Discussion:
Biden $10M bribe file released: Burisma chief said he was 'coerced' to pay Joe, 'stupid' Hunter in bombshell allegations
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Leroy N. Soetoro
2023-07-20 21:48:46 UTC
Permalink
https://nypost.com/2023/07/20/biden-bribe-file-released-burisma-chief-
said-both-joe-and-hunter-involved/

WASHINGTON — A bombshell FBI informant file describing a $10 million
bribery allegation against President Biden and his son Hunter was released
Thursday by Sen. Chuck Grassley, showing that a Ukrainian oligarch claimed
that he was “coerced” into making the payoff.

Mykola Zlochevsky, the owner of natural gas company Burisma Holdings, told
the FBI informant in 2016 while meeting at a coffee shop in Vienna,
Austria, that “it cost 5 [million] to pay one Biden, and 5 [million] to
another Biden,” according to the redacted FD-1023 form.

“Zlochevsky made some comment that although Hunter Biden ‘was stupid, and
his (Zlochevsky’s) dog was smarter,’ Zlochevsky needed to keep Hunter
Biden (on Burisma’s board) ‘so everything will be okay,’” the June 2020
document says.

The source asked whether Hunter Biden or Joe Biden told Zlochevsky he
should “retain” the younger Biden; Zlochevsky allegedly replied, “They
both did.”

The federal informant — a Ukrainian-American who has been a trusted,
highly credible FBI source for over a decade and been paid “six figures,”
according to Grassley — described four conversations with Zlochevsky,
beginning with a meeting near Kyiv in late 2015 or early 2016 and
continuing through a 2019 phone call.

The informant said each of his conversations with Zlochevsky occurred in
the presence of a man named Alexander Ostapenko — giving the FBI a
possible supporting witness.

Ostapenko “introduced” the informant to Zlochevsky and “works in some
office for the administration of [Ukrainian] President [Volodymyr]
Zelensky,” the file says.

Zlochevsky allegedly claimed to have 17 recordings of conversations with
the Bidens — two of which involved Joe — as well as “many text messages”
and two documents that the informant “understood to be” financial records
of “payment(s) to the Bidens.”

According to Zlochevsky, the recordings and other evidence showed he was
“somehow coerced into paying the Bidens to ensure Ukraine Prosecutor
General Viktor Shokin was fired,” the FBI source added.

In their final discussion, Zlochevsky allegedly told the informant over
the phone that he had been an “oracle” for warning against partnering with
the Bidens due to political controversy in the US.

“[The informant] mentioned Zlochevsky might have difficulty explaining
suspicious wire transfers that may evidence any (Illicit) payments to the
Bidens,” the file says.

“Zlochevsky responded he did not send any funds directly to the ‘Big Guy’
(which [the FBI source] understood was a reference to Joe Biden). [The
source] asked Zlochevsky how many companies/bank accounts Zlochevsky
controls; Zlochevsky responded it would take them (Investigators) 10 years
to find the records (i.e. illicit payments to Joe Biden).”

https://nypost.com/wp-
content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/NYPICHPDPICT000014381672.jpg?resize=768,99
4&quality=75&strip=all

Mykola Zlochevsky, the owner of natural gas company Burisma Holdings, told
the FBI informant in 2016 while meeting at a coffee shop in Vienna,
Austria, that “it cost 5 [million] to pay one Biden, and 5 [million] to
another Biden,”

https://nypost.com/wp-
content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/NYPICHPDPICT000014381677.jpg?resize=768,99
4&quality=75&strip=all

Zlochevsky allegedly claimed to have 17 recordings of conversations with
the Bidens.

https://nypost.com/wp-
content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/NYPICHPDPICT000014381684.jpg?resize=768,99
4&quality=75&strip=all

The source added that Zlochevsky was convinced the recordings and other
evidence showed he was “somehow coerced into paying the Bidens.

The “big guy” reference is significant because the same nickname was used
to describe a tentative 10% cut for Joe Biden in 2017 as part of a
partnership with Chinese-government-linked CEFC China Energy. The moniker
wasn’t publicly known until October 2020 — months after the informant file
was created.

At the Vienna meeting in 2016, Zlochevsky allegedly described Hunter as a
conduit to his father when asked about Shokin’s investigation of Burisma.

“Zlochevsky replied something to the effect of, ‘Don’t worry Hunter will
take care of all of those issues through his dad.’ [The informant] did not
ask any further questions about what that specifically meant,” the file
reported.

Joe Biden has publicly said that he used $1 billion in US loan guarantees
as leverage to force Shokin from office, which happened in March 2016.
“Well, son of a bitch. He got fired,” Biden bragged at a 2018 event hosted
by the Council on Foreign Relations.

Hunter Biden’s employment with Burisma emerged as a major US news story in
2019 when then-President Donald Trump was impeached for pressuring Ukraine
to investigate the Bidens. House Democrats pointed out that although
Shokin’s office had investigated Burisma, evidence indicated that his
firing also was sought by US allies in Europe due to his own corruption.

In addition to the prosecutor’s ouster, former White House stenographer
Mike McCormick says Joe Biden advocated US support for Ukraine’s natural
gas industry during a trip to Kyiv just days after Hunter quietly joined
Burisma, in what he described as a clear conflict of interest.

White House spokesman Ian Sams said in a statement that “congressional
Republicans, in their eagerness to go after President Biden regardless of
the truth, continue to push claims that have been debunked for years and
that they themselves have cautioned to take ‘with a grain of salt’ because
they could be ‘made up.’”

“These claims have reportedly been scrutinized by the Trump Justice
Department, a Trump-appointed US Attorney, and a full impeachment trial of
the former President that centered on these very issues, and over and over
again, they have been found to lack credibility,” Sams said.

“It’s clear that congressional Republicans are dead-set on playing
shameless, dishonest politics and refuse to let truth get in the way. It
is well past time for news organizations to hold them to basic levels of
factual accountability for their repeated and increasingly desperate
efforts to mislead both the public and the press.”

Hunter Biden’s legal team did not immediately respond to a request for
comment.

President Biden has tried to laugh off the bribery accusation, saying last
month in response to a question from The Post, “Where’s the money?”

House Republicans are investigating references on Hunter Biden’s laptop to
Burisma opening a Maltese bank account in 2016.

https://nypost.com/wp-
content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/NYPICHPDPICT000012380978-
1.jpg?resize=1024,1024&quality=75&strip=all

Zlochevsky has not publicly commented on the bribery allegation since it
surfaced publicly on May 3, but he allegedly said in 2019 to Ukrainian-
born businessman Lev Parnas, a former associate of Trump lawyer Rudy
Giuliani, that representatives of his company never spoke to Joe Biden.

According to a transcript provided by Parnas to Politico in 2020,
Zlochevsky said, “No one from Burisma ever had any contacts with VP Biden
or people working for him during Hunter Biden’s engagement.”

Parnas, who broke with Trump and Giuliani in 2019, was convicted in 2021
of making illegal campaign contributions to Trump, for which he was
sentenced to 20 months in prison.

Then-Vice President Joe Biden met with his son’s partner Devon Archer in
2014 around the time both Hunter Biden and Archer joined the Burisma
board, according to Obama White House visitor logs.

Joe Biden also met with Burisma executive Vadym Pozharskyi at an April 16,
2015, dinner at DC’s Cafe Milano, as revealed in The Post’s first
bombshell report in October 2020 on the contents of Hunter Biden’s
abandoned laptop.

The FBI has informed members of Congress that the bribery tip was referred
to the office of Delaware US Attorney David Weiss for further
investigation, though it’s unclear what has been done since to determine
its accuracy.

IRS supervisory agent Gary Shapley testified to the House Oversight
Committee on Wednesday that federal tax agents weren’t told of the large
alleged bribe amounts during their five-year-old investigation of Hunter
for tax fraud.

“Information like this would have been really helpful to have,” Shapley
said. “The team, to the best of my knowledge, never saw that [FD-1023]
document.”

The informant file was created after the FBI found an earlier reference to
the malfeasance in a 2017 file by the same informant, according to members
of Congress involved in oversight investigations.

It’s unclear when exactly the alleged payments would have been made by
Burisma, which first added Hunter Biden to its board in April 2014 as his
dad assumed control of the Obama administration’s Ukraine policy.

Burisma paid Hunter up to $1 million per year through 2019, apart from the
alleged bribes.

https://www.scribd.com/document/660206008/FD-1023-Senator-Grassley-
FINAL#download&from_embed

Grassley (R-Iowa), who released a redacted version of the four-page
document, asked in a statement, “What did the Justice Department and FBI
do with the detailed information in the document? And why have they tried
to conceal it from Congress and the American people for so long?”

The allegation has been the subject of intense political focus since it
was first described publicly and Republican members of Congress have
floated impeaching the president if supporting evidence is found.

FBI Director Christopher Wray allowed members of the House Oversight
Committee to read the document last month after the bureau initially
refused — sparking a push by panel chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) to hold
Wray in contempt.

Charles Smith
3 hours ago

I do not understand why Rep. Comer and Sen. Grassley are releasing
information on the Bidens in such a haphazard, piecemeal and incremental
manner. It isn't working. Make a few big splashes, not a hundred small
ones.

I’m non Bidenary
3 hours ago

Because it makes it look like they are doing something….it takes time to
do a full investigation so in a few years nothing will be done and then on
to another investigation and committee meeting

Reality Check
2 hours ago

No, it's because they have to educate the American public about what
happened. It's complicated stuff and revealing systematically over a
period time helps the public digest and come to terms with THE ROT at the
top of Wash DC. Unfortunately, commenter AV, above, is probably right that
the DOJ will do nothing with any criminal referrals submitted to them. AG
Garland is in Brandon's pocket!
--
We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.

Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.

No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.

Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.

President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.
Bobby McGee
2023-07-21 00:06:35 UTC
Permalink
Post by Leroy N. Soetoro
https://nypost.com/2023/07/20/biden-bribe-file-released-burisma-chief-
said-both-joe-and-hunter-involved/
Looming indictment wrenches open the central question of 2024: Is Trump
fit to serve?

Privately, the fear is that a third indictment, even if it’s the most
serious one yet, will once again help Trump.
Donald Trump stands at a podium on stage as a red light flashes across his
face.

Early responses suggest the GOP field remains uncomfortable going after
Donald Trump directly over Jan. 6, but, instead, would attack him around
the edges. | Giorgio Viera/AFP/Getty Images

By Adam Wren and Natalie Allison

07/18/2023 07:36 PM EDT

Updated: 07/18/2023 09:21 PM EDT

Donald Trump’s announcement on Tuesday that he expects to soon be a
thrice-indicted candidate is forcing GOP candidates to fully contend with
the fundamental question of the 2024 presidential primary.

Is the former president fit to reoccupy the office?

The early responses suggest the field remains uncomfortable going after
Trump directly over Jan. 6, but, instead, would attack him around the
edges.

In South Carolina, Ron DeSantis said Trump “should have come out more
forcefully” as rioters ransacked the Capitol, but added that it fell short
of criminal activity. Vivek Ramaswamy told POLITICO in a statement he
“would have made very different judgments than President Trump did” on
Jan. 6. And Nikki Haley said the rest of the primary is threatening to be
drowned out by Trump’s legal “drama.”
DeSantis says Trump 'didn't do anything' to stop Jan. 6

The answers represented at least a small crack in the deference that some
previously courteous candidates had shown to Trump following his earlier
two indictments. But only a small one. And privately, the campaigns were
skeptical that even those modest attacks would have any impact other than
benefiting Trump himself.

“Jan. 6 just gins up the base,” said a strategist working for a Trump
rival.

Critics of the former president were left to wonder what it would take for
the field to actually turn on him over Jan. 6, if a “target letter”
informing Trump he was about to be indicted for his behavior around that
day didn’t do the trick.

“This is the kabuki dance they’re going to be doing for months — it ain’t
going to be the first time and it ain’t going to be the last time,” said
Mike Madrid, the Republican strategist and co-founder of the anti-Trump
Lincoln Project. “The kabuki dance is trying to have it both ways while
they try to wait for dust to settle on his legal problems.”

Nearly a month before the first debate, the actions of Special Counsel
Jack Smith’s grand jury has candidates hurtling toward a Rubicon they’ve
not fully found a way to navigate: To assail Trump’s character as
exhibited in the lead up to and on Jan. 6 or not.

Trump’s former vice president, Mike Pence, dealt with the matter head on
in his announcement speech last month in Iowa, saying Trump “demanded”
that he “choose between him and our Constitution,” and adding that “anyone
who asked someone else to put them over the Constitution should never be
president of the United States again.”

And former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson went further than his past remarks
about Trump’s first and second indictments, declining to pad his
statements with references to “presumption of innocence” and the need to
“wait on the facts.”

“While Donald Trump would like the American people to believe that he is
the victim in this situation,” Hutchinson said in a written statement,
“the truth is that the real victims of January 6th were our democracy, our
rule of law, and those Capitol Police officers who worked valiantly to
protect our Capitol.”

Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor, slammed Trump as well,
saying his “conduct on January 6th proves he doesn’t care about our
country & our Constitution,” regardless of what the latest case shows.
Christie bashes Trump: CNN town hall moments

But aside from that trio, the rest of the field is landing in a proverbial
no-man’s land on the question of Trump’s conduct on Jan. 6. Their
reticence underscores how hard they continue to believe it is to hit Trump
without looking squishy to the base.

DeSantis experienced that firsthand. Following his gentle criticism that
Trump “should have come out more forcefully” on Jan. 6, the Florida
governor was saddled by longtime Trump adviser Jason Miller with a new
derisive moniker: “Ron DeCheney,” a reference to former Rep. Liz Cheney,
the Republican vilified by the rank-and-file after co-leading the Jan. 6
committee.
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Republican operatives have internalized the idea that to question Trump’s
innocence related to Jan. 6 is to invite the wrath of his base. And though
the expected indictment’s focus on Trump’s actions surrounding Jan. 6
would appear to give them ground to stand on, it’s unclear that line of
attack is swaying primary voters.

“If you’re looking for an anti-Trump lane, it’s a fool’s errand,” said
Madrid. “You’re looking for the fountain of youth. It doesn’t exist. What
you may be trying to do is hoping that you can occupy a lane that opens up
if he is put on trial and thrown in jail before the election.”

Republican consultants working to support Trump’s primary rivals didn’t
immediately see Tuesday’s news as a defining moment in the race. The
previous indictments already boosted Trump’s fundraising and rallied GOP
voters to his side.

“It seems like each indictment has only gotten him more support,” said a
senior adviser to a rival campaign who was granted anonymity to discuss
campaign dynamics.

The adviser added that this likely forthcoming indictment is far more
serious than the first two. But absent further details from Smith himself,
it’s unclear what the political fallout would be.

“If it looks more like New York, then he will get a bump out of it,” said
another GOP consultant granted anonymity to discuss the dynamics of the
race, in reference to the indictment over alleged hush money payments to a
porn actress. “But if [the DOJ] handles it like the other indictment in a
professional way and they have a lot of backup, I think he is likely to
suffer — but not a ton of damage.”
NoBody
2023-07-21 02:32:50 UTC
Permalink
Post by Leroy N. Soetoro
https://nypost.com/2023/07/20/biden-bribe-file-released-burisma-chief-
said-both-joe-and-hunter-involved/
WASHINGTON — A bombshell FBI informant file
Whenever you read "bombshell," you know you're reading bullshit.

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