Good morning,
Obama officials have provided conflicting accounts on a January 2017 Oval Office meeting in which the Flynn case was discussed.
The discrepancies raise new questions about the extent of President Barack Obama’s involvement in the investigation of the Trump campaign.
Good morning,
Obama officials have provided conflicting accounts on a January 2017 Oval Office meeting in which the Flynn case was discussed.
The discrepancies raise new questions about the extent of President Barack Obama’s involvement in the investigation of the Trump campaign.
Joe Biden Ukraine Scandal Exploding
Half a year after the failed attempt to impeach President Trump over his “pressure” on Ukraine, a topic of the relationship between the U.S. and Ukraine will be yet again getting close attention and presumably making it hot and sweaty in the Delaware basement.
A reason for that is a political scandal that burst out in Kiev on May 19, when a member of Ukrainian Parliament Andrey Derkach called a press conference where he released audio records of the phone calls between “individuals whose voices sound like” those of ex-President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and Vice President Joseph Biden, as well as Secretary of State John Kerry who discussed the course of Ukrainian domestic policy in very precise detail. On that tapes, Joe Biden factually tells Poroshenko what to do, and Poroshenko seeking advice, cooperates his actions and frankly reassures Biden that all his orders will be executed. Mr. Derkach said that the contents of those records are sufficient to incriminate Poroshenko a treason. As for our side of the pond, the tables are rapidly turning against Biden, who, so far, “magically” shrugged off all corruption accusations.
Yours truly, as a native Russian and Ukrainian speaker, was thrilled to listen to every single word that was said on that press conference.
The central topic of the conversations on the highest level was a figure of Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, whom American counterparts insisted to be removed from the Office as a key precondition of landing Ukraine $1 billion that it strove to receive from IMF to keep its collapsing economy afloat.
The first conversation between Poroshenko and Kerry took place on December 3, 2015. During that initial call, Kerry told Poroshenko that “Vice President Biden would like you to consider a possibility to replace General Prosecutor Viktor Shokin … Vice President is concerned about it.” Kerry urged Poroshenko to resolve this “issue” by the Biden’s visit to Ukraine.
On February 18, 2016 Poroshenko gave Biden “good news”: “Yesterday I met with General Prosecutor Shokin, and despite of the fact that we didn’t have any corruption charges, we don’t have any information about him doing something wrong, I specially asked him … to resign... And despite of the fact that he has a support in the Parliament. And as a finish of my meeting with him, he promised to give me the statement on resignation. And one hour ago he bring me the written statement of his resignation. And this is my second step for keeping my promises.” “Great!” – exclaims Biden. Thus, there was nothing wrong with Shokin, according to Poroshenko, but one billion dollars outweighed it for the corrupt Ukrainian President.
Interestingly, that is not even the news since Biden himself bragged about his influence on Ukraine at the Foreign Affair Issue Launch on January 23, 2018: “I was supposed to announce that there was another billion-dollar loan guarantee. And I had gotten a commitment from Poroshenko and from Yatsenyuk [Prime Minister of Ukraine] that they would take action against the state prosecutor. And they didn't…I said, you're not getting the billion. I'm going to be leaving here in, I think it was about six hours. I looked at them and said: I'm leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you're not getting the money. Well, son of a bitch. He got fired.”
Yes, Viktor Shokin was fired, but Biden made more demands from Poroshenko on March 22, 2016: “Tell me that there is a new government and a new Prosecutor General. I am prepared to do a public signing of the commitment for the billion dollars.” “Extremely strong motivation!” – replied Poroshenko eagerly.
On May 13, 2016, Biden congratulated Poroshenko on “getting the new Prosecutor General,” saying that it will be “critical for him to work quickly to repair the damage Shokin did,” than added “And I’m a man of my word, and now that the new Prosecutor General is in place, we’re ready to move forward to signing that one billion dollar loan guarantee.” Poroshenko remarked that he asked a newly appointed Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko to contact U.S. Embassy, and emphasized that he “would be very pleased if he [Lutsenko] had a certain person either from Washington, whatever… We have here, I don’t remember his name, an American prosecutor of the Ukrainian origin. He’s a little old. I sent Geoffrey [Pyatt, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine] his name. He was ready to be an assistant and advisor [to Lutsenko]… and be a person of trust.” In other words, an American with the advisory functions to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General who would make sure nobody looks into Burisma anymore. And such person was found – it was ex-U.S. federal prosecutor Bohdan Vitvitsky. Joe Biden, meantime, got what he wanted. The major part of the Burisma investigation was closed, and the remaining part was sent to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine that was directly tied to the U.S. Embassy in Kiev and instead of investigating corruption leaked to them confidential information on Viktor Shokin and his family.
In the course of the press conference, Mr. Derkach described Biden’s motive in firing Shokin. He noted that Prosecutor General’s office had started investigating Burisma Holding in fall of 2015. It was known that Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, joined its board in April 2014, at a time when Burisma was engulfed in corruption investigation woes, and at a time when his father was leading the Obama administration’s effort to curb Ukraine’s endemic corruption. In fall of 2015, Ukraine got evidence on large financial tranches that were laundered by the Burisma and then wired to a company called Rosemont Seneca Bohai LLC between April 2014 and November 2015. Specifically, the records show 18 months in which two payments of $83,333 per month were paid to Rosemont Seneca Bohai for “consulting services,” and then sent to the American Bank Morgan Stanley. “Letting Shokin dig it all up would mean a political suicide for Biden,” – concluded Mr. Derkach.
The second part of the press conference was dedicated to the “external governance” of Ukraine by the U.S., in which Mr. Derkach presented the records of Biden advising Poroshenko how to deal with the parliamentary crisis in Ukraine that would hinder all necessary reforms. Among the methods that Biden explicitly instructs Poroshenko to use are personal appointments and removals, and where and how to find legal loopholes.
The final part of the press conference was led by the Ukrainian ex-prosecutor Konstantin Kulik, who investigated the crimes of the Yanukovych regime in 2016-2019. He detailed corruption actions of the former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovich, the U.S. charge d’Affaires in Ukraine George Kent and FBI Special Representative for Eastern Europe Keren Greenway who blocked the return of funds stolen by the Yanukovych regime to Ukraine in the amount of the country’s annual budget (about $45 billion). According to Mr. Kulik, they “placed fulfillment of orders of representatives of the U.S. Democratic Party over the interests of justice.” “In 2018, it became clear that Biden, Jovanovic, Kent and Greenway are doing everything to block the investigation of Zlochevsky [the Burisma founder] and other persons of the Yanukovych regime and are doing this in coordination with the environment of Poroshenko. Without an investigation of their activities, there is no chance to continue confiscating assets for 40 billion dollars,” he stressed.
All of the records of the hours-long conversations between the top U.S. and Ukrainian officials are now being officially sent to the U.S. government, according to Mr. Derkach. If even a part of the “Derakch tapes” turns out to be true, the Democratic ambitions would be buried for good for at least a couple of the upcoming political cycles.
Photo credit: Gage Skidmore
Veronika Kyrylenko is a Ph.D. from Odessa National University (Odessa, Ukraine), Research Associate at GeoStrategic Analysis. @KyrylenkoN on Twitter
Senate Committee Authorizes Subpoena in Hunter Biden-Burisma Investigation
3:41
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted to authorize a subpoena related to the GOP investigation into Hunter Biden and Burisma Holdings on Wednesday.
Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson opened a vote to subpoena Blue Star Strategies, which is accused of trying to influence State Department policies. The consulting firm worked with Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma Holdings while Hunter Biden was still on the board.
The vote, originally intended to take place last week, was postponed for one week “out of an abundance of caution, and to allow time for [committee members] to receive additional briefings.” Despite initial resistance to the idea, Utah Senator Mitt Romney joined fellow committee members in a unanimous vote in favor of the subpoena.
Blue Star Strategies CEO Karen Tramontano sent a letter to Johnson ahead of the vote, asserting their history of cooperation and questioning the need for a subpoena after the firm has already volunteered for an interview. Tramontano also reminded Johnson that the firm has already provided documents related to “meetings with the U.S. government regarding Burisma.”
“At every opportunity we have indicated to the committee that it is our intention to cooperate. At no time have we ever stated or indicated in any way that we would not cooperate,” Tramontano wrote. “Therefore, we are puzzled, despite our willingness to cooperate, why the committee is proceeding to vote on a subpoena.”
Democrats have pushed back against the investigation, suggesting that its motives are purely political. Johnson, however, disagrees. “This subpoena furthers the committee’s work to address the many unanswered questions about this effort and potential conflicts of interest,” Johnson spokesman Austin Altenburg said. “It is unclear why anyone would want to help Blue Star Strategies continue to hide what happened here.”
On Tuesday, California Senator Kamala Harris called out Republican lawmakers for neglecting pandemic business in favor of pursuing the investigation:
Rather than prioritize providing important oversight that will protect Americans from the unprecedented threat posed by this pandemic, you have continued to pursue partisan political matters – such as the markup scheduled for this Wednesday on the issuance of a subpoena – that do nothing to help the millions of constituents that we serve. This is a clear abdication of responsibility.
Hunter Biden and his father, former vice president and de facto Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden, stand accused of shady dealings with Burisma Holdings and deliberate manipulation of foreign policy for profit. As previously reported:
In 2014, Burisma appointed Hunter Biden, the youngest son of former Vice President Joe Biden, to its board of directors. The board appointment coincided with the elder Biden serving as the Obama administration’s point person for Ukraine, and as Burisma’s chief executive officer stood accused of money laundering. Hunter was paid $83,000 per month to serve on the board, despite his lack of expertise in the oil and gas industry.
President Donald Trump has vowed not to let the issue go. “That will be a major issue in the campaign. I will bring that up all the time because I don’t see any way out. I don’t see any way for them — I don’t see how they can answer those questions. And maybe they can. I hope they can,” the president told host Sean Hannity. “I’d actually prefer it that they can. But I don’t believe they’ll be able to answer those questions. That was purely corrupt.”
Obama’s De Facto Russian Collusion Co-Conspirators
The release of both the sworn testimony of those involved in creating and disseminating the Russia collusion hoax and the documentation outlining how General Flynn was framed has confirmed that President Obama was fully involved in and aware of the treasonous effort to use the power of government to undermine the Trump campaign, marginalize the Trump presidency, and destroy General Flynn.
The most astounding aspect of this entire sorry spectacle is that in a nation with a 244-year history of constitutional republicanism and a free press, a President and his confederates felt so emboldened that they orchestrated what amounts to an attempted coup in what is undoubtedly the greatest political scandal in American history.
So certain were the Obama collaborators they would not only succeed in emasculating President Trump, but they would never be held accountable that one of the prime collaborators, James Clapper, Obama’s Director of National Intelligence, unabashedly revealed to Anderson Cooper of CNN in July of 2018 the following (which was completely ignored and buried by the mainstream media):
If it weren’t for President Obama, we might not have done the intelligence community assessment that we did that set up a whole sequence of events which are still unfolding today, including Special Counsel (Robert) Mueller’s investigation. President Obama is responsible for that. It was he who tasked us to do that intelligence community assessment in the first place.
Reading between the lines, Obama not only ordered the review but would have been fully aware of the use of the Steele Dossier. A totally fabricated document which was the pretext and sole basis of the intelligence assessment, FISA applications and the justification for the Mueller investigation.
President Obama, as he has done throughout his political career, tacitly encouraged his aides and minions to leak to their accomplices in the media any negative, and oftentimes fabricated, whispers about his political rivals. The Obama Administration holdovers in the new Trump Administration, having been steeped in this duplicity, would also be part of the grand strategy of marginalizing President Trump utilizing an incessant drumbeat of fabricated leaks about Russia, collusion, and Trump’s supposed ineptitude in order to frame public opinion and intimidate the Republicans in Congress.
During the entirety of the Obama presidency, the Republicans and the mainstream media never held him to account for any scandals that presaged the Russia collusion imbroglio. These include the Fast and Furious cover-up, the use of government agencies to spy on various reporters and news outlets, illegally hacking into the computers in the Senate in order to snoop on and intimidate various senators, and the IRS targeting of conservative organizations in order to undermine their voice in elections.
Obama Administration Cabinet, July 2012
Official White House photo by Chuck Kennedy
The egregious, overt and illegal attempt to obliterate Donald Trump and subvert the Constitution was conceived and put into motion by President Obama and his fellow perpetrators because they felt certain that a feckless Republican Party would never fully probe Obama’s motives or actions. Additionally, Obama was confident a sycophantic mainstream media would never seriously investigate a conspiracy initiated by him, whom they idolized, and they would, in fact, abet the plot to destroy Donald Trump, whom they loathed.
Since 1989 and the election of George H.W. Bush, a majority of Republicans elected to national office have chosen to worship the twin gods of civility and compromise rather than vigorously defend and promote liberty, free enterprise and limited government. Meanwhile, their political adversaries, the Democratic Party and the Left (now one and the same) had no such compunctions, as they were determined to achieve their ends regardless of the means.
In conjunction with their accomplices in the mainstream media, Democrats quickly ascertained that any outrageous accusation on their part, such as that Republicans are determined to starve children, would eventuate in the near complete surrender of any opposition to their proposed policies. Further, rather than support their colleagues in the Party who were oftentimes the victims of specious and malicious accusations, the spineless elites in the Republican Party willingly sacrificed their members on the altar of civility and faux integrity.
On the other hand, in an effort to show a willingness to “compromise” when in control of either or both Houses of Congress, the Republicans inevitably slow-walked or initiated cursory investigations of any Democrat wrongdoing.
The recently released sworn testimony of Obama’s collaborators, wherein to a person they admit there was no Russian collusion, took place when the Republicans controlled the House of Representatives. Yet, with this testimony in-hand, Speaker Paul Ryan and Chairman Trey Gowdy publicly proclaimed the FBI and various intelligence agencies did nothing wrong and refused any request by other Republicans on the investigative committees to issue subpoenas to further expose the conspiracy. Both men also remained steadfast in their support of Robert Mueller and his probe despite the sworn testimony of the Obama co-conspirators.
In the Republican controlled Senate, the Intelligence Committee under the Chairmanship of Richard Burr essentially exonerated the intelligence community of any wrongdoing by solely focusing on the question of whether Russia attempted to interfere in the 2016 election in order to assist the Trump campaign and ignoring mountains of evidence that the various intelligence agencies were determined to spy on and undermine the Trump campaign.
The failure to pursue a thorough and complete investigation to publicly expose the truth allowed the Mueller probe to extend beyond Election Day 2018, costing the Republicans the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi being installed as Speaker, the Ukraine impeachment fiasco, and never-ending investigations of President Trump and his Administration.
Because of Republican fecklessness nearly 53% of all Americans and 77% of Democrats as of April 2020 still believe the Steele Dossier proved that there was collusion between the Russians and the Trump campaign. Barack Obama and his henchmen’s faith in the spinelessness of the Republicans in Congress was well placed.
Complicit in skullduggery were the adoring minions in the mainstream media. Not only were they in the thrall of Obama, but as Donald Trump repeatedly singled them out for their bias and penchant for misreporting during the campaign, they were determined to flex their influence and join in the Obama attempt to destroy him as they breathlessly waited for any leak from their “trusted” sources. Any story or leak no matter how salacious or false or unproven was banner headlines and fodder for endless cable news coverage.
The obviously inane accusation that Donald Trump was a traitor and beholden to Vladimir Putin was quickly seized upon without any question or justification.
In a little over three years, the Washington Post published nearly 24,000 stories about Trump, Russia and collusion. The New York Times published over 18,000 stories. CNN on its website published 11,500 stories. The wire service Associated Press, which supplies over 1300 local newspapers and broadcasters with news articles, published nearly 12,500 stories. All told there were probably more than 100,000 stories published in the media, over 90% of which were anti-Trump with virtually no criticism or disclosure of the Obama Administration and their machinations.
Among CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, PBS and NBC, it is estimated that over 20,000 broadcast hours were spent on the Russian collusion narrative again virtually all anti-Trump as many of the Obama collaborators were retained as contributors on these networks. Barack Obama’s faith in the cooperation of the mainstream media was also well placed.
Standing athwart this onslaught was President Trump, his Twitter account, impartial investigative bloggers, conservative leaning websites, talk radio, a handful of tenacious Republican members of the House and the opinion hosts on Fox News.
Without Donald Trump’s resolve and tenacity, along with the determination of his small cadre of stalwart allies, the Obama coup attempt might well have succeeded in so marginalizing the Trump presidency that he would have been abandoned by the Republicans in Congress and, in all likelihood, been forced to resign. No other Republican president since Abraham Lincoln, with the possible exception of Ronald Reagan, would have been able to survive and turn the tables on his tormentors.
Nonetheless, Barack Obama and his henchmen would not have been emboldened in their machinations to undermine an election and then overthrow a presidency if it were not for the fecklessness of the Republican Party and the blind eye as well as the overt support of the mainstream media. His de facto co-conspirators.
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