Ukraine: No Wrong-Doing by Biden's Son 09/23 06:12

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- In 2014, then-Vice President Joe Biden was at the 
forefront of American diplomatic efforts to support Ukraine's fragile 
democratic government as it sought to fend off Russian aggression and root out 
corruption. So it raised eyebrows when Biden's son Hunter was hired by a 
Ukrainian gas company.

   The Obama White House said at the time that there was no conflict because 
the younger Biden was a private citizen. And there's been no evidence of 
wrongdoing by either Biden.

   Yet the matter is back in the spotlight following revelations that President 
Donald Trump prodded Ukraine's president to help him investigate any corruption 
related to Joe Biden, now one of the top Democrats seeking to defeat Trump in 
2020. Trump's private lawyer Rudy Giuliani has also publicly urged Ukrainian 
officials to investigate the Bidens.

   Hunter Biden was named a paid board member of Burisma Holdings in April 
2014. The company's founder was a political ally of Viktor Yanukovych, 
Ukraine's Russia-friendly president, who was driven out in February 2014 by 
mass protests.

   Yanukovych's ouster prompted the Obama administration to move quickly to 
deepen ties with Ukraine's new government. Joe Biden played a leading role, 
traveling to Ukraine and speaking frequently with its new Western-friendly 
president.

   The younger Biden's business role raised concerns among anticorruption 
advocates that Burisma was seeking to gain influence with the Obama 
administration. At the time, the company ran a natural gas extraction operation 
in Crimea, a Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Russia after Yanukovych was pushed 
from power.

   Hunter Biden has denied using his influence with his father to aid Burisma. 
He remained on the board through early 2019, often appearing at energy-related 
conferences abroad representing Burisma's interests.

   On Saturday, the former vice president said he never speaks to his son about 
his overseas business dealings.

   The matter, however, has continued to be questioned by Trump and his allies. 
They've pointed in particular to Biden's move in March 2016 to pressure the 
Ukrainian government to fire its top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, who had 
previously led an investigation into Burisma's owner.

   Biden's was representing the official position of the U.S. government, a 
position that was also supported by other Western governments and many in 
Ukraine, who accused Shokin of being soft on corruption.

   Corruption has continued to fester in Ukraine. In May, the country's new 
president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, came into office with no political experience 
but with bold promises to put an end to the corrupt practices.

   Around this time, Giuliani began reaching out to Zelenskiy and his aides to 
press for a government investigation into Burisma and Hunter Biden's role with 
the company.

   In a Fox News interview on May 19, Trump claimed the former Ukrainian 
prosecutor "was after" Joe Biden's son and that was why the former vice 
president demanded he be fired. There is no evidence of this.

   Ukraine's current prosecutor, Yuriy Lutsenko, was quoted by Bloomberg News 
in May as saying he had no evidence of wrongdoing by Biden or his son. 
Bloomberg also reported that the investigation into Burisma was dormant at the 
time Biden pressed for Shokhin's ouster.


(KR)