Impeachment witness George Kent said Hunter Biden’s position on the board of a Ukrainian natural gas firm created the “perception of a conflict of interest.”
While his father was leading Ukrainian policy as vice president, Hunter Biden landed a high-paying position on the board of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian natural gas company. During the opening statement for his impeachment testimony, Kent noted that he crossed paths with Burisma’s owner as a part of his anti-corruption efforts in Ukraine.
“The pervasive and longstanding problem of corruption in Ukraine included exposure to a situation involving the energy company Burisma,” said Kent. “The primary concern of the U.S. government since 2014 was Burisma’s owner, Mykola Zlochevsky, whose frozen assets abroad we had attempted to recover on Ukraine’s behalf.”
He noted that he raised concerns in 2015 to the vice president’s office when Hunter had landed a position on the board while his father was acting as Obama’s chief diplomat to Ukraine.
“In February 2015, I raised my concern that Hunter Biden’s status as a board member could create the perception of a conflict of interest,” said Kent, adding, “Let me be clear, I did not witness any effort by any U.S. official to shield Burisma from scrutiny. In fact, I and other U.S. officials consistently advocated reinstituting a scuttled investigation of Zlochevsky, Burisma’s founder, as well as holding the corrupt prosecutors who closed the case to account.”
President Trump asked Ukrainian leaders to investigate potential corruption between the Bidens and Ukrainian leaders in the phone call that became the basis for the House’s impeachment. Kent noted that he did not approve of the president asking a foreign leader to investigate American citizens.
