The State Department has recently released a document that reveals Hunter Biden sought assistance from the agency while working for a Ukrainian energy company during his father’s term as Vice President of the United States. This revelation comes after a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request made in 2021 and raises concerns about the Biden administration covering up the family’s foreign business dealings during that time.
The release of this document is significant for several reasons. Firstly, it underscores Republican concerns that the current administration has been trying to hide the extent of Hunter’s work with Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy company that paid him $83,000 per month or $1 million per year. Hunter had no prior experience in the energy sector or Ukraine when he became a board member of the company and sought help from the U.S. government.
Secondly, it highlights the fact that Hunter did not register as a foreign agent for his work with Burisma Holdings. This raises questions about whether his actions were legal and transparent, especially given the potential conflicts of interest between his position on the board of the company and his father’s role in shaping U.S. foreign policy towards Ukraine.
Finally, the State Department held onto this document throughout the impeachment proceedings of former President Donald Trump, who accused the Bidens of wrongdoing with Burisma Holdings. Although the Senate ultimately exonerated Trump, this new information casts doubt on the Democrats’ claims that Trump had engaged in a quid pro-quo to obtain damaging information on the Bidens from Ukraine.
In 2016, Hunter asked the U.S. ambassador to Italy for help regarding Burisma’s troubles securing regulatory approval for a geothermal energy project in Tuscany. The correspondence between Hunter and the Italian businessman was found in the cache of emails discovered on his laptop. However, the State Department has redacted most of these documents, citing privacy concerns, attorney-client privilege, or potential harm to the government’s deliberative process.
Although Joe Biden claimed not to be aware of his son’s request for help in 2016, he bragged that same year about forcing the firing of a Ukrainian prosecutor who was investigating Burisma Holdings for corruption. In 2015, Burisma had been under investigation for money laundering and public corruption, with Viktor Shokin leading the case before his termination – which was due to pressure from then-Vice President Biden, who threatened to withhold $1 billion in U.S. aid if the Ukrainian government did not fire the prosecutor investigating Burisma.
Despite this well-documented work in Ukraine, the Justice Department has not charged Hunter with violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), which requires people to disclose when they lobby the U.S. government on behalf of foreign interests. However, Special Prosecutor David Weiss could still charge him with violating FARA, as his sweetheart plea deal fell apart in recent weeks. This development led Weiss to file separate gun and tax charges in Delaware and California, respectively, with the tax trial set for September.
In a recent tax-related court filing, Weiss stopped short of accusing Hunter of having “improperly coordinated with the Obama administration,” after failing for years to indict him on FARA violations, opting instead to indict the president’s son on alleged tax and gun violations, potential wrongdoing that Republicans claim falls short of justice. The court filings did, however, allege that Hunter accepted $3,101,258 from Romanian partner Gabriel Popoviciu to “influence U.S. government agencies” when Joe Biden served as vice president.