Fake news about Biden

Responses to the fake news video about Biden and the Anne, don't fall for the false Trumplican propaganda points. These are from my FB post

The EU, IMF, the U.S. government, and Ukrainian anti-corruption activists, all urged Ukraine to fire it's prosecutor general at the time, Viktor Shokin, due to his flagrant corruption. It wasn't just Joe Biden. Oh, and our Dartmouth classmate, GOP Senator Rob Portman joined several other U.S. senators in a February 2016 letter to the then-Ukraine president urging anti-corruption efforts.

Shokin had never opened an investigation of Hunter Biden, or even of the Burisma Group energy company whose board he had joined in 2014.

Shokin had launched, and then dropped, an investigation into the Burisma Group's founder, Mykola Zlochevsky, for suspected corrupt activities that occurred *before* 2014. Shokin himself, though, was largely incompetent as well as corrupt.

BTW, former Trump Regime member and convicted felon Paul Manafort was paid at least $17 million by Ukraine's former president and Putin suck-up, Viktor Yanukovich.

Don't let the Trumplicans distract you, Anne. The issue here is:

1. Donald Trump trying to get a political opponent criminally investigated ...
2. By a foreign government, rather than his own FBI ...
3. And doing so by soliciting a bribe: Publicly announce an investigation of Biden AND publicly cast doubt on the Russian attack on the 2016 U.S. election, and I'll stop withholding the $400Mn of aid you desperately need to defend against Russia in Crimea ...
4. This bribe makes Trump a threat to our national security.
5. And obstructing justice by hiding the relevant documents and ignoring Congressional subpoenas ("consciousness of guilt").

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/09/23/fact-checking-trumps-latest-claims-biden-ukraine/

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Well I note it’s presented as opinion not fact.  And it’s not fact.

Biden was, as is US policy, trying to get the Ukrainians to prosecute corruption.  Some of the bad guys over there had a corrupt prosecutor who was not doing so.  Guiliani wound up representing them and peddled lies to try to get his corrupt clients off.   Trump saw these lies as a way to gain a political advantage over Biden which is what led the the call and other misconduct that is, by any objective standard, impeachable conduct.  But to try to throw sand in everyone’s eyes, Trump’s supporters continue the lies.  The WSJ editorial page, which is a joke and should not be confused with its news pages which are excellent, continues to push the lies.  

An excellent op-Ed by a Ukrainian journalist who has been fighting corruption and was smeared by the bad guys lays this all out.  I’ll find and post it.

Here it is.  Please please please everyone let’s keep our eye on the ball here.  Trump and his cronies lie and lie and lie.  Don’t give them any credence.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/09/21/why-is-rudy-giuliani-trying-drag-my-countrys-president-into-trumps-reelection-campaign/%3foutputType=amp

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It's important to be specific about what the impeachment inquiry is about. It's not actually the quid pro quo that is a problem, per se. A "This for that" is one of the tools of international negotiation, and what Biden is describing here is a QPQ.  Trump is accused of using the powers of his office to trade aid money for an investigation into an opponent in an upcoming election. It's a misuse of power for personal gain. Biden's story is about withholding aid to further the strategic interests of the US.

Also note that the story in the video has nothing to do with Hunter Biden.

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The prosecutor was viewed as corrupt by the entire diplomatic establishment. Trump alleged that it was because the prosecutor was looking into a company Biden's son was on the board of but what the prosecutor was looking into was at a different time than Biden's tenure and not related.

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Biden delivered the same message that European countries were sending - that everyone knew that prosecutor was not pursuing anti-corruption cases. If he wasn’t replaced, aid money was going to be cut off.