunter Biden “opened a bank account with” Chinese businessman Gongwen Dong “to fund a $100,000 global spending spree” with Joe Biden’s younger brother, James Biden, and James's wife Sara.

“Hunter Biden had business associations with Ye Jianming, Gongwen Dong, and other Chinese nationals linked to the Communist government and the People’s Liberation Army,” the report also notes. “Those associations resulted in millions of dollars in cash flow.”

The report further claims that Hunter Biden “paid nonresident women who were nationals of Russia or other Eastern European countries and who appear to be linked to an Eastern European prostitution or human trafficking ring.”

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Democrats are pushing a Russian disinformation conspiracy to counter the report rather than deal with the facts asserted.  What seems clear is that Biden was at least allowing his family to sell his connections as VP in order to enrich themselves.