Impeachment inquiry requests new evidence related to Biden's demand to fire Ukrainian prosecutor

Two House Republicans leading their chamber's President Biden impeachment inquiry sent a new letter Monday to the White House seeking documentation about the developments that led to the then-Vice President Biden demanding Ukraine fire its prosecutor developed.

The new request follows a March 1 briefing provided by White House staff to the the members' respective committees detailing then-Vice President Biden’s infamous December 2015 speech to the Ukrainian parliament and the “non-public context” surrounding it.

“Unfortunately, the briefing was inadequate, and White House lawyers peddled demonstrable falsehoods rather than providing substantive and verifiable information. As such, the committees are now compelled to request documents concerning the matters discussed during the March 1 briefing,” the letter, signed by House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan and Oversight Chairman James Comer, reads.

The then-vice president’s December 2015 trip to Kyiv is at the center of the impeachment inquiry’s investigation into the demands by Biden for Ukraine to fire Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, who was investigating Burisma Holdings at the time, according to documents previously reviewed by Just the News.

Hunter Biden, the vice president’s son, was serving on the board of that company at the time. Joe Biden, then vice president, infamously called for the prosecutor’s firing, using a $1 billion loan guarantee as leverage, according to his own later account.

“Evidence suggests that Vice President Biden had Shokin fired to alleviate the pressure on Burisma – the Ukrainian energy company for which Vice President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, worked – caused by Shokin’s investigation of Burisma and its owner, Mykola Zlochevsky,” the Chairmen wrote.

The White House previously claimed, “Vice President Biden did not alter United States policy. To benefit his son,” according to the letter.

You can read the letter below:

However, contemporaneous documents immediately proceeding Biden’s 2015 trip to Ukraine show an interagency committee of experts determined “Ukraine has made sufficient progress on its reform agenda to justify a third guarantee,” according to one memo first published by Just the News last year.

“During the March 1 briefing to Committee staff, the White House asserted that U.S. policy was being forged in line with the Vice President’s December 9 speech. To make such blanket statements to the Committees, the White House must have relevant documentation in its possession,” the chairmen concluded.

To explain the discrepancy, the committees are requesting all documents showing the vice president’s speech was developed in line with U.S. policy, all documentation showing “subject matter experts” recommended Biden refuse the third loan guarantee in exchange for Shokin’s firing and any documents leading up to his December 2015 trip showing Shokin was viewed by the U.S. as undermining anti-corruption efforts.

The committee also restated its request for all drafts of then-Vice President Biden’s speech to the Ukrainian parliament.

“The evolution of Vice President Biden’s speech on this matter is important because it could suggest that intervention by Hunter Biden or Burisma caused changes to be made to the speech,” the committee concluded.