Thread by @devinhardin6

1/THREAD: Is it true that Joe Biden forced Ukraine to oust its prosecutor in 2016 to end an investigation into the business that employed his son? The following is a list of facts I hope you'll read through.

2/This article is fairly detailed regarding the corruption in Ukraine and the investigation into Zlochevsky the owner of Burisma which Hunter Biden was a board member.
theguardian.com/world/2017/apr…

3/Yanukovych became president of Ukraine in 2010 and was exiled in 2014. His corruption is detailed in the above article. In 2019, he was convicted of treason, one reason was for asking Putin to invade Ukraine after he fled. That's the kinda guy he was.

4/Yanukovych appointed Zlochevsky, owner of Burisma, as natural resource minister

5/In April 2014, London hosted a summit with delegates from several countries including the US. Britain’s attorney general, Dominic Grieve QC, announced UK was investigating Zlochevsky and had seized $23m in assets claiming they were gained by illegal means.

6/SFO investigator Gould enlisted the help of Ukrainian prosecutor, Vitaly Kasko. Kasko was one of the good guys, and did all he could to aide the investigation, but his job wasn't easy bc of corrupt prosecutors including Shokin.

7/In 12/14 the US writes Ukraine demanding they cooperate with the UK's investigation or else. At this time Shokin was a deputy prosecutor. A report written by Kasko around 12/25/14, states that Shokin had failed to resolve issues re: the case. He mentions the US letter.

8/At this point, Hunter had been on the board for 6 months. The US was actually pushing Ukraine to cooperate in the UK investigation of Zlochevsky, NOT pushing them to drop the case.

9/Despite Kasko's efforts to aide the UK investigation, a UK judge dismissed the case stating "The case remains a matter of conjecture and suspicion" He also referenced a letter from a Ukrainian prosecutor that stated Zlochevsky was not the suspect in any crime.

10/This shocked Kasko. I don't know if it was ever discovered which prosecutor sent the letter or if it was Shokin.

11/Shokin was appointed to General Prosecutor in 2/2015. He refused to prosecute members of Yanukovych's admin, including Zlochevsky, refused to prosecute snipers that killed dozens of protestors, refused to prosecute people in his own depart for bribery. He was a POS.

12/Kasko has stated that he urged Shokin to continue the Zlochevsky investigation, but Shokin refused. He said Shokin shelved the investigation. In 3/2015, David Sakvarelidze, a deputy prosecutor, accused other prosecutors of accepting bribes to help Zlochevsky.

13/I don't believe any prosecuters were ever been held responsible for the mishandling or possible corruption involved in the case. All of this happened prior to 2016.

14/Biden became the point man regarding reform in Ukraine. It was publicly known at this time that Hunter Biden was on the board of Burisma.

15/Everything came to a head re: the rampant corruption in Ukraine in 2/2016 when a slew of officials, including Kasko, trying to combat the corruption and reform the system resigned, bc their efforts were being stymied by Shokin and other corrupt officials.

16/After the resignation of these officials, the IMF and EU threatened to withhold $40 billion in aide if Ukraine didn't shape up, including getting rid of Shokin and other corrupt prosecutors.
theguardian.com/world/2016/feb…

17/In 3/2016 Biden threatened to withhold $1 billion if Ukraine didn't oust Shokin. 100s of protestors also took the streets demanding that Shokin be removed.

rferl.org/a/ukraine-prot…

18/In 3/2016, Ukrainian parliament finally voted to remove Shokin. The EU stated at the time: "The Rada voted to remove Prosecutor General, Viktor Shokin, in March 2016, after Western donors condemned his failure to prosecute open cases of corruption..."

19/The ousting of Shokin was a GLOBAL effort that was supported by both Republicans and Democrats. His removal did not end an investigation, bc there was no active investigation. His removal made it MORE LIKELY that an investigation into Zlochevsky/Burisma would be reopened.

20/When Shokin was removed, Lutsenko was appointed prosecutor. Lutsenko has stated that there is no evidence that either Biden did anything wrong.
bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

21/Though it was known at the time that Hunter Biden was on the board of Burisma, I don't recall seeing anything in my research where anyone, including Republicans, accused Biden of trying to shut down an investigation to benefit his son.

22/Although there was certainly a conflict of interest which did draw criticism, one would think that if Repubs felt Biden's goal was to shut down an investigation to benefit his son, they wouldn't have waited 3.5 years to accuse him of that. That just doesn't make sense.

23/The allegation that Biden pressured Ukraine to oust Shokin and end an investigation of Burisma is not at all supported by the facts. Unfortunately, too many will automatically believe what they hear without question or bother to do any research.

24/This thread is strictly about the allegations of trying to shut down an investigation. It isn't about any quid pro quo or shady business deals. The facts regarding the ousting of Shokin remain the same regardless of anything else the two Bidens may have been involved in.

End/ I know there are other allegations regarding Biden and his son and business dealings, but I'm not familiar with those enough to comment.

Thanks for reading!