A confidential source for the FBI provided information to the bureau in 2020 that alleged then-presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden were bribed to pressure Ukraine to remove a prosecutor investigating Burisma, the Ukrainian company that employed the younger Biden, according to a document made public on July 20.
The source said that Vadim Pojarskii, chief financial officer of Burisma, told him that the company hired Hunter Biden “to protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems.”
Burisma contacted the source to seek assistance in buying an American company to merge with in the hope that it could go public in the United States.
After an investigation of Burisma by Ukraine Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin was disclosed in 2016, the source told Mykola Zlochevsky, the Burisma owner, that the disclosure of the investigation would have a negative impact on the prospective initial public offering. Mr. Zlochevsky replied that Hunter Biden “will take care of all of those issues through his dad,” according to the document.
Mr. Zlochevsky was also cited as saying that it cost $5 million to pay one Biden, and $5 million to pay another Biden.
The source said that payments to the Bidens would complicate matters and the Bidens did not have experience with the oil and gas sector. Mr. Zlochevsky said his dog was smarter than Hunter Biden but that he needed to keep him on the board “so everything will be okay.” Both Hunter Biden and Joe Biden had told Mr. Zlochevsky that Hunter Biden needed to remain on the board, Mr. Zlochevsky said.
Around the same time, Joe Biden, the U.S. vice president at the time, was pressuring Ukrainian officials to fire Mr. Shokin. “We’re leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor’s not fired, you’re not getting the money,” Mr. Biden said at a public event about the interaction, referring to a $1 billion loan guarantee he threatened to withhold. “Well, son of a [expletive]. He got fired.”
Mr. Shokin has said that the threat was cited when he was ousted. He said in a sworn statement that then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko “asked me to resign due to pressure from the U.S. presidential administration, in particular from Joe Biden.”
The FBI source told the bureau that he gleaned from the conversation that payments had already been made to the Bidens, presumably to deal with Mr. Shokin.
The document was a summary of conversations between the FBI and the source. It was dated July 30, 2020. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) released it, with redactions, after receiving a copy from the FBI. The bureau initially refused to hand over the document, but did so after the House moved to hold FBI Director Christopher Wray in contempt.
The FBI, a lawyer for Hunter Biden, and the White House did not respond to requests for comment.
This is a developing story that will be updated.