Biden Called For Changes At Ukraine’s Prosecutor Office … And So Did 3 GOP Senators

UNITED STATES - JUNE 12: Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, right, and Ron Johnson R-Wis., arrive for the Republican Senate Policy luncheon at the National Republican Senatorial Committee on June 12, 2018. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH) and Ron Johnson (R-WI) arrive for the Republican Senate Policy luncheon at the National Republican Senatorial Committee on June 12, 2018. (Photo by Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
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The Ukrainian prosecutor at the heart of President Donald Trump’s baseless Joe Biden conspiracy theory was seen as corrupt by Trump’s own Republican colleagues.

Sens. Ron Johnson (R-WI), Rob Portman (R-OH) and former Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL), along with five of their Democratic colleagues, sent a letter to then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in February 2016 pressing him to make “urgent reforms” to the prosecutor general’s office.

The letter, first surfaced by CNN on Thursday, expressed the lawmakers’ concern over allegations of “persistent corruption in the Ukrainian political system” that Viktor Shokin, the prosecutor general at the time, had failed to combat.

The senators asked Poroshenko to address “serious concerns” on the matter raised by Ukraine’s former minister of economy.

“We similarly urge you to press ahead with urgent reforms to the Prosecutor General’s office and judiciary,” they wrote.

The letter further punctures Trump’s bogus claim that Biden had only pushed for Shokin’s ouster to prevent the official from investigating a company tied to his son, when in reality the corrupt prosecutor was kicked out of office at the behest of critics all over the world.

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Notable Replies

  1. “Missed it by that much…”

    image

  2. Avatar for Tckub Tckub says:

    Wish it was Lindsey who signed it.

  3. Trump will be very upset that these Republicans sent this letter before he even became the Republican nominee for president in 2016, just to mess with his strategy for reelection in 2020.

    Where is the loyalty, I ask ya.

    ETA: Oh, here’s the loyalty - and the hypocrisy …

    From Vox:
    “Rather, it’s the Republicans who have changed their tune. Portman is backing President Donald Trump’s assertion that he didn’t withhold military aid for Ukraine in order to extract Kyiv’s help to investigate the Bidens. And Johnson signed a September 2019 letter asking Attorney General Bill Barr to look into possible Biden-Ukraine corruption.”

  4. Avatar for kwd101 kwd101 says:

    Somebody should ask Portman and Johnson why they’ve been so quiet during all this BS.

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