Resurfaced video of the Ukrainian prosecutor Joe Biden bragged about getting fired while serving as vice president is circulating on social media. In it, the former Ukrainian prosecutor claims Biden was acting in his own interests and not in the interests of the American people.
Viktor Shokin, who was fired while investigating wrongdoing at Burisma, is shown in the video, which has been identified as part of an investigative documentary, “Ukrainegate,” by Les Crises, a French site. The resurfaced video is from the fourth part of the documentary.
Shokin claimed that since the United States has one of the best intelligence agencies in the world, it was widely believed his investigation into Burisma was being monitored by American officials by both legal and illegal means. “We have to believe that Mr. Biden was told that we were going to start questioning his son, Archer and others all involved in the Burisma case,” Shokin states in the video.
“And everyone understood very well,” Shokin added, “that this fight was going to end badly for them.”
This is Viktor Shokin. He is the Ukrainian prosecutor that Biden accused of being corrupt and had removed.
In this video he responds to accusations that his investigation into Burisma was dormant or that he was corrupt. He tells the truth about why he was removed as prosecutor.… pic.twitter.com/4kmXexBsmL
— MAZE (@mazemoore) August 4, 2023
Shokin maintained in the video he is not accusing anyone of doing anything wrong as there is a presumption of innocence in Ukraine, but reiterated he believed Joe Biden was aware of the risks looming over his son prior to his firing. “We were advancing, me and my colleagues, and we were about to reach the outcome of this case,” Shokin stated, when Biden “used all the unofficial means at his disposal” to have the investigation stopped. Biden allegedly used people to act on his behalf like Serhiy Leshchenko, an anti-corruption advocate and former member of Ukraine’s parliament, and Mustafa Nayyem, another member of Ukraine’s parliament.
Shokin further claimed in the video that in trying to protect his son, Biden acted in his own interests and not in the interests of the American people, despite there not being a criminal investigation into Hunter Biden specifically.
“The case [had] been opened against Burisma because of the violations it committed,” Shokin explained. It wasn’t until investigators began looking into the alleged illegal actions of the company and who was ultimately responsible that they found administrators recruited in May to June 2014 — to include Hunter Biden and Devon Archer — who were possibly involved, Shokin stated. (RELATED: Burisma CEO Bragged It Would Take ’10 Years’ To Find Records Showing ‘Illicit Payments To Joe Biden’: FBI Source)
“Joe Biden had reason to fear that all this would eventually fall on his son” Shokin concluded.
Former president Donald Trump and others on the right have pointed to Biden’s boast of withholding $1 billion in aid from Ukraine unless Shokin was removed as evidence of self-serving corruption and wrong-doing. Diplomats with the European Union (EU), however, maintain that calls to remove Shokin came before Biden entered the picture. Those officials reportedly claimed Shokin’s removal came as a part of an international effort to “bolster Ukrainian institutions” in the wake of Russia’s annexation of the Crimea, the Financial Times reported in 2019.
“All of us were really pushing [former Ukrainian President Petro] Poroshenko that he needs to do something, because [Shokin] was not following any of the corruption issues. He was really bad news,” an EU diplomat familiar with the matter told the Financial Times.
“It was Biden who finally came in [and triggered the resignation]. Biden was the most vocal as the U.S. usually is, but we were all literally complaining about [Shokin], the EU diplomat continued.
Shokin, in the video, apparently rejected those claims, stating that no one — including Biden — could provide him with one example of anything that would lead to his removal. “If my corruption had been proven, Biden and other politicians would have said everything out loud … they would have given specific examples of my corruption and dishonesty.”
Prior to his removal, Shokin claims he had received assurances from Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, who reportedly praised his work as an anti-corruption prosecutor in Ukraine. “This was the situation before Joe Biden began to persecute me,” Shokin stated.