Memo reveals Obama officials sought to grant Ukraine aid prior to Biden’s involvement in removing prosecutor.
An Obama Administration Task Force and the Controversial Loan Guarantee for Ukraine
In late 2015, an Obama administration task force made a significant determination regarding Ukraine. They concluded that Ukraine deserved a $1 billion loan guarantee due to its progress in combatting corruption. However, this loan guarantee took a different turn when then-Vice President Joe Biden used it as leverage to remove a controversial prosecutor.
The task force, consisting of officials from the departments of Justice, State, and Treasury, recommended the loan guarantee based on Ukraine’s reform agenda and economic need. The memo obtained by Just The News stated, “The IPC recommends moving forward with a third loan guarantee for Ukraine in the near-term.”
Despite this recommendation, Biden, who was leading U.S. policy toward Ukraine at the time, insisted on the ouster of prosecutor Viktor Shokin before offering the loan guarantee. Shokin was widely seen as corrupt, and diplomats from the West had raised doubts about him.
Interestingly, Shokin was also a threat to the Ukrainian energy company Burisma, which had recently appointed Hunter Biden, Joe Biden’s son, to its board. In February 2016, Shokin’s office was granted permission by a court to seize assets from a top Burisma executive.
According to Devon Archer, one of Hunter’s former business partners, Shokin’s actions posed a significant threat. Archer revealed, “He ended up seizing assets of [Burisma owner] Nikolai [Zlochevsky] — a house, some cars, a couple properties. And Nikolai actually never went back to Ukraine after Shokin seized all of his assets.”
Ep. 13 Part 2. Devon Archer pic.twitter.com/R1sxSuPrKq
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) August 4, 2023
Other memos reveal that some Obama administration officials had initially sought to work with Shokin and were impressed with his work. However, Hunter’s position on the board of Burisma became a point of contention within the administration, as it directly undermined the United States’ anti-corruption mission in Ukraine.
Eventually, Biden successfully pushed for Shokin’s ouster in December 2015, with the Ukrainian parliament voting to remove him in March 2016.
Biden later bragged about his involvement in the affair during a 2018 event hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations. He proudly stated, “I said, ‘You’re not getting the billion.’ If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money. Well, son of a b****, he got fired. And they put in place someone who was solid at the time.”
These actions by Biden in Ukraine became the subject of scrutiny during former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment and Senate trial. Trump was impeached over a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, where he asked for an investigation into corruption allegations involving Biden. There have been suspicions that Biden pushed for Shokin’s ouster to protect Burisma and his son’s role on the board.
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