Mike Norris, Co-Editor, The American Dossier
Hunter Biden’s role in a Ukranian gas company is under new scrutiny, after the White House released transcripts of a phone call between President Donald Trump and Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
According to the transcripts, Trump asked Zelenskiy to investigate whether former Vice President Joe Biden influenced the 2016 dismissal of Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Viktor Shokin. At the time of his release, Shokin was investigating Burisma Holdings Limited, which employed the younger Biden.
Joe Biden has faced scrutiny about his son’s activities in the Ukraine since December 2015, when the New York Times published an article revealing that Burisma paid Hunter $50,000 to sit on its board, just weeks after the vice president was asked by President Obama to oversee U.S.-Ukraine relations. A second private equity firm founded by the Hunter received $3.4 million from the same company.
That New York Times article also alerted Biden’s office that Shokin was investigating Burisma. Shortly after the article’s publishing, Shokin was dismissed.
The incident resurfaced earlier this year, when video of a 2018 speech leaked in which Joe Biden admitted that, as vice president, he threatened to cancel $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees, unless Ukraine’s then-President Petro Poroshenko fired Shokin.
Joe Biden, now a 2020 Democratic presidential contender, insists that he leveraged Ukraine to fire Shokin because he believed the prosecutor general was corrupt and inept, not because Shokin was investigating Burisma.
Newly obtained documents call that claim into question.
In a sworn affidavit prepared for a European court, Shokin testified: “The truth is that I was forced out because I was leading a wide-ranging corruption probe into Burisma Holdings, a natural gas firm active in Ukraine and Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, was a member of the Board of Directors.”
“On several occasions President Poroshenko asked me to have a look at the case against Burisma and consider the possibility of winding down the investigative actions in respect of this company but I refused to close this investigation,” Shokin added.
Concerned that it was evidence of a breach of U.S. ethics laws, Ukranian prosecutors made multiple attempts to get the information to the Department of Justice.
First, they hired a former federal prosecutor to bring the information to the U.S. attorney in New York. But, they say, he showed no interest. Then, the Ukrainians reached out to Rudy Giuliani, President Trump’s personal lawyer.
President Trump and Giuliani now allege that when Ukrainian prosecutors tried to investigate Burisma, then-Vice President Biden pressured the government to fire Shokin.
On the call, Zelensky told Trump that he plans to launch his own wide-ranging investigation into what happened with the Biden’s and Burisma.
“I’m knowledgeable about the situation,” Zelensky said, asking Trump to forward any evidence he might have. "The issue of the investigation of the case is actually the issue of making sure to restore the honesty so we will take care of that and will work on the investigation of the case.”
Mykola Azarov, a former Prime Minister under President Viktor Yanukovych, agreed that a second look at Biden’s activities is warranted.
"It should be investigated so that the 'i's can be dotted and the 't's crossed," Mykola Azarov told Reuters Saturday, adding: "If he [Hunter Biden] was simply on the books and getting money, then that could be seen as a violation of the law."
After serving as an Airborne Infantryman in the 82nd Airborne Division, Mike attended Florida State University, where he received his Bachelors Degree in Political Science and George Washington University, where he received his Masters in Political Management. Mike is currently attending the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, where he is pursuing his Juris Doctorate.
Since 2004, Mike has worked in the Florida Senate, where he was one of only two Chief’s of Staff under 30 and in the Michigan Senate, where he served as the Legislative Aide to the Assistant Minority Floor Leader. The 2018 election cycle was Mike’s eighth as a Political Consultant.
Mike previously served as the Secretary and Vice President of the Tampa Bay Young Republicans, Regional Vice Chair for the Florida Federated Young Republicans and attended the 2012 Republican National Convention as an Alternate Delegate.
He currently lives in Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan, with his rescue Pit Bull, Ike.
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