This week, Rep. Jamie Raskin has single-handedly crumbled James Comer’s entire bogus Biden-bribery scheme by releasing an interview transcript of Ukrainian Oligarch Zlochevsky, denying he ever talked to then-Vice President Biden. The transcript refutes James Comer and Jim Jordan’s entire bogus investigation, proving once again, their smoking guns are nothing but duds. Comer and Jordan continue to prove that their investigations are nothing more than a big fat failure of a clown show. They have zero credibility to conduct such investigations and prove they have the wrong priorities.
HuffPost: Jamie Raskin Releases Transcript Of Ukrainian Oligarch Denying He Talked To Joe Biden. “The Ukrainian oligarch Republicans claim bribed Joe Biden said he never actually talked to Biden, according to an interview transcript made public Thursday by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.). Mykola Zlochevsky is a co-founder of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma that employed Biden’s son Hunter for several years. Zlochevsky served as Ukraine’s energy minister, but has been in hiding since fleeing corruption charges. Republicans claim there’s evidence Zlochevsky paid Joe Biden a $5 million bribe when he was vice president in exchange for an official favor. They’ve demanded the FBI hand over a document reflecting a confidential source’s conversation with Zlochevsky. Raskin has now countered with a document of his own — a three-page transcript of a 2019 interview between Zlochevsky and an acquaintance of Rudy Giuliani, who at the time was publicly seeking dirt on Biden on behalf of then-President Donald Trump. ‘No one from Burisma ever had any contacts with VP Biden or people working for him during Hunter Biden’s engagement’ with Burisma, Zlochevsky says in the transcript. When asked if the vice president had assisted him or his company ‘in any way,’ Zlochevsky says no.” [HuffPost, 6/29/23]
The Washington Post: The Biden ‘Bribery’ Allegation Slips On More Banana Peels. “You will recall that, in 2019, Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani was actively promoting the idea that the Bidens had engaged in suspect activity related to Burisma. As part of that effort (which contributed to Trump’s efforts to pressure Ukraine and, subsequently, his impeachment), Giuliani had his aide Lev Parnas reach out to a friend of Zlochevsky’s to answer some questions. The responses were previously reported by Politico, but hadn’t been seen in their entirety until Raskin included them in a letter to Comer. […] What has not been documented, though, is that the president benefited. Of all of Comer’s efforts to impugn Joe Biden, though, the allegation about a bribe from Ukraine is among the flimsiest. As time passes, one would expect evidence to accrue that it had happened. Instead, evidence is accruing that it didn’t.” [The Washington Post, 6/29/23]
The Hill: Oversight Dems Argue GOP Overlooked Information Undercutting Biden Allegation. “Raskin argues the information shows that Zlochevsky ‘squarely rebutted’ allegations that are at the core of the GOP probe. ‘As part of the impeachment inquiry against then-President Trump, Congress learned that Mr. Zlochevsky, the Ukrainian oligarch and the owner of Burisma, whom Republican Committee Members appear to have identified as the source of the allegations memorialized in the Form FD-1023, squarely rebutted these allegations in 2019,’ he wrote. ‘Despite being interviewed as part of a campaign by Mr. Giuliani and his proxies in 2019 and 2020 to procure damaging information about the Biden family, Mr. Zlochevsky explicitly and unequivocally denied those allegations.’ Raskin however, also pointed to comments from Trump-era Attorney General Bill Barr that ‘[t]here are a lot of agendas in the Ukraine, there are a lot of cross-currents, and we can’t take anything we receive from the Ukraine at face value.’ […] In the conversation, Zlochevsky also says that they never asked Hunter Biden to make any outreach to the State Department. ‘We never approved or asked him to conduct those meetings on behalf of Burisma,’ he says.” [The Hill, 6/29/23]
The Independent: GOP Had Evidence Disproving Biden Bribery Claims In 2019, Top Democrat Says. “The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee has released evidence that casts significant doubt on GOP claims that the FBI ignored evidence that President Joe Biden accepted a bribe from a Ukrainian energy mogul during his time as vice president. […] An FBI informant, who The Independent previously identified as most likely being Mr Giuliani, alleged that Mykola Zlochevsky, the founder of Burisma — the Ukrainian energy firm which employed Mr Biden’s son Hunter as a board member — paid the then-vice president $5m to push for Mr Shokin’s firing. But according to a transcript of an interview with Mr Zlochevsky which Giuliani associate Lev Parnas provided to Congress during the first impeachment of Mr Trump, the Burisma founder said years ago that his company never had any contact with the elder Mr Biden.” [The Independent, 6/29/23]
Washington Examiner: Top House Oversight Democrat Releases Transcript Disputing Biden Bribery Allegations. “The Ukrainian oligarch at the center of the alleged bribery scandal involving Hunter Biden and then-Vice President Joe Biden claimed in a 2019 interview he never interacted with the former vice president, according to newly released transcripts from House Oversight Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-MD). The transcripts were from an interview with Mykola Zlochevsky, the head of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company in which Hunter Biden sat on the board. In the transcripts, Zlochevsky told an associate of Rudy Giuliani, “No one from Burisma ever had any contacts with VP Biden or people working for him during Hunter Biden’s engagement.’ At the time of the interview with Zlochevsky in 2019, Giuliani was reportedly seeking dirt on the Bidens on behalf of then-President Donald Trump ahead of the 2020 election. While the meetings between Zlochevsky and Giuliani associates have been reported in the past, this is the first time the transcripts have been released to the public. They were provided to Congress by Lev Parnas, an associate of Giuliani, Raskin said.” [Washington Examiner, 6/29/23]
The Messenger: Burisma Founder Pours Cold Water on Biden Bribery Claims in Doc Released by Raskin. “The claims from Zlochevsky in the document contradict allegations that Biden lobbied for the firing of a Ukrainian prosecutor who was investigating the company in exchange for money. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, highlighted Zlochevsky’s claims in a Thursday letter to Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the panel’s chair. ‘Mr. Zlochevsky’s statements are just one of the many that have debunked the corruption allegations against President Biden that were first leveled by Rudy Giuliani and have been reviewed by former President Trump’s own Justice Department,’ Raskin said in the letter. Raskin said the document was provided to Congress by Lev Parnas, an associate of Rudy Guiliani, who was serving as Trump’s personal lawyer, during the impeachment investigation. The document is a back and forth exchange between Guiliani’s camp and Zlochevsky, Raskin said in the letter.” [The Messenger, 6/29/23]