Look at the full story on Biden, Ukraine corruption

Posted December 28, 2023 11:55 am

This is in response to a letter to the editor written by Dan Frost on Dec. 25 about Ukraine. He compared Trump’s Ukraine call to Biden’s request to fire Viktor Shokin, the Ukrainian state prosecutor at the time.

Mr. Frost provided a link to a video that appeared in the WSJ Opinion section without context. What he did not mention was that Biden was vice president at the time, and vice presidents do not make foreign policy. He acts on the instructions from the president.

In the video, Biden said the Ukrainian officials made that point to him that he did not have the authority to make that request, only the president does. Biden’s response was “call him.”

Also, there was no active investigation of Burisma at the time Biden made the request, according to Vitaliy Kasko, who was a deputy prosecutor-general under Shokin. The investigation was shelved in 2014, before Hunter Biden joined the Burma board. Sources say it was Shokin himself who sabotaged the investigation.

That was one reason President Obama, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund wanted to see Shokin fired, because he was NOT investigating Burisma and other corruption cases.

I suggest Mr. Frost might do a bit more research than watching a one-minute video on an Opinion page. There are numerous online articles that give much more accurate and detailed explanations of this story. Here’s just one of many: https://www.rferl.org/a/why-was-ukraine-top-prosecutor-fired-viktor-shokin/30181445.html

Randy Karey

Buffalo Grove

Article Comments

Article Categories
Letters to the Editor Opinion

Article Comments

Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.