In a September 29 interview with CNN’s Poppy Harlow, New Yorker writer Adam Entous questioned Hunter Biden’s lack of qualifications when he was named a board member on Bursima Holdings, a Ukrainian energy company. Entous also questioned then-Vice President Joe Biden’s position in helping Hunter Biden land his job on the Ukrainian energy company’s board.
“He really had no substantial Ukraine experience, no Ukraine experience, and no substantial experience in the energy sector at that stage in his career. So, you know, the suspicion was among people who worked for Joe Biden and some State Department and White House officials was this was an effort on the part of Burisma to curry favor.”
Entous continues:
“There are two separate issues here. The issue of whether it was wise of Hunter Biden to take this position at Burisma when his father was guiding policy in Ukraine and, you know, the wisdom of Biden staffers, once they knew that, not to ask Hunter to step down.”
The second issue is whether VP Biden used his position to get the job for Hunter Biden.
The Daily Caller is now reporting that a former member of the Ukrainian parliament is reportedly saying Burisma Holdings hired Hunter Biden for protection.
Oleksandr Onyshchenko, a businessman who left Ukraine in 2016, said Burisma’s founder, Mykola Zlochevsky, sought the assistance of Hunter Biden, the son of then-Vice President Joe Biden, at a time when the natural gas company was under intense scrutiny for corruption.
“It was to protect [the company],” Onyshchenko told Reuters on Friday.
Zlochevsky, who founded Burisma in 2002, served as a minister under Ukraine’s then-President Viktor Yanukovich from 2010 to 2012. Burisma then began adding high-profile names to its board, including Biden and a business associate of his called Devon Archer, in April 2014.
Oleksandr Onyshchenko, a businessman and former member of the Ukrainian parliament who knows the Burisma founder, said it had been Zlochevsky’s idea to appoint Biden as a director. “It was to protect (the company)” at a time when it was facing investigations, said Onyshchenko, who left the country in 2016. In the run up to Biden’s appointment, a popular uprising led to the removal of the Russian-backed Yanukovich in February 2014.
Hunter Biden obtained a seat on the company’s board of directors because he was seen as a man with political clout, influence from his father’s role in the Obama administration, according to people interviewed by the news agency. Joe Biden was doling out assistance to Ukraine as then-President Barack Obama’s point man in the east European country.
Two weeks ago, John Soloman released a stunning report showing Hunter Biden, son of Vice President Joe Biden, was paid much more for his role on the board of Bursima Holdings, a Ukrainian energy company than originally reported. The FBI raid on Biden friend Devon Archer’s office in 2015 produced documents revealing Hunter was paid an astounding $166k per-month and even $220,000 one month in particular.
Solomon has been investigating the Biden involvement in Ukraine for some time and has extensive information about corruption. He has obtained over 450 pages of legal documents that could spell big trouble for Biden.