Just a few months after Hunter Biden joined the board of Burisma Holdings, the Ukrainian gas company landed a deal with an Obama administration renewable energy program that had been championed by one of his father's key vice presidential advisers, newly released State Department memos show.
A senior State Department official, speaking only on condition of anonymity, said officials do not have much current documentation to show how Burisma landed the 2014 deal with USAID, the department's foreign aid arm, but they believe it wasn't fully vetted by the department.
Remarkably, the multimillion dollar MERP program's involvement with Burisma escaped notice during last year's impeachment proceedings, which focused heavily on the Bidens' dealings in Ukraine and efforts by Rudy Giuliani, one of President Trump's lawyers, to get the issues surrounding Burisma investigated by Ukrainian authorities.
Joe Biden's energy advisor, Amos Hochstein, championed the MERP program in a Senate hearing in July 2014, about three months before Burisma landed the MOU with USAID. Hochstein testified that MERP was part of a multi-pronged U.S. effort by the Obama administration to make Ukraine more energy-independent from Russia by producing its own gas while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The New Yorker magazine reported Hochstein had a direct conversation with Joe Biden about Hunter Biden's role with Burisma, one of the few publicly known conversations the vice president had about his son's employment with the controversial company.
Controversy has swirled around Burisma for several years since then-Vice President Joe Biden's son Hunter took a seat on the gas company's board of directors in May 2014.
Notably, Burisma would secure the USAID agreement just five months later.
A senior State Department official, speaking only on condition of anonymity, said officials do not have much current documentation to show how Burisma landed the 2014 deal with USAID, the department's foreign aid arm, but they believe it wasn't fully vetted by the department.
Remarkably, the multimillion dollar MERP program's involvement with Burisma escaped notice during last year's impeachment proceedings, which focused heavily on the Bidens' dealings in Ukraine and efforts by Rudy Giuliani, one of President Trump's lawyers, to get the issues surrounding Burisma investigated by Ukrainian authorities.
Joe Biden's energy advisor, Amos Hochstein, championed the MERP program in a Senate hearing in July 2014, about three months before Burisma landed the MOU with USAID. Hochstein testified that MERP was part of a multi-pronged U.S. effort by the Obama administration to make Ukraine more energy-independent from Russia by producing its own gas while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The New Yorker magazine reported Hochstein had a direct conversation with Joe Biden about Hunter Biden's role with Burisma, one of the few publicly known conversations the vice president had about his son's employment with the controversial company.
Controversy has swirled around Burisma for several years since then-Vice President Joe Biden's son Hunter took a seat on the gas company's board of directors in May 2014.
Notably, Burisma would secure the USAID agreement just five months later.
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