Comer Presses State Department for Information on then-Vice President Joe Biden’s Sudden Shift on Ukraine Policy
Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin was abruptly dismissed following public pressure most adamantly applied by Vice President Biden
WASHINGTON – House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) is continuing to investigate President Joe Biden’s connections to certain international and domestic business transactions and practices, including his family and associates peddling influence to generate millions of dollars for the Biden family. In a letter to U.S. Department of State Secretary Antony Blinken, Chairman Comer is requesting information on sudden foreign policy decisions related to the dismissal of Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokinthat occurred while Joe Biden was Vice President and Hunter Biden served on the board of directors of Burisma, a natural gas company in Ukraine.
“The Committee on Oversight and Accountability seeks information from the U.S. Department of State to provide context for certain sudden foreign policy changes that occurred while Joe Biden was Vice President, particularly regarding Ukraine while then-Vice President Biden’s son served on the board of directors of a company being investigated for corruption,” wrote Chairman Comer. “The Committee is investigating then-Vice President Biden’s and the Obama-Biden Administration’s official actions and policies regarding Ukraine. Specifically, the Committee seeks information regarding the State Department’s perception of the Ukrainian Office of the Prosecutor General, at the time headed by Viktor Shokin.”
Viktor Shokin was elevated to lead the Office of the Prosecutor General on February 10, 2015, during an ongoing, international investigation focused on corruption surrounding Burisma. In April 2014, Hunter Biden joined Burisma and was paid approximately one million dollars per year. The Interagency Policy Committee asserted Prosecutor Shokin had made sufficient progress in combating corruption to warrant a third guarantee of a $1 billion loan. On November 5, 2015, then-Vice President Biden participated in a call with then-President of Ukraine Poroshenko and provided no indication that the United States’ policy regarding Ukraine required the dismissal of Prosecutor General Shokin. By late 2015, however, the removal of Prosecutor General Shokin became a condition of the $1 billion loan guarantee.
“In March 2016, Shokin was dismissed from his position by the Ukrainian Rada after months of public pressure most adamantly applied by then-Vice President Biden. The timing of these events is notable to the Committee,” continued Chairman Comer. “During the Committee’s transcribed interview with Devon Archer—a longtime Biden family associate—Archer explained that by late 2015, Vadym Pozharsky, Burisma’s corporate secretary, was increasingly pushing Hunter Biden to deliver help from the U.S. government regarding pressure Zlochevsky was facing from the Office of the Prosecutor General and abroad. Archer testified that on December 4, 2015, Hunter Biden ‘called D.C.’ in a private meeting with Zlochevsky and Pozharsky in Dubai following Pozharsky’s request. The Committee is investigating the nature of this call and the circumstances that surrounded it, including at the State Department.”
Read the letter to State Department Secretary Antony Blinken here.