Former Ukraine Prosecutor Confirms He Was Fired For Investigating Burisma
In an exclusive interview with Fox News, former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin confirmed that he was fired from his position during the Obama administration for investigating the Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings — where then-Vice President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, served on the board of directors.
Shokin asserted during the interview that he was fired at the behest of Joe Biden — who infamously bragged on camera about getting Shokin fired.
“I have said repeatedly in my previous interviews that Poroshenko fired me at the insistence of the then Vice President Biden because I was investigating Burisma,” the former Ukrainian prosecutor said in the exclusive Fox News interview, according to the translator.
He went on to say that then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko “understood and so did Vice President Biden, that had I continued to oversee the Burisma investigation, we would have found the facts about the corrupt activities that they were engaging in. That included both Hunter Biden and Devon Archer and others.”
A House Oversight Committee memo released earlier this month uncovered a clear pattern of the Biden family and its business partners, including Devon Archer, doing business with foreign entities in countries like Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, China and Romania — then collecting money around the times of gaining access to Joe Biden.
Shokin went on to express his belief that both Joe and Hunter Biden took bribes, though he did not provide concrete proof.
“I do not want to deal in unproven facts, but my firm personal conviction is that, yes, this was the case,” he said. “They were being bribed. And the fact that Joe Biden gave away $1 billion in U.S. money in exchange for my dismissal, my firing — isn’t that alone a case of corruption?”
Responding to the Fox News interview, the White House claimed that Shokin’s assertions had been debunked.
“For years, these false claims have been debunked, and no matter how much air time Fox gives them, they will remain false,” White House spokesperson Ian Sams said in a written statement, according to Fox News.
“Fox is giving a platform for these lies to a former Ukrainian prosecutor general whose office his own deputy called ‘a hotbed of corruption,’ drawing demands for reform not only from then-Vice President Biden but also from U.S. diplomats, international partners, and Republican senators like Ron Johnson,” the statement continued.
However, documents from the Obama administration directly contradict these claims — as then-Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland wrote a letter to Shokin in 2015 praising his work on anti-corruption, while also pledging U.S. resources to support his efforts.
“We have been impressed with the ambitious reform and anti-corruption agenda of your government,” she wrote, in part.
This letter came just before Joe Biden threatened to withhold $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees if Ukraine did not fire Shokin.
