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Joe Biden’s Office Devised Talking Points About Burisma Executive Right After Hunter ‘Called DC,’ Emails Show

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Then-Vice President Joe Biden’s office sent talking points to the State Department about Ukrainian oligarch Mykola Zlochevsky days after Hunter Biden “called D.C.” from the site of Ukrainian energy firm Burisma’s board meeting, emails show.

The State Department received talking points about Zlochevsky from then-VP Biden’s communications staffer Kate Bedingfield on Dec. 6, 2015, according to internal emails released by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs.

“Proposed TPs for the VP if he gets asked after the stories break in the next few days. Especially interested in your feedback on how to answer the third Q if he gets asked,” Bedingfield said, according to the emails. (RELATED: Burisma Was Told To Remove Picture Of Joe Biden And Devon Archer From Its Website, Emails Show)

“Q: Do you think Zlochevsky is corrupt? A: I’m not going to get into naming names or accusing individuals. We have been working consistently to push the Ukranian [sic] leadership to make meaningful changes in the Prosecutor General’s office and across the government to help ensure that the Ukranian [sic] people are represented fairly and fully,” Bedingfield continued in a list of sample questions.

Bedingfield was later hired to be President Biden’s White House communications director, then departed in February 2023 to become a CNN pundit.

Joe Biden on Dec. 9, 2015, spoke to Ukraine’s parliament with a focus on tackling corruption and making sure “oligarchs and non-oligarchs … play by the same rules,” White House archives  show.

Hunter Biden “called D.C.” in December 2015 from a Dubai Four Seasons hotel at the request of Zlochevsky and Burisma executive Vadim Pozharsyki, former business associate Devon Archer testified to the House Oversight Committee on July 31. Biden was making more than $80,000 per month as a Burisma board member, which amounted to more than $1 million annually, according to bank records from House Oversight.

Emails from Hunter Biden’s laptop archive indicate Pozharskyi planned for the Burisma board meeting to happen on the afternoon of Dec. 4 at the hotel in Dubai. Flight and hotel notifications from Hunter Biden’s inbox indicate he flew into Dubai on Dec. 3 and left Dec. 6, in accordance with Pozharskyi’s plans. Biden emailed a friend Dec. 3 saying he landed in Dubai, and emailed attorney Christopher Boies on Dec. 4 about another meeting he had planned in Dubai the next day.

Archer described to House Oversight a coffee appointment he had with Hunter Biden, Zlochevsky and Pozharskyi following Burisma’s board meeting that appeared to take place Dec. 4, 2015. (RELATED: House Oversight Releases Bank Records Showing Hunter Biden Took Millions From Russian And Ukrainian Oligarchs)

“But it was — it was not — it wasn’t like a specific — not a specific request,” Archer testified. “It was just we were sitting there at the Four Seasons having, you know, coffee and there was — there was Mykola, there was one of the managers for the Four Seasons who managed that property, Vadym. So it wasn’t like a closed — it was not like a specific meeting.”

Republican lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee asked Archer to provide more specific information about the call, according to the transcript of his testimony.

“Just that — just that they — ‘We called D.C.’ But he didn’t — you know, again, it’s not like the — there was not a — there was not, ‘Oh, we’ve got all our problems solved’ kind of, you know, revelation. I was — I was not on that side of the equation and kind of working on the lobbying side of the business,” Archer said.

Archer could not confirm whether Hunter called his father because he was not a part of the phone call. He did tell House Oversight that Joe Biden spoke with his son and his son’s business associates on over 20 occasions and that then-VP Biden attended a dinner with Pozharskyi in spring 2015 at a Washington, D.C., cafe.

Archer testified that the Biden family “brand” protected Burisma. In an interview with Daily Caller co-founder Tucker Carlson, Archer spoke about how Burisma viewed Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin as a “threat” until Joe Biden pressured Ukraine into pushing him out. Shokin had Mykola Zlochevsky’s property raided in February 2016 as part of his investigation into the Ukrainian oligarch, Ukrainian media reported. (RELATED: Devon Archer Says Its ‘Categorically False’ Joe Biden Didn’t Know About Son’s Business Dealings)

“You remember last year I was authorized to say we’d do the second tranche of a billion dollars,” then-VP Biden told the Council on Foreign relations in September 2016. “And [then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko] didn’t fire his chief prosecutor. And because I have the confidence of the president, I was there, and I said: I’m not signing it. Until you fire him, we’re not signing, man. Get it straight. We’re not doing it.”

Burisma hired lobbying firm Blue Star strategies to make further inroads with high ranking D.C. officials in November 2015. In a May 2022 Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) form, Blue Star disclosed two meetings it had in early 2016 with State Department officials on behalf of Zlochevsky and Burisma.

Zlochevsky purportedly discussed alleged bribes sent to Joe and Hunter Biden totaling $10 million, according to an FBI FD-1023 form containing information provided by a confidential source. The FBI is investigating the bribery allegation, Republican Kentucky Rep. James Comer, chair of the House Oversight Committee, said in June.

Joe Biden said Wednesday that Archer’s testimony is “not true,” and the White House said House Oversight’s bank records do not have proof Joe Biden took payments from his son’s business associates. The White House has also repeatedly said Joe Biden was “not in business with his son.”