A speech in 2015 by then-Vice President Joe Biden is in the spotlight as the House Oversight Committee reported that the White House has refused to hand over the relevant transcript.
The powerful investigative panel announced it would “consider the use of compulsory process” if the drafts of Biden’s Ukraine speech, in which he called for the firing of Ukrainian prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, are not delivered to the committee.
“These drafts are important as it is believed, based on public reporting, that the then-VP ‘called an audible’ and changed U.S. policy toward Ukraine to benefit his son on the plane ride to Ukraine,” a post on X read.
“Joe Biden later bragged about withholding a U.S. loan guarantee if Ukraine did not fire the prosecutor,” the committee account posted. .”If the White House does not permit the production of these documents, our committee will consider the use of compulsory process.”
🚨 BREAKING 🚨
The White House is REFUSING to hand over early drafts of President Biden’s 2015 Ukraine speech where he called for the firing of the Ukrainian prosecutor, Viktor Shokin.
These drafts are important as it is believed, based on public reporting, that the then-VP… pic.twitter.com/HXuUkVGBAM
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) January 31, 2024
In a 2015 speech to the Ukrainian Rada in Kyiv given by Biden, who was then VP under President Barack Obama, noted the corruption in the country and the need for “reform” in the Office of the General Prosecutor.
“And it’s not enough to set up a new anti-corruption bureau and establish a special prosecutor fighting corruption. The Office of the General Prosecutor desperately needs reform,” Biden said in December 2015, according to White House archives.
Then in 2018, Biden bragged before the Council on Foreign Relations about how he strong-armed Ukraine into firing Shokin, who was at the time investigating the gas company Burisma which was paying Hunter Biden.
Biden recounted how he ” said: I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money. Well, son of a bitch. He got fired,”
NEW: Biden says, “Holding Ukraine funding hostage in an attempt to force through an extreme Republican partisan agenda on the border is NOT how it [democracy] works!” [1]
– Remember when Biden held hostage the $1 Billion aid package to Ukraine until they fired Victor Shokin… pic.twitter.com/ORyCJK4RQM
— TheRealLaine (@thereallaine) December 13, 2023
The Oversight Committee detailed how the White House has continued to refuse to authorize the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to provide the relevant documents in a letter to White House Counsel Edward Siskel on Wednesday, written by Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), House Committee on the Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), and House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.)
“For more than five months the White House has declined to authorize the production of these draft speeches to the Oversight Committee or to assert a valid privilege over them,” the letter said.
“Such a lengthy delay in processing a discrete and limited category of documents is unacceptable and appears to represent an attempt to obstruct the Committees’ legitimate investigation,” the lawmakers wrote. “These dilatory tactics must cease, and the White House must permit NARA to release these documents forthwith … If the White House does not permit the production of these documents, the Oversight Committee will consider the use of compulsory process to require the White House’s production of the speeches.”
