Diplomat Testifies He Tried to Raise Concerns About Graft-Hunter Biden's "Work" For Burisma Back in 2015, But He Was Told to Shut Up By... Joe Biden's Office

We should definitely help elect Biden, as the NeverTrumpers advise.

A career State Department official overseeing Ukraine policy told congressional investigators this week that he had raised concerns in early 2015 about then-Vice President Joe Biden’s son serving on the board of a Ukrainian energy company but was turned away by a Biden staffer, according to three people familiar with the testimony.

George Kent, a deputy assistant secretary of state, testified Tuesday that he worried that Hunter Biden’s position at the firm Burisma Holdings would complicate efforts by U.S. diplomats to convey to Ukrainian officials the importance of avoiding conflicts of interest, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of confidentiality rules surrounding the deposition.

Kent said he had concerns that Ukrainian officials would view Hunter Biden as a conduit for currying influence with his father, said the people. But when Kent raised the issue with Biden’s office, he was told the then-vice president didn't have the "bandwidth" to deal with the issue involving his son as his other son, Beau, was battling cancer, said the people familiar with his testimony.

Oooh, using your one son's cancer as an excuse to blow off a warning that your more useless son is peddling influence is TIGHT!

The testimony by Kent offers a reminder that as Democrats probe President Trump’s alleged actions in pressuring Ukraine to dig up compromising information on Biden, the impeachment inquiry also threatens to keep alive questions about the former vice president's handling of his son’s foreign work at a precarious moment for his 2020 presidential campaign.

Kent, who also testified about how Trump's associates raised unfounded allegations about the former ambassador to Ukraine, is the first known example of a career diplomat who raised concerns internally in the Obama administration about Hunter Biden’s board position. The Washington Post has previously reported that there had been discussions among Biden's advisers about whether his son's Ukraine work would be perceived as a conflict of interest, and that one former adviser had been concerned enough to mention it to Biden, though the conversation was brief.

posted by Ace of Spades at 04:20 PM

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