(Fox News) Republican lawmakers erupted Tuesday after learning about a 2015 email chain that predated President Biden’s infamous 2015 trip to Ukraine, when a Burisma Holdings executive revealed the “ultimate purpose” of Hunter Biden’s involvement with the Ukrainian energy company.
One month before then-Vice President Joe Biden traveled to Ukraine, where he threatened to withhold $1 billion in U.S. aid if Ukrainian leaders did not fire their top prosecutor, Hunter Biden and Burisma executives were discussing executing a contract for counter-messaging against any federal investigations into Burisma’s founder and then-president, Mykola Zlochevsky.
“The sequence of events that led to the firing of Viktor Shokin, and the subsequent comments by then-Vice President Biden, raise serious concerns as to what machinations were really at play — and were purposefully concealed from the American people,” Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., who sits on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, told Fox News Digital. “No matter how you slice Hunter Biden’s involvement, it screams public corruption at the highest levels and must be fully investigated.”
“The calm, judicious, steady reveal of incredibly condemning evidence that clearly incriminates the Biden crime family will eventually alarm even the most ardent supporters of this WH occupier,” said Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., also a committee member. “Our President is compromised, he should resign and be forever condemned, and the Democrat Party should begin rebuilding itself.”
From left, Rep. Kelly Armstrong, R-N.D.; President Biden and his son Hunter Biden; and Rep. James Comer, R-Ky. (Fox News)
On Nov. 2, 2015, Burisma executive Vadym Pozharskyi emailed Hunter Biden, who was serving as a Burisma board member, his associates Devon Archer, a fellow board member, and Rosemont Seneca Partners president Eric Schwerin about a “revised proposal, contract and initial invoice for Burisma Holdings,” from lobbying firm Blue Star Strategies, according to emails from Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop, which have been verified by Fox News Digital.
Pozharskyi emphasized in his email that the “ultimate purpose” of the agreement with Blue Star Strategies was to shut down “any cases/pursuits against Nikolay in Ukraine,” referring to Zlochevsky, who also went by Nikolay.
On Nov. 2, 2015, Burisma executive Vadym Pozharskyi emailed Hunter Biden, Devon Archer and Eric Schwerin about a “revised proposal, contract and initial invoice for Burisma Holdings.” (Fox News)
“My only concern is for us to be on the same page re our final goals,” Pozharskyi wrote. “With this in mind, I would like us to formulate a list of deliverables, including, but not limited to: a concrete course of actions, incl. meetings/communications resulting in high-ranking US officials in Ukraine (US Ambassador) and in US publicly or in private communication/comment expressing their ‘positive opinion’ and support of Nikolay/Burisma to the highest level of decision makers here in Ukraine :President of Ukraine, president Chief of staff, Prosecutor General, etc.”
“The scope of work should also include organization of a visit of a number of widely recognized and influential current and/or former US policy-makers to Ukraine in November aiming to conduct meetings with and bring positive signal/message and support on Nikolay’s issue to the Ukrainian top officials above with the ultimate purpose to close down for any cases/pursuits against Nikolay in Ukraine,” Pozharskyi continued.
Upon joining Burisma, Hunter Biden reportedly connected the company with Blue Star Strategies to help the firm fight corruption charges levied against Zlochevsky. The firm reportedly came under federal investigation from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Delaware in 2021 for its lobbying practices. The same office, led by U.S. Attorney David Weiss, is leading the federal investigation into Hunter Biden’s business dealings.
“I would tell Vadym that this is definitely done deliberately to the be on the safe and cautious side and that Sally and company understand the scope and deliverables,” Schwerin wrote to Hunter Biden and Archer the same day, forwarding Pozharskyi’s message. “And that we will be having regular (daily, weekly, monthly) opportunities be in through conference calls or memos to be continually refining and updating the scope.”
Eric Schwerin said the contract was deliberately vague to “be on the safe and cautious side.” (Fox News)
Hunter Biden responded to Pozharskyi, saying he wanted to “have one last conversation” with Blue Star, but later said he was “comfortable” with Blue Star. “You should go ahead and sign,” he wrote on Nov. 5, 2015.
“Looking forward to getting started on this,” Hunter Biden added.
Hunter Biden emailed Vadym Pozharskyi in November 2015. (Fox News)
The email exchange came one month before then Vice President Biden traveled to Ukraine’s capital of Kiev, where he gave a speech about rooting out corruption in politics.
Ahead of the trip, an associate at Blue Star Strategies emailed Blue Star executives, Hunter Biden, Archer and Pozharskyi about a White House conference call that “outlined the trip’s agenda and addressed several questions regarding U.S. policy toward Ukraine.”
Vice President Joe Biden gestures next to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, right, after addressing the Ukrainian Parliament in Kiev on Dec. 8, 2015.(Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images)
During the trip, Biden pressured Ukrainian officials to fire Shokin, the prosecutor investigating Zlochevsky at the time. Shokin was fired less than four months later in March 2016.
