On Friday, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Ruslan Ryaboshapka said he would review 15 cases, some of which involve the gas company Burisma Holdings. Hunter Biden, the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, was a member of the board of the directors of Burma. The Daily Mail noted that Hunter Biden was “reportedly compensated $50,000 a month.”
The New York Times reported that Volodymyr Fesenko, the director of the Penta analytical center, said, “This could go on for a long time. I don’t think the prosecutor is going to be rushing with this. It’s better not to hurry.”
Ryaboshapka said, “We are now reviewing all the cases that were closed or split into several parts or were investigated before, in order to be able to rule to reverse those cases where illegal procedural steps were taken.” He added, “Not a single foreign or Ukrainian official or politician has called me or tried to influence my decisions regarding specific criminal cases.” Ryaboshapka said at the news conference in Kiev that Joe Biden’s name “may be” in the cases he will open but admitted that in his decision to initiate the review of the 15 cases, “the key words were not Biden and not Burisma … The key was those proceedings which were closed or investigated by the previous leadership. In this large number of cases, there may be ones with these two words.”
The Washington Post reported, “Ryaboshapka reiterated Friday that he has seen no evidence of criminal wrongdoing by Hunter Biden. He added that no foreign or Ukrainian official had requested he pursue the ‘audit’ of the cases.” The Post added that Oleksiy Baganetz, a former deputy prosecutor general in Ukraine, said Ryaboshapka’s motivation was to maintain his popularity in Ukraine, saying, “This is a political issue, more than a criminal one.”
On Thursday, President Trump stated of Ukraine, “Well, I would think that if they were honest about it, they’d start a major investigation into the Bidens. It’s a very simple answer. They should investigate the Bidens … Likewise, China should start an investigation into the Bidens because what happened in China is just about as bad as what happened with Ukraine. So, I would say that President Zelensky, if it were me, I would recommend that they start an investigation into the Bidens because nobody has any doubt that they weren’t crooked.”
Trump added, “That was a crooked deal, 100%. He had no knowledge about energy, didn’t know the first thing about it, all of a sudden he’s getting $50,000 a month, plus a lot of other things. Nobody has any doubt. And they got rid of a very tough prosecutor. Now they’re trying to make it the opposite way, but they got rid of him. So if I were the president of Ukriane I would certainly recommend that.”
On Friday, Trump tweeted, “As President I have an obligation to end CORRUPTION, even if that means requesting the help of a foreign country or countries. It is done all the time. This has NOTHING to do with politics or a political campaign against the Bidens. This does have to do with their corruption!”
As President I have an obligation to end CORRUPTION, even if that means requesting the help of a foreign country or countries. It is done all the time. This has NOTHING to do with politics or a political campaign against the Bidens. This does have to do with their corruption!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 4, 2019