House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-KY) has intensified his investigation into President Joe Biden’s connections with various international and domestic business dealings.
Chairman Comer penned a letter to U.S. Department of State Secretary Antony Blinken seeking clarification on the abrupt foreign policy shifts concerning the dismissal of the Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin during the tenure of Joe Biden as Vice President.
Chairman Comer stated in his letter to Secretary Blinken, “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.”
The heart of this inquiry stems from the timeline of events surrounding Viktor Shokin, who took the helm of the Office of the Prosecutor General on February 10, 2015.
This was amidst an international corruption investigation into Burisma, a natural gas firm in Ukraine where Hunter Biden, son of Joe Biden, served on the board from April 2014, with a reported annual salary of approximately one million dollars.
“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,” the letter further elaborated.
It was reported that Shokin initially received a positive evaluation from the Interagency Policy Committee, which believed he made “sufficient progress in combating corruption to warrant a third guarantee of a $1 billion loan.”
Contradictorily, by the end of 2015, the ousting of Prosecutor General Shokin had turned into a prerequisite for the billion-dollar loan guarantee.
Highlighting the crux of the matter, Chairman Comer noted, “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.”
Drawing links to the Biden family, the committee’s interview with Devon Archer, a close associate of the Biden family, revealed some noteworthy claims.
According to Chairman Comer, “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 ongoing investigation by the committee aims to further dissect the circumstances and nature of Hunter Biden’s call, particularly any potential involvement or awareness from the State Department.
