In an explosive interview with Fox News, former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin said his controversial dismissal was due to Joe Biden. Shokin says that Biden, in his time as vice president, pressured the Ukrainian government because it was investigating the energy firm Burisma, while Hunter Biden was on the board of directors earning more than $80,000 a month.
In a preview to the interview to be broadcast at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Shokin told host Brian Kilmeade that he has a “firm personal conviction” that he was removed from his position because then Vice President Biden and his son were bribed by Burisma President Mykola Zlochevsky, who was seeking protection from Washington D.C.
“I have said repeatedly in my previous interviews that Poroshenko fired me at the insistence of the then Vice President Biden because I was investigating Burisma,” the former prosecutor said. “[Poroshenko] understood, and so did Vice President Biden, that had I continued to oversee the Burisma investigation, we would have found the facts about the corrupt activities that they were engaging in. That included both Hunter Biden and Devon Archer and others.”
The former attorney general testified that the energy firm where Hunter Biden worked was illegally producing, selling and using natural gas supplies.
However, Shokin did not provide evidence of the alleged bribes received by the Bidens, although he said he thinks they were bought by Burisma.
“I do not want to deal in unproven facts, but my firm personal conviction is that, yes, this was the case,” the former prosecutor said. “They were being bribed. And the fact that Joe Biden gave away $1 billion in U.S. money in exchange for my dismissal, my firing – isn’t that alone a case of corruption?”
Denial from the White House
Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine’s former president, fired Shokin in 2016, a year after he appointed him prosecutor general, due to pressure from the Obama administration that denounced Shokin for allegedly being soft on corruption.
Joe Biden bragged about Shokin’s firing, explaining that his threat to curb $1 billion in humanitarian aid for Ukraine was crucial in removing the former attorney general.
The White House responded to the Fox News interview with a statement.
“For years, these false claims have been debunked, and no matter how much air time Fox gives them, they will remain false,” said Ian Sams, a White House spokesman. “Fox is giving a platform for these lies to a former Ukrainian prosecutor general whose office his own deputy called ’a hotbed of corruption,’ drawing demands for reform not only from then-Vice President Biden but also from U.S. diplomats, international partners, and Republican senators like Ron Johnson.”
Serious allegations against Joe and Hunter Biden
Viktor Shokin’s interview is another explosive testimony that joins Devon Archer’s harsh statements behind closed doors. Archer was a former business partner and “best friend” of Hunter Biden, who told the House Oversight Committee that Burisma sought out the son of the then-vice president for political protection.
According to Archer, amid pressure from the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office against Burisma, Hunter himself “called Washington” for help in firing Shokin.
“Devon Archer’s testimony today confirms Joe Biden lied to the American people when he said he had no knowledge about his son’s business dealings and was not involved,” Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said following Archer’s testimony. “Joe Biden was ‘the brand’ that his son sold around the world to enrich the Biden family.”
“When Burisma’s owner was facing pressure from the Ukrainian prosecutor investigating the company for corruption, Archer testified that Burisma executives asked Hunter to ‘call D.C.’ after a Burisma board meeting in Dubai,” added the Republican congressman. “Why did Joe Biden lie to the American people about his family’s business dealings and his involvement? It begs the question, what else he is hiding from the American people?”
