In the previous blog, I referenced Hunter Biden’s involvement with a company called Bursima.
Though I have blogged about Bursima, it occurs to me that not everyone knows the particulars of this company and the Bidens’ involvement. So I’ve pulled these paragraphs – which are relatively sympathetic to the Bidens (not surprising, since they come from an article at politico.com) to give readers an fuller understanding of the issue:
The controversy can be traced back to March 2014, when Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula in Eastern Ukraine, setting off an international crisis. As the administration’s point-man on Ukraine, Biden led the U.S. response.
That April, Biden’s son, Hunter, was appointed to the board of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian natural gas company, despite lacking substantive experience working in Ukraine or the energy sector. He received compensation that was reportedly as high as $50,000 a month.
At the time, Burisma was seeking to build inroads to U.S. Democrats as it faced investigative scrutiny. The same month Hunter Biden joined Burisma, the U.K. government froze bank accounts that allegedly belonged to its owner, Mykola Zlochevsky, as part of a money laundering investigation.
Two years later, Joe Biden successfully pressured the Ukrainian government to remove its prosecutor general, Viktor Shokin, who was unpopular with Western leaders, threatening to withhold loan guarantees if it did not. At the time, Shokin’s office had open probes of Burisma and Zlochevsky. Shokin’s successor closed the investigations, but then reopened an investigation of Burisma last year.
But, Biden’s campaign points out, Shokin was widely regarded as corrupt at the time the vice president on behalf of the Obama Administration sought his ouster. Also, a former Ukrainian official told Bloomberg the investigation into Burisma had been stalled for some time before Biden got involved anyway.
Hunter Biden has said he was not involved in the investigations. Spokespeople for Joe Biden have said his son’s dealings did not influence his official actions, and no evidence has emerged of wrongdoing on his part in the matter.
Is the fact that Hunter and Joe Biden say there is nothing to see here enough for you to believe them?
Can anyone seriously think Hunter Biden, with no relevant experience, was being paid $600,000 a year by Bursima for any reason than that his father, as Vice President, could benefit the company?
Can anyone seriously believe Joe Biden’s efforts to get rid of investigator Shokin were unrelated to the jeopardy Hunter Biden was in as a board member of the company?
Can anyone seriously believe the fact that Hunter and Joe Biden say there is nothing to see here has any credibility? What would you expect them to say?
In any event, this is the short-form version of the Biden/Bursima story.
Make of it what you will.
