VP Joe Biden used his official govt position to assist Burisma and to protect his son Hunter Biden.
BACKSTORY: Then VP Joe Biden led official US and international efforts in 2015 and 2016 to push for the removal of Ukraine’s Prosecutor General, Viktor Shokin.
The Reason centered on the US, the European Union, the International Monetary Fund, and Ukrainian anti-corruption activists all viewed Shokin as corrupt and ineffective for failing to aggressively prosecute corruption.
Caught on video, Biden’s influence peddling scheme began with his “threatening” to withhold a $1 billion U.S. loan guarantee (which Biden was not authorized to do)....... unless Shokin was dismissed.
Far from protecting Burisma, Shokin’s office had actually facilitated dormant or inactive probes into the company.
Anti-corruption officials and Western allies wanted Shokin removed precisely because he was not pursuing corruption investigations effectively, including those related to Burisma’s owner, Mykola Zlochevsky.
Congressional investigations and emails showed that Hunter Biden occasionally introduced corporate associates or executives—including a Burisma representative—to his father during brief, casual drop-ins or events.
This move was very calculated b/c in corrupt countries like the Ukraine handing Busisma bragging rights about meeting with a US VP was enough to precipitate a huge payday.
Official records released later also showed that Hunter Biden was “on the hunt”.......independently facilitating an influence-peddling scheme.
Hunter reached out to the US Embassy in Italy in 2016 to ask for an introduction to local regional officials regarding a “geothermal project.”
US officials confirmed that no official backing was provided and no project materialized.
Influence peddling like this should be a crime - Congress should have passed laws preventing this BS years ago. No wonder people hate pols.