On Friday, Daily Wire Editor-at-Large Josh Hammer, who is an attorney by training, joined “Tipping Point With Liz Wheeler” on One America News Network to discuss reporter John Solomon’s recent bombshell revelation that now-infamous Ukrainian energy firm Burisma attempted to leverage employee Hunter Biden’s stature as the son of former Vice President Joe Biden to obtain access to the U.S. State Department toward the end of the Obama presidency.
As reported last week by Erielle Davidson of The Federalist, Solomon obtained emails via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) that “reveal[ed] that Burisma’s consulting firm had … mentioned Hunter Biden when seeking a meeting with the State Department to discuss corruption allegations against the company.” Solomon’s FOIA-uncovered “email from February 2016 specifically cited Hunter Biden’s involvement with Burisma when discussing the possibility of setting up a meeting with Burisma’s consulting firm,” Davidson continued. Here is the full email in which Burisma’s consulting firm was sure to highlight the then-vice president’s son as a prominent employee (emphasis added):
Per our conversation, Karen Tramontano of Blue Star Strategies requested a meeting to discuss with [Under Secretary] Novelli [U.S. Government] remarks alleging Burisma (Ukrainian energy company) of corruption. She noted that two high profile U.S. citizens are affiliated with the company (including Hunter Biden as a board member). Tramontano would like to talk with U/S Novelli about getting a better understanding of how the U.S. came to the determination that the company is corrupt. According to Tramontano, there is no evidence of corruption, has been no hearing or process, and evidence to the contrary has not been considered. Would appreciate any background you may be able to provide on this issue and suggested TPs for U/S Novelli’s meeting.
Furthermore, the February 2016 email was sent merely one month before then-Vice President Biden pressured Ukraine to fire a prosecutor who was investigating Burisma.
Wheeler and Hammer discussed the stakes of the FOIA bombshell. Wheeler began the discussion by asking Hammer whether the FOIA-released email, which clearly demonstrates Burisma attempting to secure high-level U.S. government access via deploying Hunter Biden’s name, reveals exactly what the Bidens have denied transpired. Hammer concurred with Wheeler’s intuition and described the powerful FOIA statutory tool as a “helluva drug.”
FOIA is a hell of a drug. FOIA litigation in the federal courts is oftentimes crazy, just because of what it ends up divulging, and this is no different than that. The timeline here is pretty crazy. It looks like one month before Joe Biden pressured Ukraine to fire this prosecutor who was looking into Burisma — literally one month before that, Burisma was in communication with the U.S. State Department trying to get a meeting. And they were expressly name-dropping Hunter Biden as a reason to get that meeting.
I mean, Liz, the Left wants to talk about foreign interference, foreign governments, foreign corporations, everyone kind of defiling our sovereignty and meddling in our affairs. … Look at what is going on here: A foreign corporation … they’re allowed to lobby, that’s their right, but to do so in this manner, to expressly name-drop in communication with the State Department that the reason they want this meeting is because the vice president at the time’s son is on the board … that is wild. That is a wild, wild revelation.
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