Early today the New York Post leaked a number of stunning emails that reveal evidence of alleged ties between Hunter Biden and Burisma advisor, Vadym Pozarhskyi. The contents of a computer dropped off at a computer repair store in former VP Biden's home state of Delaware in April of 2019 has revealed emails that seem to indicate evidence of influence peddling on the part of Joe Biden's son, Hunter.
Hunter Biden has been the subject of ongoing rumors regarding his ties with Burisma Holdings Limited, which is a holding company for a group of energy exploration and production companies. Hunter served on the board of Burisma from 2014 to 2019 during the time his father was Vice President and while Biden was in charge of Ukraine policy for the Obama administration.
The Post reports that the emails indicate that, "Hunter Biden introduced his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, to a top executive at a Ukrainian energy firm less than a year before the elder Biden pressured government officials in Ukraine into firing a prosecutor who was investigating the company". The Post continues, "[t]he never-before-revealed meeting is mentioned in a message of appreciation that Vadym Pozharskyi, an adviser to the board of Burisma, allegedly sent Hunter Biden on April 17, 2015, about a year after Hunter joined the Burisma board at a reported salary of up to $50,000 a month."
The text of that email reads as follows:“Dear Hunter, thank you for inviting me to DC and giving an opportunity to meet your father and spent [sic] some time together. It’s realty [sic] an honor and pleasure,”
In May of 2014, Pozharskyi also sent an email to Hunter Biden and his partner Devon Archer at investment and advisory firm Rosemont Seneca directly asking them to use his influence to help Burisma. Pozarhskyi writes,"We urgently need your advice on how you could use your influence to convey a message / signal, etc .to stop what we consider to be politically motivated actions" against Burisma.
Incidentally, in early October Just the News reported, "The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed a lower court decision to grant a new trial in a fraud case involving Hunter Biden's ex-business partner Devon Archer."
In another email, Pozarhskyi referred to N.Z. which "appears to be a reference to Burisma founder Mykola Zlochevsky, whose first name is a Ukrainian version of “Nicholas.”" He mentions "representatives of new authorities in power tend to quite aggressively approach N. Z. unofficially with the aim to obtain cash from him.” Here Pozarhskyi directly refers to "unofficial "communications" [that] would entail blackmailing: in case we don't cooperate i.e.provide money in cash the gaz production business of N.Z. would be stopped,destroyed etc…
Burisma Timeline
There has been much controversy surrounding high ranking officials in Ukraine as it relates to both Hunter Biden and his father VP Biden. According to a timeline released by The Federalist in 2012, the Ukrainian prosecutor general Viktor Pshonka began investigating Ukrainian oligarch Mykola Zlochevsky, owner of the natural gas company Burisma Holdings, over allegations of money laundering, tax evasion, and corruption during 2010–2012.
In 2015, Viktor Shokin inherited the prosecution when he became the prosecutor general. Shokin's removal was the subject of a famous excerpt from a discussion held by the Council on Foreign Relations in January of 2018 which former VP Joe Biden seems to brag about asking Ukraine President at the time Petro Poroshenko to fire Shoken, "threatening to withhold military aid to Ukraine as a pressure tactic to force the firing of a prosecutor he did not like."
In this Jan. 16, 2017, photo, Vice President Joe Biden, left, and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko go for talks during Biden’s visit in Kiev, Ukraine. [associated press file photo]There are many conflicting theories, but it has been posited that "Zlochevsky hired Hunter Biden after the allegations surfaced in order to evade charges in the hopes that Hunter might use his influence to persuade his dad to push for the firing of the prosecutor, Viktor Shokin."
An 87 page interim report on Hunter's involvement in Ukraine was issued jointly by the Senate Homeland Security Committee and the U.S. Committee on Finance was issued in September of this year. It was entitled Hunter Biden, Burisma and Corruption: The Impact on U.S. Government Policy and Related Concerns. Among other things, the report revealed Obama administration officials knew that Hunter's ties were "problematic" and interfered “in the efficient execution of policy with respect to Ukraine.” The report purported to be a "good-government oversight investigation that relies on documents and testimony from U.S. agencies and officials, not a Russian disinformation campaign..."
In its executive summary, the interim report noted that it "not only detail[ed} examples of extensive and complex financial transactions involving the Bidens, it also describ[ed] the quandary other U.S. governmental officials faced as they attempted to guide and support Ukraine’s anticorruption efforts."
Ukraine has often been quoted to be one of the most corrupt countries in Europe, making it difficult for U.S. officials to address issues of corruption there during a particularly tumultuous time in its history.
Acquisition of Laptop
Today's NY Post article refers to subpoenas that were acquired to secure the laptop from the owner of the repair shop. "Photos of a Delaware federal subpoena given to The Post show that both the computer and hard drive were seized by the FBI in December, after the shop’s owner says he alerted the feds to their existence." According to the Post, the shop owner "made copies of the hard drive and delivered copies of it to former Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s lawyer, Robert Costello. Steve Bannon, former adviser to President Trump, told The Post about the existence of the hard drive in late September and Giuliani provided The Post with a copy of it on Sunday."
Biden Campaign Continues to Push Back
At Noon today, John Roberts of Fox news relayed a statement by the Biden campaign spokesperson, Andrew Bates responding to the early morning NY Post article. In it, Bates decries the allegations as "not legitimate"
The laptop hard drive seems to contain a treasure trove of damning information and emails. It is becoming increasingly difficult for the Biden campaign to dispute the alleged conflict of interest and/or lucrative favor enjoyed by Hunter Biden between 2014-2019 during a "time when Ukraine was especially dependent on aid and strategic backing from the United States and its allies, according to people who worked in Ukraine at the time.”
