Republican California Rep. Devin Nunes on Friday pointed a finger at Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party after being asked if a new Ukrainian investigation into former prosecutor Viktor Shokin has any relation to President Donald Trump’s July 2019 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“The issues in Ukraine, as always, go back to the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democrats,” Nunes told “The Story with Martha MacCullum” on Fox News.
“They can wish it away, they can build narratives if they like, but the truth of the matter remains that the Democrats paid operatives to go to Ukraine and dig up dirt on the Trump campaign and took an unprecedented step to have even the Ukrainian ambassador here in Washington … take shots at the Republican candidate for president.” (RELATED: Nunes: Ukraine Will Sink Biden’s Campaign, Not Trump’s Presidency)
The basis of the recent impeachment inquiry was the claim by the Democrats that Trump leveraged military aid to Ukraine over an investigation into the activities of former vice president and current Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. Trump denied that claim and even released a transcript of his call with Zelensky to support his case.
Nunes said the entire notion of Ukraine opening an investigation into the Bidens does not make sense. “We’re gong to back to the impeachment hoax time here [but] nobody ever talked about the Ukrainians opening up investigations. Think about that for a second. It only takes a bit of common sense. Ukraine is corrupt. Why would anybody want Ukraine of all people to [do that]?”
When asked what Trump was referring to when he asked Zelensky about conducting an investigation, Nunes said, “I think what the president was talking about was the same thing we were looking for as Republicans.”
He continued, “What we were trying to find — do they have any documentation as to what the Clinton campaign was doing in the 2016 election … [and what] so many senior leadership of Ukraine … were up to. I do not think there is any connection to Shokin or Biden or anyone.” (RELATED: Joe Biden Never Says He Discussed Hunter Biden’s Ukraine Deal. Hunter Says He Did)
Democratic presidential candidate former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden pauses as he speaks during the AARP and The Des Moines Register Iowa Presidential Candidate Forum at Drake University on July 15, 2019 in Des Moines, Iowa. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
As vice president, Biden was doling out assistance to Ukraine as then-President Barack Obama’s point man in the east European country when he insisted that Shokin be fired. Biden says it was because the chief prosecutor was unfit for his office while Shokin maintained in an affidavit that Biden did not want him investigating natural gas company Burisma Holdings, where Hunter Biden sat on the board of directors.
Hunter Biden has admitted that he exercised “poor judgment” in taking a position for which he had no expertise or experience but blames his detractors for believing in a “ridiculous conspiracy.”
On Friday, Nunes said Joe Biden “is gone” and has no hope of winning the Democratic presidential nomination after his recent poor showings in primaries.