The most important stories on the Ukraine scandal.

johnsolomonreports.com ^ | 10/23/2019 | John Solomon

[bitt]

Lots of readers have asked me recently about what are the most important stories that I have reported on Ukraine, Joe Biden, the U.S. embassy in Kiev and George Soros.

Here is a quick cheat sheet of my columns on Ukraine that have garnered the most attention from my days writing at The Hill, starting with the April 1, 2019 column that started it all.

1.) Joe Biden’s 2020 Ukrainian Nightmare – A Closed Probe Is Revived

Two years after leaving office, Joe Biden couldn’t resist the temptation last year to brag to an audience of foreign policy specialists about the time as vice president that he strong-armed Ukraine into firing its top prosecutor.

Continue reading here.

2.) These once-secret memos cast doubt on Joe Biden’s Ukraine story

Former Vice President Joe Biden, now a 2020 Democratic presidential contender, has locked into a specific story about the controversy in Ukraine.

He insists that, in spring 2016, he strong-armed Ukraine to fire its chief prosecutor solely because Biden believed that official was corrupt and inept, not because the Ukrainian was investigating a natural gas company, Burisma Holdings, that hired Biden’s son, Hunter, into a lucrative job.

There’s just one problem.

Continue reading here.

[bitt]

p

[TChad]

These articles describe what the left does not want the public to know about Joe and Hunter Biden's Ukraine scam.

Thank you, John Solomon.

[Dark Knight]

Most people really don’t need much more than knowing the prosecutor was investigating the company paying Hunter, and then seeing the video.

Party faithful are not that important, but the undecided middle is where the battle is. Joe is toast and everyone knows it. He was the last best hope for the middle. ALL the rest are arguing to KILL the economy.

Only the rabid base believes it. Coming back to the middle...fugedaboutit.

DK

[TChad]

i>Most people really don’t need much more than knowing the prosecutor was investigating the company paying Hunter, and then seeing the video./i>

Then they better be getting that information from political ads, because they sure won't get it from the MSM.

[Liz]

Joe Biden’s never-ending Ukrainian Nightmare: Two years after leaving office, braggart Biden couldn’t resist
the temptation to congratulate himself to an audience of foreign policy specialists, caught on tape,
bragging how he, as Obama's VP, strong-armed Ukraine into firing its top prosecutor.

Now the glib 2020 candidate Biden finds he's locked into a damaging story; Burisma Holdings hired Biden’s son,
Hunter, for big money, that's looking more and more like a shakedown......the Bidens exploiting the VP office for personal gain.

REFERENCE--- Vice President Joe Biden's son joins Ukraine gas company
SOURCE: https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-27403003
14 May 2014

(Excerpt BBC report) In Burisma's press release announcing his hiring, Hunter Biden says: "I believe that my
assistance in consulting the company on matters of transparency, corporate governance and responsibility,
international expansion and other priorities will contribute to the economy and benefit the people of Ukraine."

The Obama White House emphasized that vice president Biden's son's new job will have no influence on US foreign policy.
"Hunter Biden is a private citizen and a lawyer," a spokeswoman for VP Biden told the Wall Street Journal.
"VP Biden does not endorse any particular company and has no involvement with this company."

=================================================

Burisma's new logo.

[Liz]

Reuters reported what Hunter Biden did for all that money serving on the board of Ukraine's Burisma:
<><> According to four sources close to the company, Hunter regularly attended Burisma’s twice annual board meetings –
<><> Hunter attended only the meetings held outside Ukraine.
<><> In between board meetings, “there were constant calls, dialogue, sharing of advice,
<><> different options, and expansion to other markets was also discussed.

It appears none of Hunter's vaunted "expertise" benefited the company.

Now Burisma is forced to struggle to get out of the Bidens' grip.

[Liz]

SOURCE: https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-27403003
14 May 2014

Vice President Joe Biden's son joins Ukraine gas company

(BBC report) Burisma, a private oil and gas company in Ukraine, announced that it has appointed Hunter Biden, the youngest son of US Vice President Joe Biden, to its board of directors. The company, founded in 2002, is controlled by a former energy official in the government of deposed Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

The move has raised some eyebrows in the US, given the Obama administration's attempts to manage the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. "Joe Biden has been the White House's go-to guy during the Ukraine crisis, touring former Soviet republics and reassuring their concerned leaders," writes the National Journal's Marina Koren. "And now, he's not the only Biden involved in the region."She says that by appointing Hunter Biden head of its legal affairs unit, "Burisma is turning to US talent - and money and name recognition - for protection against Russia".

The younger Mr Biden isn't the only American with political ties to have joined Burisma's board. Devon Archer, onetime senior advisor to current SoS John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign and a college roommate of Mr Kerry's stepson HJ Heinz, signed on in April.

Mr Biden and Mr Archer are also managing partners at Rosemont Seneca Partners, a Washington, DC-based investment company. Both Mr Biden and Mr Archer have not responded to requests from reporters for comment.

In Burisma's press release announcing his hiring, Hunter Biden says: "I believe that my assistance in consulting the company on matters of transparency, corporate governance and responsibility, international expansion and other priorities will contribute to the economy and benefit the people of Ukraine." All this could be explained simply as a foreign energy company looking to increase its visibility in the US and spur investment. State-controlled companies currently account for 90% of Ukraine's gas production, but this year Burisma became the nation's largest private producer.

The Federalist's Mollie Hemingway adds that there may be other, less savoury possibilities:
<><> most disturbing is attempting to curry favour with the US government
<><> enlisting the services of the close family friend of SoS Kerry and the son of the vice president.
<><> Biden/Archer pitches that their "relationship network" creates opportunities for portfolio companies compound to greater outcomes for all parties.

Hemingway concludes that this seems like a "cliched movie plot": "a shady foreign oil company
co-opts the vice president's son in order to capture lucrative foreign investment contracts".

The Obama White House emphasised that vice president Biden's son's new job will have no influence on US foreign policy.

Burisma knew hiring Hunter gave itself plenty of political muscle on he world stage.

[Liz]

Breitbart: Itinerary for a trip to Ukraine in August organized by the Atlantic Council think tank reveals that a staffer on Rep. Adam Schiff’s House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence held a meeting during the trip with acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor, now a key witness for Democrats pursuing impeachment. The Atlantic Council is funded by and works in partnership with Burisma, the natural gas company at the center of allegations regarding Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.

Taylor has been called by House Democrats to appear next week to provide a deposition as part of the investigation being led by Schiff into President Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Taylor himself has evidenced a close relationship with the Burisma-funded Atlantic Council, writing analysis pieces published on the Council’s website and serving as a featured speaker for the organization’s events. He also served for nine years as senior advisor to the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council, which has co-hosted scores of events with the Atlantic Council. As Breitbart News reported, Thomas Eager, a staffer on Schiff’s House Intelligence Committee, took a trip to Ukraine in August billed as a bipartisan “Ukraine Study Trip” in which ten Congressional staffers participated.

SCHIFF CERTIFIES TRIP

SOURCE https://yournews.com/2019/10/18/1259235/document-adam-schiff-staffer-met-with-impeachment-witness-on-ukraine/

cont

[Liz]

cont

U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Bill Taylor, a key witness for Democrats pursuing impeachment, served for nine years as senior advisor to U.S.-Ukraine Business Council, which has co-hosted scores of events with the Atlantic Council. The Atlantic Council is funded by and works in partnership with Burisma, the natural gas company at the center of allegations regarding Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.

REFERENCE SOURCE atlantic-council-raked-funding-hunter-bidens-corruption-stained-ukrainian-employer

zerohedge.com/political/dcs-atlantic-council-raked-funding-hunter-bidens-corruption-stained-ukrainian-employer

With its relentless focus on corruption in Russia and Ukraine, the Atlantic Council has distinguished itself from other top-flight think tanks in Washington. Over the past several years, it has held innumerable conferences and panel discussions, issued a string of reports, and published literally hundreds of essays on Russia’s “kleptocracy” and the scourge of Kremlin disinformation.

At the same time, this institution has posed as a faithful partner to Ukraine’s imperiled democracy, organizing countless programs on the urgency of economic reforms to tamp down on corruption in the country. But behind the curtain, the Atlantic Council has initiated a lucrative relationship with a corruption-tainted Ukrainian gas company, the Burisma Group, that is worth as much as $250,000 a year. The partnership has paid for lavish conferences in Monaco and helped bring Burisma’s oligarchic founder out of the cold.

This alliance has remained stable even as official Washington goes to war over allegations by President Donald Trump and his allies that former Vice President Joseph Biden fired a Ukrainian prosecutor to defend his son’s handsomely compensated position on Burisma’s board.

As Biden parries Trump’s accusations, some of the former vice president’s most ardent defenders are emerging from the halls of the Atlantic Council, which featured Biden as a star speaker at its awards ceremonies over the years. These advocates include Michael Carpenter, Biden’s longtime foreign policy advisor and specialist on Ukraine, who has taken to the national media to support his embattled boss.

Even as Burisma’s trail of influence-buying finds its way into front page headlines, the Atlantic Council’s partnership with the company is scarcely mentioned. Homing in on the partisan theater of “Ukrainegate” and tuning out the wider landscape of corruption, the Beltway press routinely runs quotes from Atlantic Council experts on the scandal without acknowledging their employer’s relationship with Hunter Biden’s former employer.

This case of obvious cronyism has not been overlooked because the Atlantic Council is a big player, but because of its success in leveraging millions from foreign governments, the arms and energy industries, and Western-friendly oligarchs to bring its influence to bear in the nation’s capital.

NATO’s Think Tank in Washington---The Atlantic Council functions as the semi-official think tank of NATO in Washington. As such, it cultivates relationships with well-established policymakers who take a hard line against Russia and support the treaty organization’s perpetual expansion. Biden has been among the think tank’s most enthusiastic and well-placed allies.

In 2011, then-Vice President Biden delivered the keynote address at the Atlantic Council’s distinguished leadership awards. He returned to the think tank again in 2014 for another keynote at its “Toward A Europe Whole and Free” conference, which was dedicated to expanding NATO’s influence and countering “Russian aggression.” Throughout the event, speakers like Zbigniew Brzezinski, a former U.S. national security adviser, sniped at President Barack Obama for his insufficiently bellicose posture toward Russia, while former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright fretted over polls showing low public support for U.S. interventionism overseas.

In his own comments, Biden emphasized the need to power Europe with non-Russian sources of natural gas. This provided a prime opportunity to Ukrainian suppliers like Burisma and U.S. energy titans. Many of these energy companies, from Chevron to Noble Energy, also happen to be top donors to the Atlantic Council. “This would be a game-changer for Europe, in my view, and we’re ready to do everything in our power to help it happen,” Biden promised his audience.

In his address, Biden emphasized the need to power Europe with non-Russian sources of natural gas.
This provided a prime opportunity to Ukrainian suppliers like Burisma and U.S. energy titans.

VP Biden at AtlanticCouncil 2011 Leadership Award ceremony.