Ukrainian energy firm Burisma Holdings received Joe Biden’s planned talking points ahead of his December 2015 trip to Ukraine, according to a newly released memo from lobbying firm Blue Star Strategies.
Blue Star Strategies sent the memo to Burisma on Dec. 2, 2015, after an apparent call with “senior administration officials” and detailed then-Vice President Joe Biden’s messaging strategy for his trip to Ukraine, the memo shows. (RELATED: Prosecutor Ignored Apparent ‘Campaign Finance Criminal Violations’ Flagged By IRS Whistleblower, Memo Shows)
READ THE MEMO:
“According to the senior administration officials on the call, Vice President Biden will discuss the following issues and themes during his trip to Ukraine,” the memo says above a list of bullet points with detailed information. It follows with a section for a question-and-answer session with reporters and the responses the administration crafted for potential questions.
Hunter Biden’s former business associate appeared to coordinate with then-VP Joe Biden’s office on responses to media inquiries surrounding Hunter Biden and Burisma, according to archived emails and a letter from the House Oversight Committee.
Hunter Biden’s former business associate Devon Archer testified to House Oversight in July that Hunter “called D.C.” because of pressure from Burisma executives during Burisma’s December 2015 board meeting in Dubai. The board meeting appeared to take place on Dec. 4, 2015, flight records, hotel records and emails from Hunter Biden’s laptop show. Archer was unable to confirm whether Joe Biden was on the other end of his son’s phone call.
Joe Biden’s communications staffers sent the State Department talking points for the Ukraine trip and specifically instructed them not to single out Burisma founder Mykola Zlochevsky, internal emails demonstrate.
Then-VP Biden spoke to the Ukrainian parliament and urged them to continue combatting corruption by oligarchs, an archived Dec. 9, 2015, White House release shows.
“Oligarchs and non-oligarchs must play by the same rules. They have to pay their taxes, settle their disputes in court — not by bullying judges. That’s basic. That’s how nations succeed in the 21st century,” Joe Biden said.
Blue Star had sent Burisma a list of U.S. government officials the firm could work with in an October 2015 “government relations strategy” proposal, a separate memo shows. The October 2015 memo lays out a “crisis communications” plan to roll out over the next two months and the first objective in the plan is to “work to support the closing of the company file in Ukraine,” the memo shows.
READ THE MEMO:
Blue Star disclosed lobbying for Burisma and Zlochevsky in a May 2022 Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) form listing $60,000 worth of payments it received for its lobbying effort. The firm also disclosed two meetings with State Department officials on the FARA document.
“Beginning in November 2015 and continuing through the relevant period of 2016, Blue Star Strategies, registrant, was working on behalf of Burisma Holdings Limited (Burisma), a Ukrainian energy company, to further its commercial interests. Mr. Zlochevsky was a principal of Burisma at that time,” the disclosure form reads.
Blue Star later did lobbying work for the Ukrainian prosecutor who eventually let off Burisma, internal State Department emails indicate. The DOJ was investigating Blue Star in 2021 for illegally lobbying on behalf of foreign principles, Politico reported at the time.
Hunter Biden recommended the Blue Star lobbyists to Burisma in his position as a board member of the company, emails from his abandoned laptop archive demonstrate. The younger Biden received more than $80,000 per month from Burisma despite his lack of experience in the energy sector and Ukrainian affairs, according to bank records released by the House Oversight Committee.
The House Ways and Means Committee released the Blue Star documents as part of a pile of additional evidence substantiating the testimony from IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler. Burisma paid Blue Star a total of $540,000 for its lobbying work, Ziegler testified to the Committee.
Both whistleblowers have accused Department of Justice (DOJ) investigators of giving Hunter Biden special treatment during the ongoing investigation into his taxes and firearms possession. The House Ways and Means, Judiciary and Oversight Committees continue to investigate the IRS whistleblower allegations.
Hunter Biden is suing the IRS for what his legal team believes to be illegal disclosures of taxpayer information by the whistleblowers in their testimony and media interviews. The whistleblowers have pushed back against Biden’s lawsuit and accused him of trying to silence them.
The House Ways and Means, Judiciary and Oversight Committees are leading the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden related to the IRS whistleblower testimony and Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings. The first impeachment inquiry hearing is scheduled for Sept. 28 and will feature three witnesses.
Blue Star did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.