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Joe Biden’s administration appears to be softening accusations denial: President met Burisma executives at a nice dinner in DC with his son Hunter
The White House denied rumors that Biden attended a Cafe Milano meeting between Hunter and Ukrainian businessman Vadym Pozharskyi in April 2015
But after Hunter’s former business partner Devon Archer contradicted this before the House Oversight Committee, the administration changed course
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Joe Biden’s administration appears to be weakening its denial of allegations that the president met with Burisma executives during a nice dinner in DC with his son Hunter.
The White House initially vehemently denied rumors that Biden attended a meeting at Cafe Milano between Hunter and Ukrainian oil czar Vadym Pozharskyi in April 2015.
But after Hunter’s former Burisma Holdings partner Devon Archer testified before the House Oversight Committee in July that Pozharskyi had indeed dined with the president, the administration changed its version of events.
When Politico asked in October 2021 whether the White House could rule out Biden having formal or informal meetings with Pozharskyi in 2015, a spokesperson wrote back: “Yes.”
But when asked again about the meeting after Archer’s testimony, Biden’s people changed the question of whether the president was at the dinner.
Joe Biden’s administration appears to be weakening its denial of allegations that the president met with Burisma executives during a nice dinner in DC with his son Hunter. (Pictured: the Bidens in 2016)
The White House initially denied rumors that Biden attended a meeting at Cafe Milano between Hunter and Ukrainian oil czar Vadym Pozharskyi in April 2015.
When Politico asked in October 2021 whether the White House could rule out Biden having formal or informal meetings with Pozharskyi (photo) in 2015, a spokesperson wrote back: ‘Yes’
“As we have said many times before, the president did not do business with his son or anyone else in the family,” a spokesperson said.
“And House Republicans’ own witnesses, including Devon Archer, have testified that the president never even talked about business with his son.”
Archer told the House of Representatives committee under penalty of perjury that Biden hung around and dined with everyone present at the 2015 meeting, and emails from Hunter’s laptop also suggest he attended.
The New York businessman said Biden arrived late, “shook everyone’s hands,” and then “they ate and talked a little bit about the world, I guess, and the weather,” over the course of an hour or two.
He did not say Biden discussed business or offered favors to the energy director — but his contradiction of the White House denial that Biden would ever become president has put the issue back in the spotlight.
Archer also told the House that the then-vice president had been present by loudspeaker or in person about 20 times over a decade while Hunter met with Burisma employees.
He did not claim to have ever heard Joe Biden talk about business, but said Hunter would use his father as a flex worker — and hearing the vice president’s voice on speed dial was enough to sell the “brand” to foreign executives.
It comes after an internal FBI document was published containing shocking claims that Biden and Hunter forced a Ukrainian oil executive to pay them $10 million in exchange for the then-vice president’s influence in firing a top prosecutor.
According to the conversation between a confidential source and Burisma CFO Vadim Pojarski in 2015, Hunter was hired to the company’s board of directors to “protect us, through his father, from all kinds of problems.”
Burisma CEO Mykola Zlochevsky told the source: “It costs 5 (million) to pay one Biden, and 5 (million) to another Biden.”
A 2014 photo of Joe Biden (second from right) and his son Hunter (far right), golfing in the Hamptons with Devon Archer (far left), an executive of a Ukrainian gas company
According to the successful FD-1023 form – part of which has been redacted – the Confidential Human Source (CHS) met with senior Burisma executives between 2015 and 2016.
Burisma wanted to spend up to $30 million on a US-based oil and gas company.
However, at the time it was also the subject of a criminal investigation by Ukrainian Attorney General Viktor Shokin, which the company knew “would have a significant negative impact on Burisma’s future IPO in the United States.”
When asked about the investigation, the form noted that Zlochevsky responded, “Don’t worry, Hunter handles all this stuff through his father.”
Later, then-Vice President Joe Biden made a public statement that Shokin was “corrupt and should be fired/removed from office.”