1080 US Embassy pressed Ukraine to drop probe of George Soros group during 2016 election

US Embassy pressed Ukraine to drop probe of George Soros group during
2016 election

Newsletter published on November 21, 2019

(1) Joe diGenova drags George Soros into Ukraine Impeachment circus -
via Victoria Nuland & NGOs
(2) Sondland says Trump sought a 'quid pro quo' with Ukraine, but admits
that Trump never told him so directly
(3) ADL: any attack on George Soros is an attack on Jews
(4) State officials confirm Soros foundation & U.S. embassy jointly
funded the 'Anti-Corruption Action Centre' NGO
(5) Activist U.S. embassy teamed up with George Soros - John Solomon
(6) US Embassy pressed Ukraine to drop probe of George Soros group
during 2016 election
(7) The Ukraine scandal timeline Democrats and their media allies don’t
want America to see

(1) Joe diGenova drags George Soros into Ukraine Impeachment circus -
via Victoria Nuland & NGOs

Joe diGenova: "Soros had a daily opportunity to tell the State
Department through Victoria Nuland what to do in Ukraine"

https://www.mediamatters.org/lou-dobbs/lou-dobbs-guest-joe-digenova-says-george-Soros-controls-large-part-state-department-and

Fox News regular tells Lou Dobbs that George Soros controls a large part
of the State Department and activities of FBI agents

WRITTEN BY MEDIA MATTERS STAFF

PUBLISHED 11/13/19 8:02 PM EST

JOE DIGENOVA: Well, there's no doubt that George Soros controls a very
large part of the career foreign service of the United States State
Department. He also controls the activities of FBI agents overseas who
work for NGOs -- work with NGOs. That was very evident in Ukraine. And
Kent was part of that. He was a very big protector of Soros. His
testimony today showed this type -- kind of stern, sort of discomfort
with not being included in certain discussions. But the truth is, George
Soros had a daily opportunity to tell the State Department through
Victoria Nuland what to do in Ukraine. And he ran it, Soros ran it. He
corrupted FBI officials, he corrupted foreign service officers. And the
bottom line is this: George Soros wants to run Ukraine and he's doing
everything he can to use every lever of the United States government to
make that happen, for business interests, not for good government business.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/11/14/Soros-foundation-requests-banning-joe-digenova-fox-newsfox-business-after-anti-Semitic-rant/

Soros Foundation requests banning of Joe diGenova from Fox News/Fox
Business after anti-Semitic rant

By Erik Wemple

November 14, 2019 at 4:06 PM EST

George Soros’s Open Society Foundations is requesting action from Fox
News/Fox Business after guest commentator Joe diGenova uncorked an
anti-Semitic rant against Soros in a discussion on impeachment. On the
Fox Business program "Lou Dobbs Tonight," diGenova — a frequent guest on
Fox News — said that Soros controlled a "very large" part of the State
Department as well as unspecified FBI agents.

"This is McCarthyite," wrote Open Society Foundations President Patrick
Gaspard in a letter to Fox News chief executive Suzanne Scott. He
requested an on-air retraction and the banning of diGenova from Fox air.

The letter alights on a bitter and ugly history. In October 2018, Chris
Farrell of Judicial Watch suggested on "Lou Dobbs Tonight" that Soros, a
Jewish billionaire philanthropist and Democratic donor, was somehow
responsible for a large migrant caravan approaching the United States
via Mexico. "A lot of these folks also have affiliates or are getting
money from the Soros-occupied State Department and that is a great,
great concern. We need to start cutting money — start cutting money
there." A Fox Business executive was forced to issue an apologetic
statement: "We condemn the rhetoric by the guest on Lou Dobbs Tonight,"
said Gary Schreier, Fox Business Network’s senior vice president of
programming. "This episode was a repeat which has now been pulled from
all future airings." Farrell would no longer appear on Fox Business or
Fox News, the network declared.

Months later, another guest on Fox Business — Rep. Louie Gohmert
(R-Tex.) — smeared Soros, earning a reprimand from host Stuart Varney.
But perhaps the network’s most brazen and conspiratorial attack on Soros
came Wednesday night, when host Lou Dobbs welcomed diGenova and Victoria
Toensing to break down impeachment news. Toensing and diGenova are
longtime Washington attorneys who frequent the program of Fox News host
Sean Hannity and have done their level best to advance the argument that
the real collusion in the 2016 presidential campaign took place between
Democrats and Ukrainians against candidate Donald Trump. To further the
intrigue, Toensing and diGenova have represented John Solomon, a former
employee of the Hill who has written mortally punctured stories on
Ukraine, President Trump, the Bidens and so on. In his discussion with
the pair of conservative lawyers, Dobbs mentioned George Kent, one of
two government officials to testify in Wednesday’s House impeachment
hearing. As deputy assistant secretary for European and Eurasian
Affairs, Kent is the senior State official overseeing Ukraine policy and
has expressed misgivings about Trump’s maneuvers with Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelensky. Dobbs said that Kent had tried to limit an
investigation in Ukraine into an anti-corruption group supported by
Soros. "This is a complicated deal here," said Dobbs.

With that, diGenova was off:

Well, there’s no doubt that George Soros controls a very large part of
the career Foreign Service at the United States State Department. He
also controls the activities of FBI agents overseas who work for NGOs,
work with NGOs. That was very evident in Ukraine. Kent was part of that.
He was a very big protector of Soros. … The truth is George Soros had a
daily opportunity to tell the State Department through Victoria Nuland
what to do in Ukraine. And he ran it, Soros ran it. He corrupted FBI
officials, he corrupted Foreign Service officers. And the bottom line is
this: George Soros wants to run Ukraine and he’s doing everything he
can, to use every lever of the United States government to make that
happen — for business interests, not for good government.

Where did that come from? When asked to elaborate by the Erik Wemple
Blog, diGenova cited the "work of the award winning journalist, John
Solomon," his client and the progenitor of flimsy, tendentious pieces
that bear the veneer of good old-fashioned investigative journalism. In
August, Solomon wrote an article titled "George Soros’s secret 2016
access to State exposes ‘big money’ hypocrisy of Democrats," which cites
emails showing that Soros’s people had contacted then-Assistant
Secretary of State Victoria Nuland about various matters, including the
European Union’s migration policy. In a phone call, Soros told Nuland
that he’d pass along a draft of an essay he was writing on migration for
the New York Review of Books.

Solomon sums up: "Few people in the world could command the attention of
one of America’s busiest, most influential diplomats for a
pre-publication read of a column. Soros apparently was one of those
few." In a 2016 New York Review of Books essay, Soros advocated "surge"
funding to deal with the European refugee crisis. "The refugee crisis
poses an existential threat to Europe. It would be irresponsible to
allow the EU to disintegrate without utilizing all the resources it has
at its disposal," wrote Soros.

In concluding his article, Solomon writes: "Whatever political
persuasion you hold, Soros’s election-year contacts at State speak
volumes about the fact that big-money access to those in power is a
bipartisan phenomenon."

 From that premise, apparently, diGenova decided that Soros controlled
the State Department, or at least a "very large" chunk of it. As Nadine
Epstein writes in a short biography, Soros survived the Nazi occupation
of Hungary — where he was born — and bolted to England in 1947, having
experienced both Nazi and communist rule. Migration and refugee policy
have been animating interests of Soros ever since. His Open Society
Foundations has also funded government accountability efforts worldwide
and has contributed 17 percent ($289,285) of Ukrainian anti-corruption
group AntAC's funding through the end of 2018, according to the Wall
Street Journal. In a CNN interview, Trump’s personal llawyer Rudy
Giuliani, teller of far-fetched Ukrainian tales, said, "George Soros has
a not-for-profit called AntAC."

Biographical facts and the like, though, are scarcely necessary to
diagnose diGenova’s outburst for what it is: Stripped-down
anti-Semitism. Here’s a tweet from Jonathan Greenblatt of the
Anti-Defamation League:

Invoking #Soros as controlling the State Dept, FBI, and Ukraine is
trafficking in some of the worst anti-Semitic tropes. @FoxNews won’t
have Chris Farrell on for making similar remarks, and they should hold
the same standard for @JoeDiGenova. https://t.co/IbCQCdXZfL — Jonathan
Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) November 14, 2019 In his letter to Scott,
Gaspard — in addition to requesting a retraction and diGenova’s banning
— also recommended an apology to the State Department and the FBI. "This
is beyond rhetorical ugliness, beyond fiction, beyond ludicrous," wrote
Gaspard. "It’s patently untrue; it is not even possible. This is
McCarthyite. On behalf of Mr. Soros, founder and chairman of the Open
Society Foundations, which I lead, I ask you what attorney Joseph Welch
asked of Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, in one of the darkest chapters in this
country’s history: "At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"
The Erik Wemple Blog has asked Fox News/Fox Business for a comment and
has not heard back.

(2) Sondland says Trump sought a 'quid pro quo' with Ukraine, but admits
that Trump never told him so directly

https://apnews.com/6486944b076b4df99a583a3a7c85574d

Trump directed Ukraine quid pro quo, key witness says By LISA MASCARO,
MARY CLARE JALONICK and ERIC TUCKER 13 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ambassador Gordon Sondland declared to impeachment
investigators Wednesday that President Donald Trump and his lawyer Rudy
Giuliani explicitly sought a "quid pro quo" with Ukraine, leveraging an
Oval Office visit for political investigations of Democrats. But he also
came to believe the trade involved much more.

Besides the U.S. offer of a coveted meeting at the White House, Sondland
testified it was his understanding the president was holding up nearly
$400 million in military aid, which Ukraine badly need with an
aggressive Russia on its border, in exchange for the country’s
announcement of the investigations.

Sondland conceded that Trump never told him directly the security
assistance was blocked for the probes, a gap in his account that
Republicans and the White House seized on as evidence the president did
nothing wrong. But the ambassador said his dealings with Giuliani, as
well as administration officials, left him with the clear understanding
of what was at stake.

"Was there a ‘quid pro quo?’" Sondland testified in opening remarks.
"With regard to the requested White House call and White House meeting,
the answer is yes." ...

Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union and a major donor to
Trump’s inauguration, was the most highly anticipated witness in the
House’s impeachment inquiry into the 45th president of the United States.

In often-stunning testimony, he painted a picture of a Ukraine pressure
campaign that was prompted by Trump himself, orchestrated by Giuliani
and well-known to other senior officials, including Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo. Sondland said he raised his concerns about a quid pro quo
for military aid with Vice President Mike Pence — a conversation a Pence
adviser vigorously denied.

Pompeo also dismissed Sondland’s account.

However, Sondland said, "Everyone was in the loop. It was no secret." ...

Sondland said that conditions on any potential Ukraine meeting at the
White House started as "generic" but more items were "added to the menu
including -- Burisma and 2016 election meddling." Burisma is the
Ukrainian gas company where Biden’s son Hunter served on the board. And,
he added, "the server," the hacked Democratic computer system.

During questioning in the daylong session, Sondland said he didn’t know
at the time that Burisma was linked to the Bidens but today knows
"exactly what it means." He and other diplomats didn’t want to work with
Giuliani. But he and the others understood that Giuliani "was expressing
the desires of the president of the United States, and we knew that
these investigations were important to the president."

He also came to understand that the military aid hinged on the
investigations, though Trump never told him so directly. ...

Associated Press writers Colleen Long, Laurie Kellman, Zeke Miller,
Matthew Daly and Andrew Taylor in Washington contributed to this report.

(3) ADL: any attack on George Soros is an attack on Jews

From: chris lancenet <chrislancenet@gmail.com> Subject: DiGenova Calls
Out Soros’ Control Over State Department and FBI

https://theduran.com/digenova-calls-out-Soros-control-over-state-department-and-fbi/

DiGenova Calls Out Soros’ Control Over State Department and FBI

Joe DiGenova committed a grievous crime indeed, calling out the
unspeakable "philanthropist" George Soros on Fox News’ Lou Dobbs Show.

by Matthew Ehret

November 20, 2019

The Open Society and Anti-Defamation League have gone ballistic last
week demanding for the unprecedented eternal banning of Joe diGenova
from Fox News… or else.

DiGenova (former Federal Attorney for the District of Columbia)
committed a grievous crime indeed, calling out the unspeakable
"philanthropist" George Soros on Fox News’ Lou Dobbs Show on Nov. 14 as
a force controlling a major portion of the American State Department and
FBI. To be specific, DiGenova stated: "no doubt that George Soros
controls a very large part of the career foreign service of the United
States State Department. He also controls the activities of FBI agents
overseas who work for NGOs — work with NGOs. That was very evident in
Ukraine. And Kent was part of that. He was a very big protector of
Soros." DiGenova was here referencing  State Department head George Kent
who’s testimony is being used to advance President Trump’s impeachment.

Open Society Foundation President Patrick Gaspard denounced Fox
ironically calling them "McCarthyite" before demanding the network
impose total censorship on all condemnation of Soros. Writing to Fox
News’ CEO, Gaspard stated: "I have written to you in the past about the
pattern of false information regarding George Soros that is routinely
blasted over your network. But even by Fox’s standards, last night’s
episode of Lou Dobbs tonight hit a new low… This is beyond rhetorical
ugliness, beyond fiction, beyond ludicrous."

Of course, the ADL and Gaspard won’t let anyone forget that any attack
on George Soros is an attack on Jews the world over, and so it goes that
the ADL President Jonathan Greenblatt jumped into the mud saying
"Invoking Soros as controlling the State Dept, FBI, and Ukraine is
trafficking in some of the worst anti-Semitic tropes." He followed that
up by demanding Fox ban DiGenova saying: "If Mr. DiGenova insists on
spreading anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, there is absolutely no
reason for Fox News to give him an open mic to do so. Mainstream news
networks should never give a platform to those who spread hate."

Even though the MSM including the Washington Post, NY Times and other
rags, not to mention countless Soros-affiliated groups have come out on
the attack, DiGenova’s statements cannot be put back in the bottle, and
their attacks just provoke more people to dig more deeply into the dark
dealings of Soros and the geopolitical masterclass that use this
a-moral, former Nazi speculator as their anti-nation state mercenary.

A Little Background on Soros As has been extensively documented in many
locations, ever since young Soros’ talents were identified as a young
boy working for the Nazis during WWII (a time he describes as the best
and most formative of his life), this young sociopath was recruited to
the managerial class of the empire becoming a disciple of the "Open
Society" post-nation state theories of Karl Popper while a student in
London. He latter became one of the first hedge fund managers with
startup capital provided by Evelyn Rothschild in 1968 and rose in
prominence as a pirate of globalization, assigned at various times to
unleash speculative attacks on nations resisting the world government
agenda pushed by his masters (in some cases even attacking the center of
power- London itself in 1992 which provided an excuse for the London
oligarchs to stay out of the very euro trap that they orchestrated for
other European nations to walk into).

After the Y2K bubble, Soros began devoting larger parts of his resources
to international drug legalization, euthanasia lobbying, color
revolutions and other regime change programs under the guise of "Human
Rights" organizations which have done a remarkable job destroying the
sovereignty of Sudan, Libya, Iraq, and Syria to name a few. Since the
economic crisis of 2008-09 (which his speculation helped create through
unbounded currency and derivatives speculation), Soros has begun to
advocate a new world governance system centred on what has recently been
called the "Green New Deal" which has less to do with saving nature, and
everything to do with depopulation.

So when the ADL, and Open Society attacks someone for being
anti-Semitic, you know that whomever they are attacking are probably
doing something useful.

Matthew Ehret is the founder of the Canadian Patriot Review and Director
of the Rising Tide Foundation. He has authored three volumes of the
Untold History of Canada, and can be reached at matt.ehret@tutamail.com

(4) State officials confirm Soros foundation & U.S. embassy jointly
funded the 'Anti-Corruption Action Centre' NGO

https://www.redstate.com/elizabeth-vaughn/2019/11/13/heres-real-ukrainian-collusion/

Here’s the Real Ukrainian Corruption Story

Posted at 8:30 pm on November 13, 2019 by Elizabeth Vaughn

The Vienna Convention is an "international treaty that defines a
framework for diplomatic relations" between independent countries. The
treaty provides diplomatic immunity for foreigners operating in a host
country. It also establishes a protocol that diplomats living abroad
must adhere to. For example, diplomats are not supposed to interfere in
the internal affairs of their host country. The treaty, signed in 1961,
can be viewed here.

Investigative journalist John Solomon has followed the Russian collusion
and the Ukrainian collusion stories closely and over the past few years,
he has broken one bombshell story after another. Today, he published a
fascinating article about the "activist" tendencies of a fair number of
Americans serving in the U.S. Embassy in Kiev in 2016. It seems that
they somehow missed the memo about the Vienna Convention.

He starts out with Marie Yovanovitch, who testified behind closed doors
several weeks ago before Adam Schiff’s impeachment inquiry panel.
Yovanovitch, a career diplomat, served as the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine
from 2016 until she was recalled in May 2019. During her testimony, she
told lawmakers she’d been stunned by her early recall. Claims by Trump’s
lawyer Rudy Giuliani were false and unfounded, she said. She had never
acted against President Trump’s interests.

In March, Solomon was interviewing a State Department official for
another story when Yovanovitch’s name came up. This diplomat told
Solomon that she had just "caused a commotion in Ukraine a few weeks
before that country’s presidential election by calling for the firing of
one of the prosecutors aligned with the incumbent president." He said
that a senior official from State was on his way to Ukraine to smooth
feathers. The man jokingly said, "We always say that the Vienna
Convention is optional for our Kiev staff."

Solomon looked into it, and found that on March 5, 2019, Yovanovitch had
indeed delivered a speech asking for "Ukraine’s special anticorruption
prosecutor to be removed." The speech can be viewed here. Solomon said
that the country’s media had been "abuzz" over it.

Solomon had spent months investigating the "U.S. government’s
relationship with a Ukraine nonprofit called the AntiCorruption Action
Centre (AntAC), which was jointly funded by liberal megadonor George
Soros’ charity and the State Department." According to Solomon:

State officials confirmed that Soros’ foundation and the U.S. embassy
jointly funded the AntAC, and that Soros’ vocal role in Ukraine as an
anticorruption voice afforded him unique access to the State Department,
including in 2016 to the top official on Ukraine policy, Assistant
Secretary of State Victoria Nuland. (That access was confirmed in
documents later released under FOIA to Citizens United.)

Soros’ representatives separately confirmed to me that the AntAC was the
leading tip of the spear for a strategy Team Soros devised in 2014 to
fight corruption in Ukraine and that might open the door for his
possible business investment of $1 billion. You can read the Ukraine
strategy document here and Soros’ plan to invest $1 billion in Ukraine here.

A little digging turned up a letter written by House Rules Committee
Chairman Pete Sessions in the spring of 2018 to Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo saying that Yovanovitch "had made anti-Trump comments and he
suggested she be recalled." Sessions gave Solomon a copy of his letter.
[...]

It is neither a conspiracy theory nor a debunked or retracted story.
U.S. embassy officials DID apply pressure to try to stop Ukrainian
prosecutors from pursuing certain cases.

The U.S. diplomats saw no problem in their actions, believing that it
served the American interest in combating Ukrainian corruption. The
Ukrainians viewed it far differently as an improper intervention in the
internal affairs of their country.

That controversy is neither contrived, nor trivial, and it predated any
reporting that I conducted. And it remains an issue that will need to be
resolved if the Ukraine and U.S. are to have a more fruitful alliance
moving forward.

(5) Activist U.S. embassy teamed up with George Soros - John Solomon

https://johnsolomonreports.com/the-real-ukraine-controversy-an-activist-u-s-embassy-and-its-adherence-to-the-geneva-convention/

The real Ukraine controversy: an activist U.S. embassy and its adherence
to the Geneva Convention

NOVEMBER 13, 2019ADMIN

The first time I ever heard the name of U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie
Yovanovitch was in early March of this year. It did not come from a
Ukrainian or an ally of President Trump. It came from a career diplomat
I was interviewing on background on a different story.

The diplomat, as I recall, suggested that Yovanovitch had just caused a
commotion in Ukraine a few weeks before that country’s presidential
election by calling for the firing of one of the prosecutors aligned
with the incumbent president.

The diplomat related that a more senior State official, David Hale, was
about  to travel to Ukraine and was prepping to be confronted about
Yovanovitch’s comments. I remember the diplomat joking something to the
effect of, "we always say that the Geneva Convention is optional for our
Kiev staff."

The Geneva Convention is the UN-backed pact enacted during the Cold War
that governs the conduct of foreign diplomats in host countries and
protects them against retribution. But it strictly mandates that foreign
diplomats "have a duty not to interfere in the internal affairs of that
State" that hosts them. You can read the convention’s rules here.

I dutifully checked out my source’s story. And sure as day, Yovanovitch
did give a speech on March 5, 2019 calling for Ukraine’s special
anticorruption prosecutor to be removed. You can read that here.

And the Ukraine media was abuzz that she had done so. And yes, Under
Secretary of State Hale, got peppered with questions upon arriving in
Kiev, specifically about whether Yovanovitch’s comments violated the
international rule that foreign diplomats avoid becoming involved in the
internal affairs and elections of their host country.

Hale dutifully defended Yovanovitch with these careful words. "Well,
Ambassador Yovanovitch represents the President of the United States
here in Ukraine, and America stands behind her statements.  And I don’t
see any value in my own elaboration on what they may or may not have
meant. They meant what she said." You can read his comments here.

Up to that point, I had focused months of reporting on Ukraine on the
U.S. government’s relationship with a Ukraine nonprofit called the
AntiCorruption Action Centre, which was jointly funded by liberal
megadonor George Soros’ charity and the State Department. I even sent a
list of questions to that nonprofit all the way back in October 2018. It
never answered.

Given that Soros spent millions trying to elect Hillary Clinton and
defeat Donald Trump in 2016, I thought it was a legitimate public policy
question to ask whether a State Department that is supposed to be
politically neutral should be in joint business with a partisan figure’s
nonprofit entity.

State officials confirmed that Soros’ foundation and the U.S. embassy
jointly funded the AntiCorruption Action Centre, and that Soros’ vocal
role in Ukraine as an anticorruption voice afforded him unique access to
the State Department, including in 2016 to the top official on Ukraine
policy, Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland. (That access was
confirmed in documents later released under FOIA to Citizens United.)

Soros’ representatives separately confirmed to me that the
Anti-Corruption Action Centre was the leading tip of the spear for a
strategy Team Soros devised in 2014 to fight corruption in Ukraine and
that might open the door for his possible business investment of $1
billion. You can read the Ukraine strategy document here and Soros’ plan
to invest $1 billion in Ukraine here.

After being tipped to the current Yovanovitch furor in Ukraine, I was
alerted to an earlier controversy involving the same U.S. ambassador. It
turns out a senior member of Congress had in spring 2018 wrote a letter
to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo alleging the ambassador had made
anti-Trump comments and suggesting she be recalled. I confirmed the
incident with House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions and got a
copy of his letter, which you can read here. Yovanovitch denies any such
disloyalty to Trump.

Nonetheless, I had a career diplomat and a Republican lawmaker raising
similar concerns. So I turned back to the sources I had developed
starting in 2018 on Ukraine and began to dig further.

I learned that Ukrainian officials, particularly the country’s
prosecutors, viewed Yovanovitch as the embodiment of an activist U.S.
embassy in Kiev that ruffled feathers by meddling in internal law
enforcement cases inside the country.

My sources told me specifically that the U.S. embassy had pressured the
Ukraine prosecutors in 2016 to drop or avoid pursuing several cases,
including one involving the Soros-backed AntiCorruption Action Centre
and two cases involving Ukraine officials who criticized Donald Trump
and his campaign manager Paul Manafort.

To back up their story, my sources provided me a letter then-embassy
official George Kent wrote proving it happened. State officials
authenticated the letter. And Kent recently acknowledged in this
testimony he signed that letter. You can read the letter here.

With the help of a Ukrainian American intermediary and the Ukraine
general prosecutor’s press office, I then secured an interview in
mid-March 2016 with Ukraine’s then top prosecutor, Yuriy Lutsenko. In
the interview that was videotaped and released for the whole world to
see, Lutsenko alleged that in his first meeting in 2016 with
Yovanovitch, the U.S. ambassador conveyed the names of several
Ukrainians she did not want to see investigated and prosecuted. He
called it, colloquially, a "do not prosecute list."

The State Department denied such as list, calling it a fantasy, and I
quoted that fair comment in my original stories. But before I published,
I held the Lutsenko interview for a few days to do more reporting. State
arranged for me to talk to a senior official about the Lutsenko-embassy
relationship.

I provided the names that Lutsenko claimed had been cited by the
embassy. That senior official said he couldn’t speak to what transpired
in the specific meeting between Yovanovitch and Lutsenko. But that
official then provided me this surprising confirmation: "I can confirm
to you that at least some of those names are names that U.S. embassy
Kiev raised with the General Prosecutor because we were concerned about
retribution and unfair treatment of Ukrainians viewed as favorable to
the United States."

In other words, State was confirming its own embassy had engaged in
pressure on Ukrainian prosecutors to drop certain law enforcement cases,
just as Lutsenko and other Ukrainian officials had alleged.

When I asked that State official whether this was kosher with the Geneva
Convention’s prohibition on internal interference, he answered: "Kiev in
recent years has been a bit more activist and autonomous than other
embassies."

More recently, George Kent, the embassy’s charge d’affaires in 2016 and
now a deputy assistant secretary of state, confirmed in impeachment
testimony that he personally signed the April 2016 letter demanding
Ukraine drop the case against the Anti-Corruption Action Centre.

He also testified he was aware of pressure the U.S. embassy also applied
on Ukraine prosecutors to drop investigations against a journalist named
Vitali Shabunin, a parliamentary member named Sergey Leschenko and a
senior law enforcement official named Artem Sytnyk.

Shabunin helped for the AntiCorruption Action Centre that Soros funded,
and Leschenko and Sytnyk were criticized by a Ukrainian court for
interfering in the 2016 US election by improperly releasing or
publicizing secret evidence in an ongoing case against Trump campaign
chairman Paul Manafort.

It’s worth letting Kent’s testimony speak for itself. "As a matter of
conversation that U.S officials had with Ukrainian officials in sharing
our concern about the direction of governance and the approach,
harassment of civil society activists, including Mr. Shabunin, was one
of the issues we raised," Kent testified.

As for Sytnyk, the head of the NABU anticorruption police, Kent addded:
"We warned both Lutsenko and others that efforts to destroy NABU as an
organization, including opening up investigations of Sytnyk, threatened
to unravel a key component of our anti-corruption cooperation."

As the story of the U.S. embassy’s pressure spread, a new controversy
erupted. A Ukrainian news outlet claimed Lutsenko recanted his claim
about the "do-not-prosecute" list. I called Lutsenko and he denied
recanting or even changing his story. He gave me this very detailed
response standing by his statements.

But American officials and news media eager to discredit my reporting
piled on, many quoting the Ukrainian outlet without ever contacting
Lutsenko to see if it was true. One of the American outlets that did
contact Lutsenko, the New York Times, belatedly disclosed today that
Lutsenko told it, like he told me, that he stood by his allegation that
the ambassador had provided him names of people and groups she did not
want to be targeted by prosecutors. You can read that here.

It is neither a conspiracy theory nor a debunked or retracted story.
U.S. embassy officials DID apply pressure to try to stop Ukrainian
prosecutors from pursuing certain cases.

The U.S. diplomats saw no problem in their actions, believing that it
served the American interest in combating Ukrainian corruption. The
Ukrainians viewed it far differently as an improper intervention in the
internal affairs of their country that was forbidden by the Geneva
Convention.

That controversy is neither contrived, nor trivial, and it predated any
reporting that I conducted. And it remains an issue that will need to be
resolved if the Ukraine and U.S. are to have a more fruitful alliance
moving forward.

  (6) US Embassy pressed Ukraine to drop probe of George Soros group
during 2016 election
https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/435906-us-embassy-pressed-ukraine-to-drop-probe-of-george-Soros-group-during-2016

BY JOHN SOLOMON, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 03/26/19 06:00 PM EDT  578

While the 2016 presidential race was raging in America, Ukrainian
prosecutors ran into some unexpectedly strong headwinds as they pursued
an investigation into the activities of a nonprofit in their homeland
known as the Anti-Corruption Action Centre (AntAC).

The focus on AntAC — whose youthful street activists famously wore
"Ukraine F*&k Corruption" T-shirts — was part of a larger probe by
Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office into whether $4.4 million in U.S.
funds to fight corruption inside the former Soviet republic had been
improperly diverted.

The prosecutors soon would learn the resistance they faced was blowing
directly from the U.S. Embassy in Kiev, where the Obama administration
took the rare step of trying to press the Ukrainian government to back
off its investigation of both the U.S. aid and the group.

"The investigation into the Anti-Corruption Action Center (sic), based
on the assistance they have received from us, is similarly misplaced,"
then-embassy Charge d’ Affaires George Kent wrote the prosecutor’s
office in April 2016 in a letter that also argued U.S. officials had no
concerns about how the U.S. aid had been spent.

At the time, the nation’s prosecutor general had just been fired, under
pressure from the United States, and a permanent replacement had not
been named.

A few months later, Yuri Lutsenko, widely regarded as a hero in the West
for spending two years in prison after fighting Russian aggression in
his country, was named prosecutor general and invited to meet new U.S.
Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.

Lutsenko told me he was stunned when the ambassador "gave me a list of
people whom we should not prosecute." The list included a founder of the
AntAC group and two members of Parliament who vocally supported the
group’s anti-corruption reform agenda, according to a source directly
familiar with the meeting.

It turns out the group that Ukrainian law enforcement was probing was
co-funded by the Obama administration and liberal mega-donor George
Soros. And it was collaborating with the FBI agents investigating
then-Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort’s business activities with
pro-Russian figures in Ukraine.

The implied message to Ukraine’s prosecutors was clear: Don’t target
AntAC in the middle of an America presidential election in which Soros
was backing Hillary Clinton to succeed another Soros favorite, Barack
Obama, Ukrainian officials said.

"We ran right into a buzzsaw and we got bloodied," a senior Ukrainian
official told me.

Lutsenko suggested the embassy applied pressure because it did not want
Americans to see who was being funded with its tax dollars. "At the
time, Ms. Ambassador thought our interviews of the Ukrainian citizens,
of the Ukrainian civil servants who were frequent visitors in the U.S.
Embassy, could cast a shadow on that anti-corruption policy," he said.

State officials told me privately they wanted Ukraine prosecutors to
back off AntAC because they feared the investigation was simply
retribution for the group’s high-profile efforts to force
anti-corruption reforms inside Ukraine, some of which took authorities
and prestige from the Prosecutor General’s Office.

But it was an unusual intervention, the officials acknowledged. "We’re
not normally in the business of telling a country’s police force who
they can and can’t pursue, unless it involves an American citizen we
think is wrongly accused," one official said.

In the end, no action was taken against AntAC and it remains thriving
today. Nonetheless, the anecdote is taking on new significance.

First, it conflicts with the State Department’s official statement last
week after Lutsenko first mentioned the do-not-prosecute list. The
embassy responded that the claim was a fabrication and a sign that
corruption is alive and well inside Ukraine.

But Kent’s letter unequivocally shows the embassy did press Ukrainian
prosecutors to back off what normally would be considered an internal
law enforcement matter inside a sovereign country. And more than a
half-dozen U.S. and Ukrainian sources confirmed to me the AntAC case
wasn’t the only one in which American officials exerted pressure on
Ukrainian investigators in 2016.

When I asked State to explain the letter and inclusion of the
Soros-connected names during the meeting, it demurred. "As a general
rule, we don’t read out private diplomatic meetings," it responded.
"Ambassador Yovanovitch represents the President of the United States in
Ukraine, and America stands behind her and her statements."

Second, the AntAC anecdote highlights a little-known fact that the
pursuit of foreign corruption has resulted in an unusual alliance
between the U.S. government and a political mega-donor.

After the Obama Justice Department launched its Kleptocracy Asset
Recovery Initiative a decade ago to prosecute corruption in other
countries, the State Department, Justice Department and FBI outsourced
some of its work in Ukraine to groups funded by Soros.

The Hungarian-American businessman is one of the largest donors to
American liberal causes, a champion of the U.S. kleptocracy crackdown
and a man with extensive business interests in Ukraine.

One key U.S. partner was AntAC, which received 59 percent (or $1
million) of its nearly $1.7 million budget since 2012 from U.S. budgets
tied to State and Justice, and nearly $290,000 from Soros’s
International Renaissance Foundation, according to the group’s donor
disclosure records.

The U.S.-Soros collaboration was visible in Kiev. Several senior
Department of Justice (DOJ) officials and FBI agents appeared in
pictures as participants or attendees at Soros-sponsored events and
conferences.

One attendee was Karen Greenaway, then the FBI supervisor in charge of
international fraud cases and one of the lead agents in the Manafort
investigation in Ukraine. She attended multiple such events and won
glowing praise in a social media post from AntAC’s executive director.

In one event during 2016, Greenaway and Ambassador Yovanovitch
participated alongside AntAC’s executive director, Daria Kaleniuk, and
Lutsenko was present. The message was clear: The embassy supported AntAC.

The FBI confirmed Greenaway’s contacts with the Soros group, saying they
were part of her investigative work: "In furtherance of the FBI’s
mission and in the course of their duties, FBI employees routinely
travel and participated in public forums in an official capacity. At a
minimum, all such travel and speaking engagements are authorized by the
employee’s direct supervisor and can receive further authorization all
the way up to the relevant division head, along with an ethics official
determination."

Greenaway recently retired, and Soros’s AntAC soon after announced she
was joining its supervisory board.

Internal memos from Soros’s umbrella charity organization, Open Society
Foundations, describe a concerted strategy of creating friendships
inside key government agencies such as State, DOJ and the FBI that can
be leveraged inside the countries Soros was targeting for
anti-corruption activism.

"We have broadly recognized the importance of developing supportive
constituencies in order to make headway in tightening the global web of
anti-corruption accountability," a Feb. 21, 2014, memo states. "We first
conceived of this in terms of fostering and helping to build a political
environment favorable to high-level anti-corruption cases."

That same memo shows Soros’s organization wanted to make Ukraine a top
priority, starting in 2014, and planned to use the Anti-Corruption
Action Centre as its lead.

"Ukraine: Behind the scenes advice and support to Ukrainian partner
Anti-Corruption Action Centre’s efforts to generate corruption
litigation in Europe and the U.S. respecting state assets stolen by
senior Ukrainian leaders," the memo states.

The memo included a chart of Ukrainians the Soros team wanted to have
pursued, including some with ties to Manafort.

Senior U.S. law enforcement officials confirmed to me that the early
kleptocracy collaborations inside Ukraine led to highly visible U.S.
actions against the oligarch Dmitri Firtash, a major target of the Soros
group, and Manafort. Firtash is now represented by former Hillary
Clinton lawyer Lanny Davis and former U.S. Attorney Dan Webb.

Documents posted online by Open Society Foundations show that after U.S.
officials scored some early successes in corruption cases in Ukraine,
such as asset forfeitures, AntAC requested to receive some of the seized
money.

"Ukrainian NGO AntiCorruption Action Centre (AntAC) petitioned the
United States Justice Department on behalf of Ukrainian civil society to
dedicate the nearly $3 million in forfeited and seized assets allegedly
laundered by former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko, to
creating an anti-corruption training facility," a 2015 foundation
document stated.

Spokespersons for AntAC and Open Society Foundations did not respond to
repeated requests for comment.

Michael Vachon, a spokesman for Soros, deferred any comment about AntAC
to the group. But he did he confirm his boss supported the continued
investigation of Russia collusion allegations against Trump well past
2016. Vachon said Soros wrote a sizable check from his personal funds in
fall 2017 to a new group, Democracy Integrity Project, started by a
former FBI agent and Senate staffer Daniel Jones to continue
"investigation and research into foreign interference in American
elections and European elections."

Vachon said the group asked Soros not to divulge the size of his
contribution, and Soros later learned the group hired Fusion GPS, the
same firm that was paid by Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic
Party to create the infamous "Steele dossier" alleging Trump-Russia
collusion.

The he said-she said battle playing out between Ukraine’s chief
prosecutor and the American ambassador doesn’t benefit either side, but
an honest, complete and transparent account of what the embassy
communicated to Ukraine’s law enforcement does.

And the tale of AntAC raises some cogent questions:

Why would the U.S. Embassy intervene on a Ukrainian internal
investigation and later deny it exerted such pressure?

Did Soros’s role as a major political funder have any impact?

Do Americans want U.S. tax dollars commingled with activists’ private
funds when it comes to anti-corruption probes? Someone in State and
Congress should try to get the answers.

John Solomon is an award-winning investigative journalist whose work
over the years has exposed U.S. and FBI intelligence failures before the
Sept. 11 attacks, federal scientists’ misuse of foster children and
veterans in drug experiments, and numerous cases of political
corruption. He serves as an investigative columnist and executive vice
president for video at The Hill.

(7) The Ukraine scandal timeline Democrats and their media allies don’t
want America to see
https://johnsolomonreports.com/the-ukraine-scandal-timeline-democrats-and-their-media-allies-dont-want-america-to-see/

The Ukraine scandal timeline Democrats and their media allies don’t want
America to see

NOVEMBER 20, 2019ADMIN

For weeks now, Democratic members of Congress, career State Department
and National Security Council experts and their allies in the media
suggest questions about Joe Biden and a Ukrainian gas company and
Ukraine meddling in the 2016 election were nothing more than debunked
conspiracy theories.

In reality, the facts on both these issues are clearly substantiated.
And as I pointed out last week, many of the witnesses that House
Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff called during the
impeachment proceedings confirmed concerns about both.

Here is a detailed timeline of key events in the Ukraine scandal,
complete with the corroborating evidence. You make your own judgement as
to what happened.

February 2014.

Vice President Joe Biden named by President Obama to be U.S. point man
on Ukrainian crisis after Euromaidan Revolution of Dignity leads to
ouster of Viktor Yanukovych as Ukrainian president.

February 21, 2014

George Soros’ Open Society Foundation publishes anticorruption strategy
for Ukraine identifying the Anti-Corruption Action Centre, a nonprofit
that Soros’ foundation and the U.S. State Department jointly fund, as
the leading edge of the foundation’s strategy for Ukraine.

Validation: https://www.scribd.com/document/403223726/Open-Society-2014-Memo

March 2014

New Ukrainian elections set for May 2014 and Petro Poroshenko emerges as
top Western-friendly candidate for president.

April 13, 2014:

Devon Archer, the business partner of Hunter Biden, son of the VP, and
Christopher Heinz, stepson of Secretary of State John Kerry, is named an
independent director of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings.

Validation:  https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-27403003

April 15, 2014:

Burisma Holdings makes two payments to the Morgan Stanley account of
Devon Archer’s and Hunter Biden’s firm Rosemont Seneca Bohai in the
amounts of $83,333.33 and $29,424.82, according to financial records
obtained by Ukrainian authorities and the FBI.

Validation: Burisma Holdings financial records obtained by Ukraine
Prosecutor General’s Office.
https://www.scribd.com/document/436048670/Burisma-Holdings-Accounting-Ledger

                    FBI records obtained from Rosemont Seneca Bohai:
https://www.scribd.com/document/404001731/Rosemont-Seneca-Partners-Court-File

April 15, 2014:

Devon Archer, Hunter Biden’s partner in Rosemont Seneca Bohai and
Burisma Holdings, checks into White House for meeting with Vice
President Joe Biden, according to the Secret Service’s official WAVES
entry logs for the Obama White House.

April 22, 2014:

VP Joe Biden meets with Ukraine Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and
urges Ukraine to ramp up energy production to free itself from its
Russian natural gas dependence. Biden boasts that "an American team is
currently in the region working with Ukraine and its neighbors to
increase Ukraine’s short-term energy supply." Yatsenyuk welcomes help
from American "investors" in modernizing natural gas supply lines in
Ukraine.

Validation:
https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2014/04/22/remarks-press-vice-president-joe-biden-and-ukrainian-prime-minister-arse

April 24, 2014:

Joe Biden meets with candidate Poroshenko.

Validation:
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2014/04/petro-poroshenko-interview-ukrainian-presidential-candidate-discusses-putin-the-west-and-ukraine.html

April 28, 2014:

Britain’s Serious Fraud Office freezes $23 million in assets kept in
London by Burisma Holdings and its founder, Mykola Zlochevsky, on
grounds it was fraudulently transferred from Ukraine. Zlochevsky and
Burisma deny wrongdoing.

Validation:
https://www.sfo.gov.uk/cases/ukraine-money-laundering-investigation/

May 13, 2014

Hunter Biden announced as a board member for Ukraine’s largest natural
gas company Burisma Holdings, which is run by Mykola Zlochevsky, a
former Cabinet official for ousted president Victor Yanukovych.

Validation:
https://www.cnbc.com/2014/05/13/bidens-son-joins-ukraine-gas-companys-board-of-directors.html

https://Burisma-group.com/hunter-biden-joins-the-team-of-Burisma-holdings/

May 13, 2014

Christopher Heinz, business partner to Devon Archer and Hunter Biden and
stepson to John Kerry, sends email to Secretary of State’s top aides
distancing himself from Archer, Biden appointments to Burisma Holdings
board, according to FOIA released to Citizens United.

Validation:
https://www.scribd.com/document/433436789/CU-v-State-FOIA-Doc-Ukraine

May 15, 2014

Burisma Holdings makes two equal $83,333.33 payments totaling
$166,666.66 to the Morgan Stanley account of Hunter Biden’s and Devon
Archer’s firm Rosemont Seneca Bohai, according to the company’s official
ledger and Rosemont Seneca Bohais bank records obtained by the FBI.
Similar payments are made every month for more than a year.

Validation: Burisma Holdings financial records released by Ukraine
Prosecutor General’s Office:
https://www.scribd.com/document/436048670/Burisma-Holdings-Accounting-Ledger

Rosemont Seneca records seized by FBI:
https://www.scribd.com/document/404001731/Rosemont-Seneca-Partners-Court-File

May 20, 2014

David Leiter, former chief of staff to John Kerry, hired as a lobbyist
for Burisma Holdings, Senate lobbying records show. The firm is paid
$90,000 in 2014 to lobby Congress and the State Department.

Validation:
https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/client_reports.php?id=F212407&year=2014

May 25, 2014

Poroshenko wins the Ukraine presidential election

July 5, 2014:

Burisma Holdings pays $250,000 retainer to Boies Schiller law firm where
board member Hunter Biden also works.

Validation: Burisma Holdings financial records released by Ukraine
Prosecutor General’s Office:
https://www.scribd.com/document/436048670/Burisma-Holdings-Accounting-Ledger

Aug. 20, 2014

Ukraine Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin’s office opens criminal
investigation of Burisma Holdings and Mykola Zlochevsky for alleged
corrupt award of gas exploration permits and eventual looting of
company, according to Ukrainian prosecutor general’s case file.

Sept. 16, 2014

Burisma Holdings makes $33,039.77 payment to Boies Schiller law firm,
according to company records.

Validation: Burisma Holdings accounting ledger obtained by Ukraine
Prosecutor General’s Office
https://www.scribd.com/document/436048670/Burisma-Holdings-Accounting-Ledger

December 16, 2014

Former deputy national security adviser Tony Blinken, a longtime Joe
Biden adviser, confirmed by Senate as Deputy Secretary of State under
John Kerry.

Jan. 18, 2015:

Prosecutor General’s office in Ukraine declares Burisma Holdings founder
Mykola Zlochevsky a fugitive "wanted in Ukraine."

Validation:
https://www.kyivpost.com/article/content/reform-watch/prosecutors-put-zlochevsky-multimillionaire-ex-ecology-minister-on-wanted-list-377719.html

Jan. 29, 2015:

British Serious Fraud Office announces it is closing down investigation
into Burisma and Zlochevsky for insufficient evidence.

Validation:
https://www.sfo.gov.uk/cases/ukraine-money-laundering-investigation/

March 18, 2015

VP Biden has phone call with President Poroshenko.

Validation:
https://ua.usembassy.gov/readout-vice-presidents-call-ukrainian-president-petro-poroshenko-6/

March 30, 2015:

George Soros announces plans to invest $1 billion in Ukrainian energy
and technology sectors.

Validation:
https://money.cnn.com/2015/03/30/investing/ukraine-Soros-billion-russia/index.html

April 15, 2015

VP Joe Biden speaks in Ukraine, praising the decision to appoint a new
head of the NABU, the new Ukrainian law enforcement investigative arm
set up by United States.

March 22, 2015:

Hunter Biden emails his father’s longtime trusted aide, Deputy Secretary
of State Tony Blinken, with the following message: "Have a few minutes
next week to grab a cup of coffee? I know you are impossibly busy, but
would like to get your advice on a couple of things, Best, Hunter."

Blinken responds the same day with an "absolutely" and added, "Look
forward to seeing you."

The records indicate the two men were scheduled to meet the afternoon of
May 27, 2015.

Validation:
https://www.scribd.com/document/436054889/Hunter-Biden-Blinken-May-2015-Contacts

June 11, 2015

Burisma Holdings makes $20,000 donation to the Delaware Community
Foundation in the name of Beau Biden, the vice president’s oldest son
who died of cancer, according to the company’s financial records
released by Ukraine prosecutor general’s office.

Validation:
https://www.scribd.com/document/436048670/Burisma-Holdings-Accounting-Ledger

June 12, 2015

VP Biden calls President Poroshenko.

Validation:
https://ua.usembassy.gov/readout-vice-presidents-call-ukrainian-president-petro-poroshenko-8/

July 15, 2015

VP Biden and Commerce Secretary Pritzker attend first ever US-Ukraine
Chamber of Business meeting.

Validation: https://www.uschamber.com/first-annual-us-ukraine-business-forum

July 22, 2015:

Hunter Biden meets with Deputy Secretary Tony Blinken for lunch at State
Department, according to State Department memos.

Validation: https://www.scribd.com/document/433389212/Biden-Blinken-Meeting

July 24, 2015:

VP Biden calls President Poroshenko, raises concerns about
anti-corruption efforts in Ukraine.

Validation:
https://ua.usembassy.gov/readout-vice-presidents-call-ukrainian-president-petro-poroshenko-10/

Aug. 16, 2015

Devon Archer throws a $10,000 a plate fund-raiser in New York for the
Seed Global Health charity founded by Secretary of State Kerry’s
daughter, Dr. Vanessa Kerry, according to official invite.

Validation:
https://www.scribd.com/document/432522987/Devon-Archer-Fundraiser-Vanessa-Kerry

Aug. 28, 2015

VP Biden calls President Poroshenko

Validation:
https://ua.usembassy.gov/readout-vice-presidents-call-ukrainian-president-petro-poroshenko-082815/

Sept. 25, 2015:

U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt gives speech imploring
Ukrainian prosecutors to do more to bring Burisma’s Zlochevsky to justice.

Validation:
https://www.rferl.org/a/us-ambassador-upbraids-ukraine-over-corruption-efforts/27271294.html

Sept. 29, 2015

VP Biden meets with President Poroshenko in Ukraine.

Validation:
https://ua.usembassy.gov/readout-vice-president-bidens-meeting-ukrainian-president-petro-poroshenko/

Nov. 5, 2015

VP Biden calls President Poroshenko.

Validation:
https://ua.usembassy.gov/readout-vice-president-bidens-call-ukrainian-president-petro-poroshenko-110515/

Nov. 18, 2015

Burisma Holdings makes $60,000 payment to the American legal, lobbying
and communications firm Blue Star Strategies for consulting work,
according to company’s official ledger.

Validation:
https://www.scribd.com/document/436048670/Burisma-Holdings-Accounting-Ledger

Dec. 7, 2015

VP Biden meets with President Poroshenko and demands the president make
"hard decisions" to eliminate "the cancer of corruption" in his country.

Validation:
https://ua.usembassy.gov/remarks-vice-president-joe-biden-ukrainian-president-petro-poroshenko-bilateral-meeting/

Dec. 8, 2015

The New York Times publishes article stating Prosecutor General Shokin’s
office is investigating Burisma Holdings and its founder Zlochecvsky,
and that Hunter Biden’s participation on Burisma board is undercutting
Joe Biden’s anticorruption message in Ukraine. VP Biden office quoted in
story.

Validation:
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/09/world/europe/corruption-ukraine-joe-biden-son-hunter-biden-ties.html

Jan. 21-24, 2016:

Obama White House invites leaders of Ukraine’s general prosecutor office
to Washington for a hastily arranged set of meetings to discuss
anticorruption cases, including Burisma and Party of Regions case
involving Paul Manafort..

Validation:
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/440730-how-the-obama-white-house-engaged-ukraine-to-give-russia-collusion

Feb. 4, 2016

Ukraine general prosecutor’s office under the direction of Viktor Shokin
announces the seizure of assets from Burisma Holdings founder Mykola
Zlochevsky under a continuing criminal investigation. The seizure
occurred on Feb. 2, 2016, according to the announcement.

Validation: https://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/322395.html

Feb. 4, 2016

Burisma board member Hunter Biden sends a Twitter notification to Deputy
Secretary of State Tony Blinken, a longtime adviser to Joe Biden,
indicating he is following Blinken on Twitter.

Validation:
https://www.scribd.com/document/433389211/HunterBidenFollowBlinkenTwitter

Feb. 11, 18, 19, 2016

VP Biden holds series of phone calls with President Poroshenko to check
on status of pending items from their December 2015 meeting.

Validation:
https://ua.usembassy.gov/readout-vice-president-bidens-calls-prime-minister-arseniy-yatsenyuk-president-petro-poroshenko-ukraine-021916/

Feb. 24-March 1, 2016:

An American representative for Burisma Holdings, Karen Tramontano of
Blue Star Strategies, seeks meeting with Undersecretary of State
Catherine A. Novelli to discuss ending the corruption allegations
against the Ukrainian gas firm.  Hunter Biden’s name was specifically
invoked by the Burisma representative as a reason the State Department
should help. "Per our conversation, Karen Tramontano of Blue Star
Strategies requested a meeting to discuss with U/S Novelli USG remarks
alleging Burisma (Ukrainian energy company) of corruption."

Validation:
https://www.scribd.com/document/433389210/Bluestar-Novelli-Contacts

March 2, 2016:

Devon Archer, a business partner of Hunter Biden and fellow American
board member on Burisma Holdings, secures meeting with Secretary of
State John Kerry, State Department memos say.

Validation: https://www.scribd.com/document/433389208/Archer-Meeting-Kerry

March 15, 2016

Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland demands Ukraine "appoint
and confirm a new, clean Prosecutor General, who is committed to
rebuilding the integrity of the PGO, and investigate, indict and
successfully prosecute corruption and asset recovery cases – including
locking up dirty personnel in the PGO itself."

Validation:
https://ua.usembassy.gov/ukrainian-reforms-two-years-maidan-revolution-russian-invasion/

March 22, 2016

VP Joe Biden engages in phone call from Washington DC with Ukrainian
president Poroshenko about U.S. loan guarantees. It is believed in this
call that Biden renews his demands that the president fire Prosecutor
General Shokin, who is overseeing the Burisma prosecution, or risk
losing the next $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees.

Validation:
https://ua.usembassy.gov/readout-vice-president-bidens-call-president-petro-poroshenko-ukraine-032216/

March 29, 2016

Ukraine parliament fires Prosecutor General Shokin at urging of
President Poroshenko.

Validation:
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/30/world/europe/political-stability-in-the-balance-as-ukraine-ousts-top-prosecutor.html

March 29, 2016:

John Buretta, an American lawyer hired by Burisma Holdings, seeks to
contact the Acting Prosecutor General Sevruk seeking a meeting about the
Burisma investigation just hours after his boss, Prosecutor General
Shokin, was fired under pressure from VP Joe Biden, according to email
Buretta’s legal team sent the Ukraine embassy in Washington.

Validation:
https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/463307-solomon-these-once-secret-memos-cast-doubt-on-joe-bidens-ukraine-story

March 30, 2016:

Burisma Holdings’ U.S. legal team seeks help of Ukrainian embassy
official Andrii Telizhenko in Washington seeking urgent meeting with new
Acting Prosecutor General of Ukraine, according to legal team’s email to
embassy.

Validation:
https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/463307-solomon-these-once-secret-memos-cast-doubt-on-joe-bidens-ukraine-story

March 31, 2016

VP Joe Biden arrives in Ukraine and announces $1 billion in loan
guarantees, ending threat to withhold aid and force Ukraine into debt
default, and also delivers $239 million more in promised aid.

Validation:
https://ua.usembassy.gov/readout-vice-president-bidens-meeting-president-petro-poroshenko-ukraine-033116/

April 4, 2016:

George Kent, a senior US official at the American embassy in Ukraine,
writes a letter asking Ukrainian general prosecutor’s office to stand
down their investigation of the Soros-funded group the Anti-Corruption
Action Centre.

Validation: https://www.scribd.com/document/402559592/Embassy2GPLetter4-4-16

April 6, 2016

Burisma Holdings’ U.S. legal team of John Buretta, Sally Painter and
Karen Tramontano meets with Ukraine’s Acting Prosecutor General Sevruk
to seek resolution of Burisma criminal investigation. American lawyers
apologize for "false information" spread by U.S. government to force the
firing of Shokin and offer Prosecutor General’s office an olive branch
of arranging a meeting in Washington to clear the air.

Validation: Official Prosecutor General’s memo of meeting:
https://www.scribd.com/document/427618143/Ukraine-PGO-Memo-Untranslated

                    English translation:
https://www.scribd.com/document/427616178/Ukraine-PGO-Memo-Translation

April 14, 2016

VP Biden calls President Poroshenko and "stressed the urgency of putting
in place a new Prosecutor General who would bolster the agency’s
anti-corruption efforts.

Validation:
https://ua.usembassy.gov/readout-vice-president-bidens-call-president-petro-poroshenko-ukraine-041416/

May 4, 2016:

DNC contractor Alexandra Chalupa writes email to bosses at party
headquarters derailing her work to get dirt on Trump and Manafort from
Ukraine.

Validation: https://wikileaks.org/dnc-emails/emailid/3962

May 12, 2016

Yurii Lutsenko named the new Prosecutor General of Ukraine, taking over
investigations that include Burisma Holdings. VP Joe Biden later praises
Lutsenko as a "solid guy" during 2018 speech at Atlantic Counsel.

Validation: :
https://www.cfr.org/event/foreign-affairs-issue-launch-former-vice-president-joe-biden

May 25, 2016:

Senior George Soros adviser provides private briefing to Assistant
Secretary of State Victoria Nuland about Russian bond market, according
to official State Department memo of briefing.

Validation:
https://www.scribd.com/document/421082234/SorosNulandRussia-Bond-Market

May 27, 2016

VP Biden holds phone call with President Poroshenko.

Validation:
https://ua.usembassy.gov/readout-vice-president-bidens-call-president-petro-poroshenko-ukraine-052716/

June 1, 2016:

George Soros seeks and receives a telephonic meeting with Assistant
Secretary of State Victoria Nuland to discuss Ukraine, according to the
official State Department record of call

Validation:
https://www.scribd.com/document/421081817/SorosNulandJune1-2016-Contacts-Ukraine

Aug. 4, 2016:

Ukraine’s ambassador to Washington, Valeriy Chaly, takes extraordinary
step of writing an OpEd in The Hill intervening in the US presidential
election, slamming Trump’s policies and comments on Russia.

Validation:
https://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/international/290411-ukraines-ambassador-trumps-comments-send-wrong-message-to

Aug. 12, 2016

Phone call between VP Biden and President Poroshenko

Sept. 20, 2016

VP Biden meets President Poroshenko on sidelines of UN meeting. Confirms
$1 billion in loan guarantees has been made.

Validation:
https://ua.usembassy.gov/readout-vice-president-bidens-meeting-president-petro-poroshenko-ukraine/

Nov. 8, 2016

Donald Trump wins election to become 45th president of United States,
ending eight years of Democratic control of the White House.

Dec. 15, 2016

VP Biden holds phone call with Ukraine president and prime minister,
praises work of NABU.

Validation:
https://ua.usembassy.gov/readout-vice-president-bidens-calls-president-ukraine-petro-poroshenko-prime-minister-ukraine-volodymyr-groysman/

Jan. 11, 2017:

Politico reports possible effort by DNC contractor Alexandra Chalupa to
seek Russia dirt on Trump and Manafort from Ukraine embassy in
Washington during 2016 election.

Validation:
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/ukraine-sabotage-trump-backfire-233446

Jan. 17-18, 2017

Biden makes final appearance in Ukraine with President Poroshenko.

Validation:
https://ua.usembassy.gov/remarks-vice-president-joe-biden-joint-press-availability-ukrainian-president-petro-poroshenko/

February 1, 2017:

John Buretta, the American lawyer for Burisma Holdings, gives interview
in Kiev confirming there were criminal cases open in 2016 in Ukraine but
all have been settled, the last with a penalty for tax violations.

Validation:
https://www.kyivpost.com/business-wire/john-buretta-us-important-close-casesagainst-Burisma-nikolayzlochevskyiin-legally-sound-manner.html

Jan. 25, 2018

Former VP Biden boasts at Council of Foreign Relations events in
Washington that he strong-armed Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko
into firing Prosecutor General Shokin, using loan guarantees as
leverage. He also calls Shokin’s replacement, Yuriy Lutsenko, "solid."

Validation:
https://www.cfr.org/event/foreign-affairs-issue-launch-former-vice-president-joe-biden

May 9, 2018

House Rules Committee chairman Pete Sessions writes letter to Secretary
of State Mike Pompeo demanding removal of US Ambassador to Kiev Marie
Yovanovitch.

Validation:
https://www.scribd.com/document/402558867/Sessions-Pompeo-correspondence-2018

December 12, 2018:

Ukrainian court rules that the efforts by Ukrainian parliamentary member
Sergey Leschenko and NABU chief Artem Sytnyk to publicize the Manafort
black ledger documents in 2016 were an improper foreign intervention in
the American presidential election.

Validation:
https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/publication-of-manafort-payments-violated-law-interfered-in-us-election-kyiv-court-rules.html

Feb. 10, 2019

NABU revives dormant Burisma case, drafting a notice of suspicion
against founder Mykola Zlochevsky and asking the special anticorruption
prosecutor of Ukraine to bring Zlochevsky in for questioning.

Validation:
https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/nabu-prepares-draft-notice-of-suspicion-on-episode-involving-ex-minister-zlochevsky.html

March 28, 2019

Ukraine General Prosecutor’s office under the authority of Deputy
Prosecutor General Kulyk announces it has opened a new money laundering
investigation against Burisma founder Zlochevsky.

Validation:
https://www.scribd.com/document/429942801/March282019NoticeofSuspicionZolchevskyBurisma

May 2, 2019:

Ukraine embassy in Washington issues statement confirming that in spring
2016 the DNC contractor Alexandra Chalupa sought the embassy’s help
seeking dirt on Donald Trump and Paul Manafort and asking for Ukraine’s
president to meet with an investigative reporter working on the issue.

Validation:
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/441892-ukrainian-embassy-confirms-dnc-contractor-solicited-trump-dirt-in-2016

Text of statement:
https://www.scribd.com/document/432699412/Ukraine-Chaly-Statement-on-Chalupa-042519

May 16, 2019:

Artem Sytnyk, head of Ukraine’s National Anticorruption Bureau (NABU),
confirms investigations remain open against Burisma and its founder
Zlochevsky.

Validation:
https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/sytnyk-nabu-has-not-closed-cases-related-to-zlochevsky.html

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