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Posted by:\u00a0Pat Droney<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n This editorial is brought to you by a former Chief of Police and current staff writer for Law Enforcement Today.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n WASHINGTON, DC-\u00a0<\/strong>Well, this is poor timing for old lunch bucket Joe Biden. On Wednesday, Senate Republicans released a report which detailed troubling foreign business dealings by Biden\u2019s son, Hunter, while Biden was in charge of the Obama administration\u2019s foreign policy. Likewise, the report eviscerated claims by Democrats of Russian disinformation.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Washington Examiner says<\/a><\/em>\u00a0that the 87-page report issued jointly by the Republican-led Homeland Security and Finance Committees, titled\u00a0Hunter Biden, Burisma, and Corruption: The Impact on U.S. Government Policy and Related Concerns<\/em>\u00a0was slammed even prior to its release by Democrats, who claimed the timing of the report\u2019s release was intended to harm Biden, while claiming it was a product of Russian disinformation.<\/p>\n National Review reported<\/a><\/em>\u00a0that the committees and their staff had reviewed over 45,000 pages of Obama administration records, and interviewed eight witnesses, many who were either current or former U.S. officials.<\/p>\n The report was the result of a joint investigation by Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa.<\/p>\n The report focuses on Joe Biden\u2019s role in developing the Obama administration\u2019s Ukraine policy even while Hunter Biden had received a lucrative position as a member of the board of Burisma Holdings, which was believed to be a corrupt Ukrainian oil company.<\/p>\n The company, run by Ukrainian oligarch Mykola Zlochevsky and Hunter Biden\u2019s role in it did, according to Republicans \u201ccreate an immediate potential conflict of interest that would prove to be problematic for both U.S. and Ukrainian officials and would affect the implementation of Ukraine policy.\u201d<\/p>\n That issue was raised by President Trump during the president\u2019s controversial phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which of course led to the infamous so-called \u201cwhistleblower\u201d complaint that resulted in the impeachment of President Trump. He of course was acquitted by the senate.<\/p>\n Aside from Burisma, Johnson and Grassley also explored other business dealings involving Hunter Biden, his business partner Devon Archer, as well as other members of the Biden family, and also included other business dealings tied to both Russia and China.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a good-government oversight investigation that relies on documents and testimony from U.S. agencies and officials, not s Russian disinformation campaign, as our Democratic colleagues have falsely stated,\u201d the report says.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWhat the Chairmen discovered during the course of this investigation is that the Obama administration knew that Hunter Biden\u2019s position on Burisma\u2019s board was problematic and did interfere in the efficient execution of policy with respect to Ukraine.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cMoreover, this investigation has illustrated the extent to which officials within the Obama administration ignored the glaring warning signs when the vice president\u2019s son joined the board of a company owned by a corrupt Ukrainian oligarch.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n The report noted that George Kent, former acting deputy chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine expressed concern to persons within Joe Biden\u2019s office related to the possible conflict of interest regarding Hunter Biden\u2019s position on the board of Burisma. Kent\u2019s concerns were not addressed by anyone in the vice president\u2019s office.<\/p>\n Kent took it further, writing an email to colleagues expressing his concerns about Hunter Biden\u2019s role on the Burisma board, and noted that it was \u201cawkward\u201d while U.S. officials were at the same time pushing an anticorruption agenda in Ukraine.<\/p>\n Besides Kent, another official, the State Department\u2019s Amos Hochstein \u201craised concerns with Vice President Biden, as well as with Hunter Biden\u201d about a possible conflict of interest and the exposure of the U.S. to Russian disinformation, as well as \u201cundermining U.S. policy in Ukraine\u201d in October 2015.<\/p>\n Hunter Biden\u2019s position on Burisma has been widely panned by President Trump, as well as Republicans who have questioned his qualifications to be on the board of an energy company despite his having zero experience in that sector, as well as due to his history of drug use.<\/p>\n Democrats claim that allegations of wrongdoing and claims of corruption are nothing more than political smears, despite the fact that Biden had pressured Ukraine to fire a prosecutor who was investigating Burisma and to insulate Hunter Biden.<\/p>\n As part of that pressure Biden threatened to withhold $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees if Ukraine didn\u2019t fire the prosecutor, Viktor Shokin.<\/p>\n \u201cThe extent to which Hunter Biden\u2019s role on Burisma\u2019s board affected U.S. policy toward Ukraine is not clear,\u201d the GOP report said.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cBut what is clear from the records, however, is that State Department officials, particularly Kent himself, regularly considered how Hunter Biden\u2019s connection to Burisma might affect the execution of U.S. policy.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cMoreover\u2026this included having to respond to Russian actors attempting to exploit Hunter Biden\u2019s position on Burisma\u2019s board to drive a wedge between Ukrainian and the U.S. in an effort to undermine U.S. policy toward Ukraine.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Do you want to join our private family of first responders and supporters?\u00a0 Get unprecedented access to some of the most powerful stories that the media refuses to show you.\u00a0 Proceeds get reinvested into having active, retired and wounded officers, their families and supporters tell more of these stories.\u00a0 Click to check it out.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Baturina is the wife of the former mayor of Moscow. Likewise, the report alleges that Hunter Biden \u201copened a bank account with\u201d a Chinese businessman, Gongwen Dong in order to \u201cfund a $100,000 global spending spree\u201d with Joe Biden\u2019s younger brother, James Biden and James\u2019s wife, Sara.<\/p>\n \u201cHunter Biden had business associations with Ye Jianming, Gongwen Dong, and other Chinese nationals linked to the Communist government and the People\u2019s Liberation Army,\u201d the report says. \u201cThose associations resulted in millions of dollars in cash flow.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n No wonder his father doesn\u2019t want to go after China. A bit too close to home, apparently.<\/p>\n Further, the report claims that Hunter Biden \u201cpaid nonresident women who were nationals of Russia or other Eastern European countries and who appear to be linked to an Eastern European prostitution or human trafficking ring.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"LET](\"https:\/\/www.lawenforcementtoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Screen-Shot-2019-06-16-at-6.35.32-AM-1024x471.png\")
<\/p>\n\nOne thing that stood out in the Senate committees\u2019 report was the revelation that in addition to $4 million paid by Burisma for Hunter Biden\u2019s and Devon Archer\u2019s board memberships, is that Hunter Biden had also received millions from foreign nationals \u201cwith questionable backgrounds,\u201d including a claim that Biden had received $3.5 million from Elena Baturina via wire transfer.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n