New revelations implicate a Biden advisor in orchestrating interactions between Burisma and the U.S. State Department during a high-profile corruption probe.
In 2014, Hunter Biden played a pivotal role in facilitating a meeting between Burisma Holdings and Amos Hochstein, a State Department energy adviser. This event became noteworthy as it occurred shortly after Burisma's owner, Mykola Zlochevsky, was targeted in a corruption investigation backed by both British authorities and the FBI.
The involvement of a senior Biden aide during Joe Biden's vice-presidential tenure has raised critical questions about possible conflicts between the Biden family's business endeavors and U.S. foreign policy.
Just The News reported that the trail of these interactions was exposed through documents that the FBI had secretly compiled years prior. These documents illuminated that Hunter Biden, while associated with the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner, actively worked to link Burisma's Vadym Pozharskyi with Hochstein.
The strategic plan to forge this connection started in the summer of 2014, with Hunter personally requesting Hochstein's contact details in November of that same year. This request was documented in emails, one of which read, "Pls send D Amos' contact info." This was just the start of a series of documented interactions between Burisma representatives and Hochstein.
By July 2014, a formal meeting had been scheduled between Hochstein and the Burisma representatives.
In preparation for this, Hunter Biden facilitated the initiation of strategies aimed at influencing U.S. policy towards Ukraine and Burisma. Concurrently, British authorities, with the collaboration of the FBI, moved to freeze Zlochevsky’s assets due to allegations of money laundering in April 2014.
These initial moves laid the groundwork for the advisory and legal support Burisma would seek in the U.S.
By June 2014, Boies Schiller Flexner had already created a performance strategy to alleviate Burisma's legal and reputational issues. David Leiter, a member of the Boies Schiller Flexner team, was reported to have begun lobbying the State Department on Burisma's behalf by July of the same year.
The strategy seemed in full swing when by 2015, records surfaced showing Zlochevsky's assets had been unfrozen. This development led to allegations of a potential bribe in Ukraine, complicating the situation further. The intricate connection of Hunter Biden with Burisma didn’t end with the meetings and emails; he continued discussions with Hochstein about his role with Burisma into November 2015 and beyond.
Notably, Hochstein's testimony during a 2020 Senate inquiry shed some light on these interactions, although he claimed a lack of recall about contacting Burisma back in 2014.
Despite this, he did acknowledge Burisma's past tainted with corruption, affirming, "I certainly associated Burisma as having a corrupt past that I believed needed to be prosecuted."
The recent receipt of documents by the House Oversight Committee from Devon Archer, Hunter’s business partner, brought new details to public attention. These documents, notable for their absence on Hunter Biden's controversially seized laptop in 2019, have intensified scrutiny surrounding the Burisma case.
According to Senator Ron Johnson, "It sure seems that way, but I can't recall it. David Leiter was mentioned in this article. I may have mentioned the article to her, but I have no idea," highlighting the ambiguous memories around these impactful meetings.
In conclusion, the uncovered documents and testimonies paint a complex picture of potential political and financial intertwinements involving Burisma, the Biden family, and the U.S. foreign policy apparatus.
As both U.S. and British authorities had previously flagged Burisma's owner for corrupt activities, the extent and impact of these interactions continue to raise significant questions and concerns. Senator Johnson sums up the sentiments by underscoring that this scenario "starts showing a clearer picture of what happened," drawing attention yet again to the interplay of money, power, and influence in international politics and diplomacy.