In a post-impeachment trial world, Donald Trump is collecting what he feels is his due, and while the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic and stock market crash this week are top stories, Trump got a massive victory this week with Ukraine giving in and gifting Trump with that investigation into Joe Biden that Trump wanted anyway.
A court ruling in Ukraine has forced state investigators to open a probe into alleged pressure by then-vice president Joe Biden that led to the 2016 dismissal of Viktor Shokin as the country’s prosecutor general, officials said Thursday.
President Trump last year pressed Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky for an investigation of this kind, leading to Trump’s impeachment by the House and his eventual acquittal in a Senate trial.
Shokin’s firing, however, was not a unilateral action directed by Biden. It was prompted by a push for anti-corruption reforms developed at the State Department and coordinated with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
Shokin’s lawyer, Oleksandr Teleshetsky, said the probe was launched in response to a court order, after an appeal for action by Shokin. The State Bureau of Investigations confirmed a case was opened.
Trump and his allies have put intense pressure on Zelensky’s administration to open investigations into Joe Biden, and his son Hunter Biden who sat on the board of a Ukrainian gas company Burisma.
From late 2018 Shokin met with Trump’s personal attorney, Rudolph W. Giuliani, as Giuliani sought political dirt on the Bidens. Shokin has long been angered by what he sees as an unfair dismissal following foreign pressure.
Shokin has claimed he was pushed out by Biden because he tried to launch a probe into Hunter Biden’s role at Burisma. In fact, Ukrainian investigations into Burisma related to the period before Hunter Biden joined the board.
“They need to investigate this. They have no other alternative. They are required to do this by the decision of the court. If they don't, then they violate a whole string of procedural norms,” Teleshetsky said in an interview.
The Post story here by David Stern and Robyn Dixon makes it very clear that there's nothing to actually investigate, but it seems Rudy and his team of fixers got the job done anyway. Trump wanted Zelensky to open a sham investigation of Biden, and it's happening. Expect the ads soon.
Exit question: Do Biden's 2020 Democratic primary campaign rivals jump on this garbage investigation in order to attack Biden?
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