Breaking: The 10 Bombshell Takeaways from New FBI Report on Burisma, Hunter and Joe Biden
UPDATE, March 22, 2024: On Feb. 14, FBI informant Alexander Smirnov was charged by a special counsel with “fabricating claims” about President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, seeking bribes from Burisma, according to The New York Times. The special counsel claims Smirnov lied for “political” reasons.
A bombshell information dump Thursday is giving the world an unprecedented, inside look at Hunter Biden’s business dealings in Ukraine.
The Biden-Ukraine controversy began back in late 2020 when the New York Post published communications straight from Hunter Biden’s personal laptop.
The communications, some dating to 2015, revealed Hunter Biden had set up a meeting between his father, Joe Biden, and Burisma executive Vadym Pozharskyi.
At the time, Hunter Biden served on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian oil company, earning a salary of $50,000 a month, and his father was serving as vice president of the United States.
The explosive news Thursday came with the release of an unclassified FBI document detailing the firsthand knowledge of a confidential human source (referred to as “CHS” within the document). The “highly credible” source worked directly with the Burisma board, according to the FD-1023 form.
Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley released the document via legally protected disclosures, saying in a news release, “While the FBI sought to obfuscate and redact, the American people can now read this document for themselves, without the filter of politicians or bureaucrats, thanks to brave and heroic whistleblowers.”
The following article contains the document in its entirety, along with highlights summarizing its most important revelations.
FD 1023 Grassley by The Western Journal on Scribd
Buying Joe Biden’s Protection
The FBI informant first met with Burisma executives in order to help facilitate the company’s potential purchase of a U.S.-based oil and gas company.
During the meeting, Burisma’s board of directors became a point of discussion.
This led to Pozharskyi revealing that Hunter Biden’s purpose on the board was to “protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems.”
When pressed, Pozharskyi refused to elaborate further.
In a meeting that took place two months later, former Ukraine Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin and his investigation into Burisma were mentioned as potential deterrents to any U.S.- based acquisitions. Shokin had reportedly been investigating the possibility that Hunter Biden was laundering money through Burisma (recently, the president’s son pleaded guilty to tax crimes).
Mykola Zlochevsky, Burisma’s founder, said of the investigation (the following is noted as a paraphrasing in the document), “Don’t worry Hunter will take care of all of those issues through his dad.”
Burisma Already Paid Both Bidens
When the CHS pressed Zlochevsky to confront the Shokin situation directly rather than through potentially illicit means, Zlochevsky said “its too late to change his decision.”
“CHS understood this to mean that Zlochevsky … already had paid the Bidens, presumably to ‘deal with Shokin,'” the document reads.
Sometime later, Zlochevsky directly claimed he had made the payments — and was “forced” to do so.
“Zlochevsky stated he didn’t want to pay the Bidens and he was ‘pushed to pay’ them,” the document reads.
Shokin was fired from his position sometime after Joe Biden openly called for his ousting, though many mainstream outlets claim Biden’s comments played no role.
Hunter Biden ‘Not Smart’
After discussing Hunter Biden’s involvement with the company during the first meeting, the CHS questioned why he or she was needed at all.
Pozharskyi replied that Hunter Biden “was not smart,” and given that fact, additional help was required.
At the second meeting, Zlochevsky said Hunter Biden was “stupid” and Zlochevsky’s dog “was smarter.”
$5 Million For One Biden, Another $5 Million for Two
At one point during the second meeting between the CHS and Zlochevsky, the latter said the following:
“[I]t cost 5 (million) to pay one Biden, and 5 (million) to another Biden.”
The CHS did not know whether these payments had been made already or were planned.
Joe Biden Asked the Burisma Board to Retain Hunter Biden
Ignoring ethical concerns brought up by the CHS, Zlochevsky maintained he would be retaining Hunter Biden as a board member.
When questioned further, Zlochevsky said both Hunter Biden and his father asked the company to retain the former.
After Trump Elected
A third meeting, conducted via a phone call, occurred between Zlochevsky and the informant just after Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election.
Zlochevsky was “not happy Trump won the election.”
Recordings Exist Proving Biden-Burisma Payments
According to Zlochevsky, numerous recordings exist proving the Bidens had forced the Burisma founder to pay them in return for dealing with Shokin.
Recordings held by Zlochevsky include text messages and “recordings.”
Proof of President Joe Biden’s Involvement
The CHS later informed the FBI of the exact number of recordings Zlochevsky said he had: 17.
He said 15 recordings are of Hunter Biden, and two include the current president of the United States.
Suspicious Wire Transfers
According to the CHS, it appears that wire transfers might exist linking Burisma to the Bidens.
The CHS warned Zlochevsky it would be difficult to explain such transfers.
He replied that “it would take them (investigators) 10 years to find the records (i.e. illicit payments to Joe Biden),” according to the document.
Podmazat
Toward the end of the document, concerns regarding the potentially suspicious nature of how openly the Ukrainian executives admitted to crimes were addressed by the CHS.
“Regarding the seemingly open and unsolicited admissions by [Pozharskyi] and Zlochevsky about the purpose for their retention of Hunter Biden, and the ‘forced’ payments Zlochevsky made to the Bidens, CHS explained it is very common for business men in post-Soviet countries to brag or show off,” the FBI document reads.
“Additionally, it is extremely common for businesses in Russia and Ukraine to make ‘bribe’ payments to various government officials.”
In other words, in the informant’s view, there was nothing particularly unusual about the conversations directly regarding bribery.
The line-item term “Podmazat” is typically used on the financial reports of many such companies as a stand-in for bribery, per the CHS who has reportedly seen this first-hand.
The term roughly translates to “oil, lubricate, or makes things run smoothly,” according to the CHS.
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