Chairman James Comer of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, representing the Republican Party from Kentucky, has formally requested information from the State Department concerning the actions of then-Vice President Joe Biden and the decision-making process of the Obama administration with regards to Ukraine.
According to Newsmax, in a letter addressed to Secretary of State Antony Blinken on a Tuesday, Comer specifically asked for documents and communications related to the “State Department’s viewpoint on the Ukrainian Office of the Prosecutor General, led at the time by Viktor Shokin.”
Viktor Shokin, who took over as the prosecutor general in February 2015, was removed from his position in March 2016, amidst allegations that Joe Biden had exerted pressure for his dismissal.
Comer pointed out that Shokin had assumed control of the Prosecutor General’s Office while a multinational investigation into corruption involving the Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma, where Hunter Biden served on the board, was ongoing. The investigation also involved the company’s founder, Mykola Zlochevsky.
Comer’s letter referred to a French bank’s report from March 2014, which raised suspicions of money laundering against Zlochevsky when his companies attempted to transfer $23 million to Cyprus from their British bank account.
The letter noted Hunter Biden’s involvement with Burisma, beginning in April 2014, for which he received an annual salary of approximately one million dollars.
Comer’s correspondence cited earlier statements from administration officials who had praised Shokin for his efforts to combat corruption in Ukraine. For instance, in September 2015, then-U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt expressed a desire to collaborate with Prosecutor General Shokin to lead the fight against corruption.
However, the situation took a different turn when Joe Biden visited Ukraine in December 2015 and reportedly linked the provision of $1 billion in loan guarantees to Ukraine with the condition that Shokin be dismissed.
“By late 2015, however, the removal of Prosecutor General Shokin became a condition of the loan guarantee by the United States,” Comer noted in his letter to Blinken.
In March 2016, Shokin was eventually removed from his position by the Ukrainian Rada, following months of public pressure, primarily led by then-Vice President Biden.
Devon Archer, a former business partner of Hunter Biden, had previously testified before Comer’s committee, disclosing that Shokin had posed a threat to the energy company Burisma.
“During the Committee’s interview with Devon Archer,” Comer’s letter stated, “Archer explained that by late 2015, Vadym Pozharsky, Burisma’s corporate secretary, was increasingly urging Hunter Biden to seek assistance from the U.S. government regarding the pressure faced by Zlochevsky from the Office of the Prosecutor General and internationally.”
Archer testified that on December 4, 2015, Hunter Biden had a private meeting with Zlochevsky and Pozharsky in Dubai, following Pozharsky’s request, during which Hunter Biden “called D.C.” The committee is actively investigating the nature of this call and the circumstances surrounding it, including any involvement of the State Department.