OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
GOP lawmakers expressed outrage on Tuesday after finding the previously undisclosed email chain from 2015, which came before the then VP-s well-known trip to Ukraine. The email chain revealed the “ultimate purpose” behind Hunter Biden’s affiliation with Burisma Holdings, an energy company based in Ukraine.
Fox News reported that, in the month leading up to former Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to Ukraine, during which he issued a threat to withhold $1 billion in U.S. aid unless Ukrainian leaders dismissed their top prosecutor, there were discussions between Hunter Biden and Burisma executives regarding a potential contract aimed at countering any federal investigations concerning Burisma’s founder and then-president, Mykola Zlochevsky.
“The sequence of events that led to the firing of Viktor Shokin, and the subsequent comments by then-Vice President Biden, raise serious concerns as to what machinations were really at play — and were purposefully concealed from the American people,” Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., a member of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, told Fox News Digital.
“No matter how you slice Hunter Biden’s involvement, it screams public corruption at the highest levels and must be fully investigated,” she added.
“The calm, judicious, steady reveal of incredibly condemning evidence that clearly incriminates the Biden crime family will eventually alarm even the most ardent supporters of this WH occupier,” added Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., who also sits on the committee.
“Our President is compromised, he should resign and be forever condemned, and the Democrat Party should begin rebuilding itself,” he noted further.
The outlet reported:
On Nov. 2, 2015, Burisma executive Vadym Pozharskyi emailed Hunter Biden, who was serving as a Burisma board member, his associates Devon Archer, a fellow board member, and Rosemont Seneca Partners president Eric Schwerin about a “revised proposal, contract and initial invoice for Burisma Holdings,” from lobbying firm Blue Star Strategies, according to emails from Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop, which have been verified by Fox News Digital.
Pozharskyi emphasized in his email that the “ultimate purpose” of the agreement with Blue Star Strategies was to shut down “any cases/pursuits against Nikolay in Ukraine,” referring to Zlochevsky, who also went by Nikolay.
“My only concern is for us to be on the same page re our final goals,” wrote Pozharskyi. “With this in mind, I would like us to formulate a list of deliverables, including, but not limited to: a concrete course of actions, incl. meetings/communications resulting in high-ranking US officials in Ukraine (US Ambassador) and in US publicly or in private communication/comment expressing their ‘positive opinion’ and support of Nikolay/Burisma to the highest level of decision makers here in Ukraine :President of Ukraine, president Chief of staff, Prosecutor General, etc.”
“The scope of work should also include organization of a visit of a number of widely recognized and influential current and/or former US policy-makers to Ukraine in November aiming to conduct meetings with and bring positive signal/message and support on Nikolay’s issue to the Ukrainian top officials above with the ultimate purpose to close down for any cases/pursuits against Nikolay in Ukraine,” Pozharskyi continued.
After joining Burisma, Hunter Biden allegedly facilitated a connection between the company and Blue Star Strategies in an effort to combat corruption allegations targeting Zlochevsky. In 2021, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Delaware initiated a federal investigation into the lobbying practices of the firm.
The same office, under U.S. Attorney David Weiss, is also conducting the federal investigation into Hunter Biden’s commercial activities.
“I would tell Vadym that this is definitely done deliberately to the be on the safe and cautious side and that Sally and company understand the scope and deliverables,” Schwerin wrote to Hunter Biden and Archer the same day as he forwarded Pozharskyi’s message. “And that we will be having regular (daily, weekly, monthly) opportunities be in through conference calls or memos to be continually refining and updating the scope.”
Hunter Biden responded to Pozharskyi, writing that he would like to “have one last conversation” with Blue Star, later stating he was “comfortable” with the company. “You should go ahead and sign,” he wrote on Nov. 5, 2015.
“Looking forward to getting started on this,” Hunter Biden noted further.
Fox News added: “The email exchange came one month before then Vice President Biden traveled to Ukraine’s capital of Kiev, where he gave a speech about rooting out corruption in politics.”
Before Joe Biden’s trip, a Blue Star Strategies associate emailed company execs along with Hunter Biden, Archer and Pozharskyi about a White House conference call that “outlined the trip’s agenda and addressed several questions regarding U.S. policy toward Ukraine.”
During his visit, Biden exerted pressure on Ukrainian officials to dismiss Shokin, who was investigating Zlochevsky at that time. Shokin was ultimately fired in March 2016, less than four months after Biden’s trip. Biden later bragged on video during a conference in 2018 he threatened to withhold $1 billion in U.S. aid unless Shokin was fired.
Then-President Donald Trump’s first impeachment involved allegations of a very similar “quid pro quo” — the withholding of U.S. military aide unless President Volodymyr Zelenskyy assisted the U.S. attorney general with an investigation into the Bidens.