House Oversight and Government Accountability Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin of Maryland released a partial transcript aimed at debunking allegations that President Joe Biden took a bribe, but it contains at least one falsehood.
In a letter to committee chairman James Comer of Kentucky, Raskin included a partial transcript of questions that Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas asked Burisma Energy founder Mykola Zlochevsky. In the transcript, the Ukrainian oligarch asserts that “[n]o one from Burisma ever had any contacts with VP [Joe] Biden or people working for him during Hunter Biden’s engagement” with the company, where the younger Biden served on the board from 2014 to 2019.
Raskin claimed in his letter that the comments are some “of the many that have debunked the corruption allegations against President Biden.”
Zlochevsky was either lying or mistaken in his assertion. According to an email from Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop, then-Vice President Joe Biden met with Burisma executive Vadym Pozharskyi in 2014. The two briefly interacted at a World Food Program USA charity dinner organized by Hunter, The New York Times later reported.
“Dear Hunter, thank you for inviting me to DC and giving an opportunity to meet your father and spent some time together,” Pozharskyi wrote.
Zlochevsky’s claim is false.
A top Burisma official, Vadym Pozharskyi, did, in fact, have a brief encounter with then-Vice President Joe Biden in 2015, as reported here: https://t.co/B4Hx60mgXD https://t.co/XvNeRzdzlo pic.twitter.com/NsNc7tkaPZ
— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) June 29, 2023
A spokeswoman for Democrats on the House Oversight Committee did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller’s request for comment on the matter. (RELATED: ‘Direct Bribery’: Republican Congressman Confirms FBI Document Refers To ‘Big Guy’)
Republicans on the committee have repeatedly referred to a document alleging that both Joe and Hunter Biden solicited $5 million bribes from Zlochevsky. Joe Biden has rejected the allegations, calling questions about them “dumb.” The White House, which has previously claimed that Joe Biden never discusses business with his son, said in a statement that Joe Biden was “not in business with his son.”
Hunter Biden is expected to plead guilty to two misdemeanors stemming from his alleged failure to pay taxes on salaries from his overseas business dealings. He will not serve any jail time. Two Internal Revenue Service whistleblowers have alleged that Justice Department officials prevented them from expanding the investigation into President Joe Biden and other family members.