WASHINGTON, DC — Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Jeffrey Piatt in 2015 joined three impeachment probe witnesses in calling for an investigation into the corruption-linked Burisma company and its owner while then Vice-President’s Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, was working at the Ukrainian company.
Piatt [or Pyatt], who preceded former U.S. Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, is the fourth official who worked under former President Barack Obama to raise malfeasance concerns about Burisma. Piatt, however, is the only individual who has not testified in the ongoing impeachment probe to deem a corruption investigation into Burisma necessary.
The four complainants against Burisma suggest there is merit to U.S. President Donald Trump’s concerns about Hunter Biden’s work on the company’s board of directors. Corruption concerns about Burisma began with allegations against the Ukranian company’s owner, Mykola Zlochevsy. The United States spent hundreds of thousands helping to investigate Zlochevsy. Combating corruption in Ukraine has long been a significant component of American policy towards Ukraine.
House Democrats, however, refuse to allow Hunter to testify, denying that he is at the center of the impeachment probe.
During the public impeachment probe hearing Tuesday, featuring testimony from U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, testified Rep. Devin Nunes from California, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee hosting the hearing, declared:
You wouldn’t be the first ambassador to be interested in Burisma, did you know that in 2015, U.S. Amb. Jeffrey Piatt’s as U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine privately called fro an investigation into Zlochevsky, the president of Burisma. This [Piatt] is the Ukrainian ambassador appointed by Obama in Ukraine.
…You would not be the first one to be mentioning that investigations should be done into Burisma because it happened under the Obama administration. Did you know that financial records show Burisma routed more $3 million into the account of Hunter Biden.
Sondland claimed he was not aware of Piatt’s concerns about Burisma. He also claimed ignorance of the company’s decision to route more than $3 million over five years to accounts linked to Hunter Biden. Hunter served on the Ukrainian company’s board directors while his father was President Obama’s head honcho for Ukraine policy.
Impeachment probe witnesses — George Kent, Catherine Croft, and Christopher Anderson — all raised concerns about Burisma’s potential affiliation to corruption, at times when Hunter was working there. Besides former Amb. Piatt, Kent, Croft, and Anderson still all work for the State Department. They did so when they expressed concerns about Burisma.
Kent testified during his October 15 closed-door deposition that he raised concerns about Burisma and its owners, but VP Biden’s office ignored him.
U.S. Special Envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker and Sondland had both called for investigations into Burisma and its owner, to no avail.
Echoing Volker, Sondland said during his public testimony Tuesday that an investigation into corruption allegations against Burisma would be appropriate.
Trump’s private attorney Rudy Giuliani traveled to Ukraine to investigate Ukraine’s possible efforts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections. Democrats and their mainstream media allies argue there is no wrongdoing evidence against the Bidens. At the behest of VP Biden, however, information into the matter was buried.
Joe Biden pressured Ukraine to fire its top prosecutor Viktor Shokin who had investigated Burisma, threatening to withhold loan guarantees if it did not play ball. If that sounds familiar, you have been paying attention, because it sounds like the quid pro quo that Dems are trying to pin on Trump.
“Shokin’s replacement, Yuri Lutsenko, continued the investigation into Burisma and concluded there was no evidence of wrongdoing by Joe Biden or his son,” the New York Post noted.
Corruption, however, is prevalent in Ukraine and could have played a role in clearing the Bidens.
Russian Ryaboshapka, the new prosecutor under Zelensky — who ran on combating corruption, has vowed to “review all previous cases concerning [the Burisma] gas company at the heart of the impeachment inquiry into President Trump’s dealings with Ukraine,” the Washington Post reported on October 4.
A U.S. intelligence community “whistleblower” complaint filed August 12 accuses Trump of engaging in a quid pro quo during a July 25 call in which he allegedly pressured Zelensky to investigate the Bidens in exchange for aid,
The testimony from four State officials shows that Obama knew of corruption concerns about Burisma.
U.S. State testimony about corruption suggests there could be merit to Trump suggesting Ukraine investigate corruption allegations linked to the Bidens. Hunter admitted getting the lucrative job at Burisma because of his father’s position.
Even officials who have testified against Trump’s interactions in Ukraine have said there was no pressure for the Eastern European country to investigate the Bidens.
House Democrats are not allowing the Republicans to request the “whistleblower,” whose complaint alleging a quid pro quo triggeåd the impeachment probe, and Hunter Biden to testify.
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