For weeks now, Democratic members of Congress, career State Department and National Security Council experts and their allies in the media suggest questions about Joe Biden and a Ukrainian gas company and Ukraine meddling in the 2016 election were nothing more than debunked conspiracy theories.
In reality, the facts on both these issues are clearly substantiated. And as I pointed out last week, many of the witnesses that House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff called during the impeachment proceedings confirmed concerns about both.
Here is a detailed timeline of key events in the Ukraine scandal, complete with the corroborating evidence. You make your own judgement as to what happened.
February 2014.
Vice President Joe Biden named by
President Obama to be U.S. point man on Ukrainian crisis after Euromaidan
Revolution of Dignity leads to ouster of Viktor Yanukovych as Ukrainian president.
February 21, 2014
George Soros’ Open Society
Foundation publishes anticorruption strategy for Ukraine identifying the Anti-Corruption
Action Centre, a nonprofit that Soros’ foundation and the U.S. State Department
jointly fund, as the leading edge of the foundation’s strategy for Ukraine.
Validation: https://www.scribd.com/document/403223726/Open-Society-2014-Memo
March 2014
New Ukrainian elections set for
May 2014 and Petro Poroshenko emerges as top Western-friendly candidate for
president.
April 13, 2014:
Devon Archer, the business
partner of Hunter Biden, son of the VP, and Christopher Heinz, stepson of
Secretary of State John Kerry, is named an independent director of the
Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings.
Validation: https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-27403003
April
15, 2014:
Burisma
Holdings makes two payments to the Morgan Stanley account of Devon Archer’s and
Hunter Biden’s firm Rosemont Seneca Bohai in the amounts of $83,333.33 and $29,424.82,
according to financial records obtained by Ukrainian authorities and the FBI.
Validation: Burisma Holdings financial
records obtained by Ukraine Prosecutor General’s Office. https://www.scribd.com/document/436048670/Burisma-Holdings-Accounting-Ledger
FBI records obtained from Rosemont Seneca Bohai: https://www.scribd.com/document/404001731/Rosemont-Seneca-Partners-Court-File
April 15, 2014:
Devon Archer, Hunter Biden’s partner in Rosemont Seneca Bohai and Burisma Holdings, checks into White House for meeting with Vice President Joe Biden, according to the Secret Service’s official WAVES entry logs for the Obama White House.
April 22, 2014:
VP Joe Biden meets with Ukraine Prime Minister Arseniy
Yatsenyuk and urges Ukraine to ramp up energy production to free itself from
its Russian natural gas dependence. Biden boasts that “an American team is currently in the region working with Ukraine
and its neighbors to increase Ukraine’s short-term energy supply.” Yatsenyuk
welcomes help from American “investors” in modernizing natural gas supply lines
in Ukraine.
April 24, 2014:
Joe Biden meets with candidate
Poroshenko.
April 28, 2014:
Britain’s Serious Fraud Office
freezes $23 million in assets kept in London by Burisma Holdings and its
founder, Mykola Zlochevsky, on grounds it was fraudulently transferred from
Ukraine. Zlochevsky and Burisma deny wrongdoing.
Validation: https://www.sfo.gov.uk/cases/ukraine-money-laundering-investigation/
May 13, 2014
Hunter Biden announced as a board
member for Ukraine’s largest natural gas company Burisma Holdings, which is run
by Mykola Zlochevsky, a former Cabinet official for
ousted president Victor Yanukovych.
Validation: https://www.cnbc.com/2014/05/13/bidens-son-joins-ukraine-gas-companys-board-of-directors.html
https://burisma-group.com/hunter-biden-joins-the-team-of-burisma-holdings/
May 13, 2014
Christopher Heinz, business
partner to Devon Archer and Hunter Biden and stepson to John Kerry, sends
email to Secretary of State’s top aides distancing himself from Archer, Biden
appointments to Burisma Holdings board, according to FOIA released to Citizens
United.
Validation: https://www.scribd.com/document/433436789/CU-v-State-FOIA-Doc-Ukraine
May 15, 2014
Burisma Holdings makes two equal
$83,333.33 payments totaling $166,666.66 to the Morgan Stanley account of
Hunter Biden’s and Devon Archer’s firm Rosemont Seneca Bohai, according to the
company’s official ledger and Rosemont Seneca Bohais bank records obtained by the
FBI. Similar payments are made every month for more than a year.
Validation: Burisma Holdings financial records released by Ukraine Prosecutor General’s Office: https://www.scribd.com/document/436048670/Burisma-Holdings-Accounting-Ledger
Rosemont Seneca records seized by FBI: https://www.scribd.com/document/404001731/Rosemont-Seneca-Partners-Court-File
May 20, 2014
David Leiter, former chief of
staff to John Kerry, hired as a lobbyist for Burisma Holdings, Senate lobbying
records show. The firm is paid $90,000 in 2014 to lobby Congress and the State Department.
Validation: https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/client_reports.php?id=F212407&year=2014
May 25, 2014
Poroshenko wins the Ukraine
presidential election
July 5, 2014:
Burisma Holdings pays $250,000
retainer to Boies Schiller law firm where board member Hunter Biden also works.
Validation: Burisma Holdings financial records released by Ukraine Prosecutor General’s Office: https://www.scribd.com/document/436048670/Burisma-Holdings-Accounting-Ledger
Aug. 20, 2014
Ukraine Prosecutor General Viktor
Shokin’s office opens criminal investigation of Burisma Holdings and Mykola
Zlochevsky for alleged corrupt award of gas exploration permits and eventual
looting of company, according to Ukrainian prosecutor general’s case file.
Sept. 16, 2014
Burisma Holdings makes $33,039.77 payment to Boies Schiller law firm,
according to company records.
Validation: Burisma Holdings
accounting ledger obtained by Ukraine Prosecutor General’s Office
https://www.scribd.com/document/436048670/Burisma-Holdings-Accounting-Ledger
December 16, 2014
Former deputy national security
adviser Tony Blinken, a longtime Joe Biden adviser, confirmed by Senate as
Deputy Secretary of State under John Kerry.
Jan. 18, 2015:
Prosecutor General’s office in
Ukraine declares Burisma Holdings founder Mykola Zlochevsky a fugitive “wanted
in Ukraine.”
Jan. 29, 2015:
British Serious Fraud Office
announces it is closing down investigation into Burisma and Zlochevsky for
insufficient evidence.
Validation: https://www.sfo.gov.uk/cases/ukraine-money-laundering-investigation/
March 18, 2015
VP Biden has phone call with
President Poroshenko.
Validation: https://ua.usembassy.gov/readout-vice-presidents-call-ukrainian-president-petro-poroshenko-6/
March 30, 2015:
George Soros announces plans to
invest $1 billion in Ukrainian energy and technology sectors.
Validation: https://money.cnn.com/2015/03/30/investing/ukraine-soros-billion-russia/index.html
April 15, 2015
VP Joe Biden speaks in Ukraine,
praising the decision to appoint a new head of the NABU, the new Ukrainian law
enforcement investigative arm set up by United States.
March 22, 2015:
Hunter Biden emails his father’s
longtime trusted aide, Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken, with the
following message: “Have a few minutes next week to grab a cup of coffee? I
know you are impossibly busy, but would like to get your advice on a couple of
things, Best, Hunter.”
Blinken responds the same day
with an “absolutely” and added, “Look forward to seeing you.”
The records indicate the two men
were scheduled to meet the afternoon of May 27, 2015.
Validation: https://www.scribd.com/document/436054889/Hunter-Biden-Blinken-May-2015-Contacts
June 11, 2015
Burisma Holdings makes $20,000
donation to the Delaware Community Foundation in the name of Beau Biden, the
vice president’s oldest son who died of cancer, according to the company’s financial
records released by Ukraine prosecutor general’s office.
Validation: https://www.scribd.com/document/436048670/Burisma-Holdings-Accounting-Ledger
June 12, 2015
VP Biden calls President
Poroshenko.
Validation: https://ua.usembassy.gov/readout-vice-presidents-call-ukrainian-president-petro-poroshenko-8/
July 15, 2015
VP Biden and Commerce Secretary
Pritzker attend first ever US-Ukraine Chamber of Business meeting.
Validation: https://www.uschamber.com/first-annual-us-ukraine-business-forum
July 22, 2015:
Hunter Biden meets with Deputy
Secretary Tony Blinken for lunch at State Department, according to State
Department memos.
Validation: https://www.scribd.com/document/433389212/Biden-Blinken-Meeting
July 24, 2015:
VP Biden calls President
Poroshenko, raises concerns about anti-corruption efforts in Ukraine.
Validation: https://ua.usembassy.gov/readout-vice-presidents-call-ukrainian-president-petro-poroshenko-10/
Aug. 16, 2015
Devon Archer throws a $10,000 a
plate fund-raiser in New York for the Seed Global Health charity founded by
Secretary of State Kerry’s daughter, Dr. Vanessa Kerry, according to official
invite.
Validation: https://www.scribd.com/document/432522987/Devon-Archer-Fundraiser-Vanessa-Kerry
Aug. 28, 2015
VP Biden calls President
Poroshenko
Validation: https://ua.usembassy.gov/readout-vice-presidents-call-ukrainian-president-petro-poroshenko-082815/
Sept. 25, 2015:
U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine
Geoffrey Pyatt gives speech imploring Ukrainian prosecutors to do more to bring
Burisma’s Zlochevsky to justice.
Validation: https://www.rferl.org/a/us-ambassador-upbraids-ukraine-over-corruption-efforts/27271294.html
Sept. 29, 2015
VP Biden meets with President
Poroshenko in Ukraine.
Validation: https://ua.usembassy.gov/readout-vice-president-bidens-meeting-ukrainian-president-petro-poroshenko/
Nov. 5, 2015
VP Biden calls President
Poroshenko.
Validation: https://ua.usembassy.gov/readout-vice-president-bidens-call-ukrainian-president-petro-poroshenko-110515/
Nov. 18, 2015
Burisma Holdings makes $60,000
payment to the American legal, lobbying and communications firm Blue Star
Strategies for consulting work, according to company’s official ledger.
Validation: https://www.scribd.com/document/436048670/Burisma-Holdings-Accounting-Ledger
Dec. 7, 2015
VP Biden meets with President
Poroshenko and demands the president make “hard decisions” to eliminate “the
cancer of corruption” in his country.
Dec. 8, 2015
The New York Times publishes article
stating Prosecutor General Shokin’s office is investigating Burisma Holdings and
its founder Zlochecvsky, and that Hunter Biden’s participation on Burisma board
is undercutting Joe Biden’s anticorruption message in Ukraine. VP Biden office
quoted in story.
Validation: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/09/world/europe/corruption-ukraine-joe-biden-son-hunter-biden-ties.html
Jan. 21-24, 2016:
Obama White House invites leaders
of Ukraine’s general prosecutor office to Washington for a hastily arranged set
of meetings to discuss anticorruption cases, including Burisma and Party of
Regions case involving Paul Manafort..
Feb. 4, 2016
Ukraine general prosecutor’s
office under the direction of Viktor Shokin announces the seizure of assets
from Burisma Holdings founder Mykola Zlochevsky under a continuing criminal
investigation. The seizure occurred on Feb. 2, 2016, according to the announcement.
Validation: https://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/322395.html
Feb. 4, 2016
Burisma board member Hunter Biden
sends a Twitter notification to Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken, a
longtime adviser to Joe Biden, indicating he is following Blinken on Twitter.
Validation: https://www.scribd.com/document/433389211/HunterBidenFollowBlinkenTwitter
Feb. 11, 18, 19, 2016
VP Biden holds series of phone
calls with President Poroshenko to check on status of pending items from their
December 2015 meeting.
Feb. 24-March 1, 2016:
An American representative for
Burisma Holdings, Karen Tramontano of Blue Star Strategies, seeks meeting with Undersecretary
of State Catherine A. Novelli to discuss ending the corruption allegations
against the Ukrainian gas firm. Hunter
Biden’s name was specifically invoked by the Burisma representative as a reason
the State Department should help. “Per our conversation, Karen Tramontano of
Blue Star Strategies requested a meeting to discuss with U/S Novelli USG
remarks alleging Burisma (Ukrainian energy company) of corruption.”
Validation: https://www.scribd.com/document/433389210/Bluestar-Novelli-Contacts
March 2, 2016:
Devon Archer, a business partner
of Hunter Biden and fellow American board member on Burisma Holdings, secures
meeting with Secretary of State John Kerry, State Department memos say.
Validation: https://www.scribd.com/document/433389208/Archer-Meeting-Kerry
March 15, 2016
Assistant
Secretary of State Victoria Nuland demands Ukraine “appoint
and confirm a new, clean Prosecutor General, who is committed to rebuilding the
integrity of the PGO, and investigate, indict and successfully prosecute
corruption and asset recovery cases – including locking up dirty personnel in
the PGO itself.”
Validation: https://ua.usembassy.gov/ukrainian-reforms-two-years-maidan-revolution-russian-invasion/
March 22, 2016
VP Joe Biden engages in phone
call from Washington DC with Ukrainian president Poroshenko about U.S. loan
guarantees. It is believed in this call that Biden renews his demands that the
president fire Prosecutor General Shokin, who is overseeing the Burisma
prosecution, or risk losing the next $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees.
Validation: https://ua.usembassy.gov/readout-vice-president-bidens-call-president-petro-poroshenko-ukraine-032216/
March 29, 2016
Ukraine parliament fires
Prosecutor General Shokin at urging of President Poroshenko.
March 29, 2016:
John Buretta, an American lawyer
hired by Burisma Holdings, seeks to contact the Acting Prosecutor General
Sevruk seeking a meeting about the Burisma investigation just hours after his
boss, Prosecutor General Shokin, was fired under pressure from VP Joe Biden,
according to email Buretta’s legal team sent the Ukraine embassy in Washington.
March 30, 2016:
Burisma Holdings’ U.S. legal team
seeks help of Ukrainian embassy official Andrii Telizhenko in Washington seeking
urgent meeting with new Acting Prosecutor General of Ukraine, according to
legal team’s email to embassy.
March 31, 2016
VP Joe Biden arrives in Ukraine
and announces $1 billion in loan guarantees, ending threat to withhold aid and
force Ukraine into debt default, and also delivers $239 million more in
promised aid.
Validation: https://ua.usembassy.gov/readout-vice-president-bidens-meeting-president-petro-poroshenko-ukraine-033116/
April 4, 2016:
George Kent, a senior US official
at the American embassy in Ukraine, writes a letter asking Ukrainian general
prosecutor’s office to stand down their investigation of the Soros-funded group
the Anti-Corruption Action Centre.
Validation: https://www.scribd.com/document/402559592/Embassy2GPLetter4-4-16
April 6, 2016
Burisma Holdings’ U.S. legal team
of John Buretta, Sally Painter and Karen Tramontano meets with Ukraine’s Acting
Prosecutor General Sevruk to seek resolution of Burisma criminal investigation.
American lawyers apologize for “false information” spread by U.S. government to
force the firing of Shokin and offer Prosecutor General’s office an olive
branch of arranging a meeting in Washington to clear the air.
Validation: Official Prosecutor General’s memo of meeting: https://www.scribd.com/document/427618143/Ukraine-PGO-Memo-Untranslated
English
translation: https://www.scribd.com/document/427616178/Ukraine-PGO-Memo-Translation
April 14, 2016
VP Biden calls President
Poroshenko and “stressed the urgency of putting in place a new Prosecutor
General who would bolster the agency’s anti-corruption efforts.
Validation: https://ua.usembassy.gov/readout-vice-president-bidens-call-president-petro-poroshenko-ukraine-041416/
May 4, 2016:
DNC contractor Alexandra Chalupa
writes email to bosses at party headquarters derailing her work to get dirt on
Trump and Manafort from Ukraine.
Validation: https://wikileaks.org/dnc-emails/emailid/3962
May 12, 2016
Yurii Lutsenko named the new
Prosecutor General of Ukraine, taking over investigations that include Burisma
Holdings. VP Joe Biden later praises Lutsenko as a “solid guy” during 2018
speech at Atlantic Counsel.
Validation: : https://www.cfr.org/event/foreign-affairs-issue-launch-former-vice-president-joe-biden
May 25, 2016:
Senior George Soros adviser
provides private briefing to Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland about
Russian bond market, according to official State Department memo of briefing.
Validation: https://www.scribd.com/document/421082234/SorosNulandRussia-Bond-Market
May 27, 2016
VP Biden holds phone call with
President Poroshenko.
Validation: https://ua.usembassy.gov/readout-vice-president-bidens-call-president-petro-poroshenko-ukraine-052716/
June 1, 2016:
George Soros seeks and receives a telephonic
meeting with Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland to discuss Ukraine,
according to the official State Department record of call
Validation: https://www.scribd.com/document/421081817/SorosNulandJune1-2016-Contacts-Ukraine
Aug. 4, 2016:
Ukraine’s ambassador to Washington,
Valeriy Chaly, takes extraordinary step of writing an OpEd in The Hill intervening
in the US presidential election, slamming Trump’s policies and comments on
Russia.
Aug. 12, 2016
Phone call between VP Biden and
President Poroshenko
Sept. 20, 2016
VP Biden meets President Poroshenko
on sidelines of UN meeting. Confirms $1 billion in loan guarantees has been
made.
Validation: https://ua.usembassy.gov/readout-vice-president-bidens-meeting-president-petro-poroshenko-ukraine/
Nov. 8, 2016
Donald Trump wins election to
become 45th president of United States, ending eight years of
Democratic control of the White House.
Dec. 15, 2016
VP Biden holds phone call with
Ukraine president and prime minister, praises work of NABU.
Jan. 11, 2017:
Politico reports possible effort
by DNC contractor Alexandra Chalupa to seek Russia dirt on Trump and Manafort
from Ukraine embassy in Washington during 2016 election.
Validation: https://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/ukraine-sabotage-trump-backfire-233446
Jan. 17-18, 2017
Biden makes final appearance in Ukraine
with President Poroshenko.
February 1, 2017:
John Buretta, the American lawyer
for Burisma Holdings, gives interview in Kiev confirming there were criminal
cases open in 2016 in Ukraine but all have been settled, the last with a
penalty for tax violations.
Jan. 25, 2018
Former VP Biden boasts at Council
of Foreign Relations events in Washington that he strong-armed Ukrainian
president Petro Poroshenko into firing Prosecutor General Shokin, using loan
guarantees as leverage. He also calls Shokin’s replacement, Yuriy Lutsenko,
“solid.”
Validation: https://www.cfr.org/event/foreign-affairs-issue-launch-former-vice-president-joe-biden
May
9, 2018
House
Rules Committee chairman Pete Sessions writes letter to Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo demanding removal of US Ambassador to Kiev Marie Yovanovitch.
Validation:
https://www.scribd.com/document/402558867/Sessions-Pompeo-correspondence-2018
December
12, 2018:
Ukrainian
court rules that the efforts by Ukrainian parliamentary member Sergey Leschenko
and NABU chief Artem Sytnyk to publicize the Manafort black ledger documents in
2016 were an improper foreign intervention in the American presidential
election.
Feb.
10, 2019
NABU
revives dormant Burisma case, drafting a notice of suspicion against founder
Mykola Zlochevsky and asking the special anticorruption prosecutor of Ukraine
to bring Zlochevsky in for questioning.
March
28, 2019
Ukraine
General Prosecutor’s office under the authority of Deputy Prosecutor General
Kulyk announces it has opened a new money laundering investigation against
Burisma founder Zlochevsky.
Validation:
https://www.scribd.com/document/429942801/March282019NoticeofSuspicionZolchevskyBurisma
May
2, 2019:
Ukraine
embassy in Washington issues statement confirming that in spring 2016 the DNC
contractor Alexandra Chalupa sought the embassy’s help seeking dirt on Donald
Trump and Paul Manafort and asking for Ukraine’s president to meet with an
investigative reporter working on the issue.
Text
of statement: https://www.scribd.com/document/432699412/Ukraine-Chaly-Statement-on-Chalupa-042519
May
16, 2019:
Artem
Sytnyk, head of Ukraine’s National Anticorruption Bureau (NABU), confirms investigations
remain open against Burisma and its founder Zlochevsky.
Validation:
https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/sytnyk-nabu-has-not-closed-cases-related-to-zlochevsky.html
