I'm going to tweet about this 1 more time since 2019. The way we know the Hunter Biden "scandal" is BS is it has ALWAYS been BS. Victor Shokin was corrupt & forced to resign by global pressure, including from EU, IMF, institutional investors & USA. Let's just discuss IMF.../1
...Shokin was a corrupt guy who let Ukraine corruption flourish - including by letting Mykola Zlochevsky (a government official and founder of Burisma) to skate on public corruption and bribery charges. There was never a Burisma investigation. The corruption of Shokin was..../2
...a global issue given Ukraine's importance vis a vis Russia. Biden made his statement in December 2015, after EU & institutional investors had threatened to pull out of investing in Ukraine because of Shokin. Nothing happened.
THEN, 2 months later, Lagarde, the IMF head.../3
THEN, 2 months later, Lagarde, the IMF head.../3
...threatened to pull $17 billion (and ultimately $34 billion) of financial support for Ukraine unless it rooted out corruption. IMF officials said this was directly targeted at Shokin....
rferl.org/a/lagarde-imf-…
rferl.org/a/lagarde-imf-…
...Shokin had also been identified globally by anticorruption officials as undermining corruption fight in Ukraine. More than 100 members of the Ukrainian parliament had already called for his ouster. But it was IMF that finally got president to act....
rferl.org/a/ukraine-imf-…
rferl.org/a/ukraine-imf-…
...the pressure on President Poroshenko to fire Shokin became overwhelming because not only was the $17 billion of IMF money part of $40 billion total, but it could not be made up by institutional investors. The US portion was just a loan *guarantee* and nothing more. The IMF... 
...investment could well have freed up other money to cover the value of the guarantee. But once the IMF said it would pull everything, the only choices for Poroshenko was fire Shokin or preside over an economic collapse. So Poroshenko caved...ft.com/content/44c164…
...then it got worse. On February 15, five days after IMF threatened to pull its money, Deputy Prosecutor-General Vitaliy Kasko went on national television and resigned, accusing Shokin of hindering corruption investigations. This set off more demands in Ukraine for Shokin's....
...ouster. Four days later, under pressure from Poroshenko, Shokin resigned.
So, timing: Biden gives his statement in December, 2015. Nothing happens. IMF issues its threat on Feb 10, 2016. Poroshenko pledges to IMF to fight corruption. Five days...
rferl.org/a/ukraine-poro…
So, timing: Biden gives his statement in December, 2015. Nothing happens. IMF issues its threat on Feb 10, 2016. Poroshenko pledges to IMF to fight corruption. Five days...
rferl.org/a/ukraine-poro…
...later, Shokin's deputy resigns, accusing him of corruption to protect oligarchs (like Burisma founder who, again, had been under investigation for accepting bribes while a government official, a case Shokin killed.) Four days later, Poroshenko announces Shokin has resigned...
...now, did Biden say something that was not true? Yes. When he said he made his threat to Ukraine and days (hours?) later Shokin was gone, that was not true. Whether there was a second statement by him, he misremembered, or he told a falsehood, it was the IMF, Shokin's deputy...
..& members of Ukraine Parliament who drove out Shokin.
No Burisma investigation. Global pressure for Shokin to resign. IMF and deputy's resignation finally causes Poroshenko to demand Shokin's resignation.
This is all indisputable. Everything Rudy says are demonstrable lies...
No Burisma investigation. Global pressure for Shokin to resign. IMF and deputy's resignation finally causes Poroshenko to demand Shokin's resignation.
This is all indisputable. Everything Rudy says are demonstrable lies...
...and who is one of Rudy's key "witnesses."? Viktor Shokin! The son of a bitch that the IMF, the EU, the USA, the Ukrainian parliament and institutional investors demanded be fired because of his corruption. Shokin has used Rudy's BS to file in Ukraine to get his job back....
...all of this depends on the stupidity of Americans and the lies of Fox News and GOP. That they are willing to undermine Ukrainian sovereignty - which Trump demonstrated in his threats that led to his impeachment - shows that they are *America's* version of Shokin: corrupt to...
...the core, liars, willing to carry water for Russia - which wants Shokin (their puppet) back in office. This is a three-fer for Russia: Help their guy in Ukraine, undermine the Ukrainian democracy, and manipulate the US elections. And Republicans cheer and dance to help.
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