Via Powerline Blog
John Solomon has posted State Department emails involving a lobbyist named Karen Tramontano and Burisma, the Ukrainian natural gas company that paid Hunter Biden $3 million:
Hunter Biden and his Ukrainian gas firm colleagues had multiple contacts with the Obama State Department during the 2016 election cycle, including one just a month before Vice President Joe Biden forced Ukraine to fire the prosecutor investigating his son’s company for corruption, newly released memos show.
During that February 2016 contact, a U.S. representative for Burisma Holdings sought a meeting with Undersecretary of State Catherine A. Novelli to discuss ending the corruption allegations against the Ukrainian firm where Hunter Biden worked as a board member, according to memos obtained under a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. …
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Hunter Biden’s name, in fact, was specifically invoked by the Burisma representative as a reason the State Department should help, according to a series of email exchanges among U.S. officials trying to arrange the meeting.This is a screen shot of the key email:
Blue Star Strategies is an upper-end Washington lobbying firm:
A dynamic, bipartisan interdisciplinary government relations and public affairs consultancy based in Washington, DC with offices in Europe and Latin America serving global clients.
Karen Tramontano is the CEO of Blue Star Strategies, so Burisma and Hunter Biden were well represented. Ms. Tramontano’s request resulted in a State Department meeting within a week.
Another interesting connection: In July 2017, Daniel Erikson was named a Managing Director of Blue Star, in charge of the firm’s Latin American practice:
Erikson has had an outstanding career as a diplomat in the U.S. State Department and the White House, where he served as special advisor for Western Hemisphere Affairs to Vice President Joseph Biden on national security and economic matters related to Mexico, Canada, Central America, the Caribbean, and South America. In that capacity, Erikson was a key architect of the U.S.-Mexico High Level Economic Dialogue, U.S.-Caribbean-Central America Energy Summit, and the U.S. strategy for the Northern Triangle of Central America.
So the evidence is clear that Burisma parlayed its $3 million connection with Hunter Biden into access to the U.S. State Department.
Biden’s strong-arm bribery not only abetted his son but also helped Burisma get influence in the government.
He abused his position as Vice President to pull off this shit. The DOJ should have snagged his ass for this and charged him with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (15 USC 78dd-1):
It is illegal for a person to coerce or influence, through bribery or extortion, a foreign nation into taking action that might financially benefit that person, his family or business.
Or these:
Bribery (18 USC 201(b)):
Whoever—
(1) directly or indirectly, corruptly gives, offers or promises anything of value to any public official or person who has been selected to be a public official, or offers or promises any public official or any person who has been selected to be a public official to give anything of value to any other person or entity, with intent—
(A) to influence any official act; or
(B) to influence such public official or person who has been selected to be a public official to commit or aid in committing, or collude in, or allow, any fraud, or make opportunity for the commission of any fraud, on the United States; or
(C) to induce such public official or such person who has been selected to be a public official to do or omit to do any act in violation of the lawful duty of such official or person;
(2) being a public official or person selected to be a public official, directly or indirectly, corruptly demands, seeks, receives, accepts, or agrees to receive or accept anything of value personally or for any other person or entity, in return for:
(A) being influenced in the performance of any official act;
(B) being influenced to commit or aid in committing, or to collude in, or allow, any fraud, or make opportunity for the commission of any fraud, on the United States; or
(C) being induced to do or omit to do any act in violation of the official duty of such official or person;
(3) directly or indirectly, corruptly gives, offers, or promises anything of value to any person, or offers or promises such person to give anything of value to any other person or entity, with intent to influence the testimony under oath or affirmation of such first-mentioned person as a witness upon a trial, hearing, or other proceeding, before any court, any committee of either House or both Houses of Congress, or any agency, commission, or officer authorized by the laws of the United States to hear evidence or take testimony, or with intent to influence such person to absent himself therefrom;
(4) directly or indirectly, corruptly demands, seeks, receives, accepts, or agrees to receive or accept anything of value personally or for any other person or entity in return for being influenced in testimony under oath or affirmation as a witness upon any such trial, hearing, or other proceeding, or in return for absenting himself therefrom;
shall be fined under this title or not more than three times the monetary equivalent of the thing of value, whichever is greater, or imprisoned for not more than fifteen years, or both, and may be disqualified from holding any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.
Gratuities (18 USC 201 (c)):
Whoever—
(A) directly or indirectly gives, offers, or promises anything of value to any public official, former public official, or person selected to be a public official, for or because of any official act performed or to be performed by such public official, former public official, or person selected to be a public official; or
(B) being a public official, former public official, or person selected to be a public official, otherwise than as provided by law for the proper discharge of official duty, directly or indirectly demands, seeks, receives, accepts, or agrees to receive or accept anything of value personally for or because of any official act performed or to be performed by such official or person;
(2) directly or indirectly, gives, offers, or promises anything of value to any person, for or because of the testimony under oath or affirmation given or to be given by such person as a witness upon a trial, hearing, or other proceeding, before any court, any committee of either House or both Houses of Congress, or any agency, commission, or officer authorized by the laws of the United States to hear evidence or take testimony, or for or because of such person’s absence therefrom;
(3) directly or indirectly, demands, seeks, receives, accepts, or agrees to receive or accept anything of value personally for or because of the testimony under oath or affirmation given or to be given by such person as a witness upon any such trial, hearing, or other proceeding, or for or because of such person’s absence therefrom;
shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for not more than two years, or both.
Hobbs Act Extortion (18 USC 1951):
(a) Whoever in any way or degree obstructs, delays, or affects commerce or the movement of any article or commodity in commerce, by robbery or extortion or attempts or conspires so to do, or commits or threatens physical violence to any person or property in furtherance of a plan or purpose to do anything in violation of this section shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.
(b) As used in this section—
(1) The term “robbery” means the unlawful taking or obtaining of personal property from the person or in the presence of another, against his will, by means of actual or threatened force, or violence, or fear of injury, immediate or future, to his person or property, or property in his custody or possession, or the person or property of a relative or member of his family or of anyone in his company at the time of the taking or obtaining.
(2) The term “extortion” means the obtaining of property from another, with his consent, induced by wrongful use of actual or threatened force, violence, or fear, or under color of official right.
(3) The term “commerce” means commerce within the District of Columbia, or any Territory or Possession of the United States; all commerce between any point in a State, Territory, Possession, or the District of Columbia and any point outside thereof; all commerce between points within the same State through any place outside such State; and all other commerce over which the United States has jurisdiction.
Biden demanded that the prosecutor investigating the company that employed his son Hunter, be fired or Ukraine would not receive 1 billion dollars in aid. An investment firm linked to Hunter Biden received over $130 million in federal bailout loans while his father Joe Biden was vice president and routed profits through a subsidiary in the Cayman Islands, according to federal banking and corporate records.
The Bidens are a real crime syndicate. The left wing media ignores this in favor of contrived impeachment efforts against President Trump. They’re still distraught over the fact that he beat Hillary and she couldn’t continue Obama’s disastrous legacy.
That’s the way this game is played. One set of rules for Dems, another set of rules for everyone else.
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Related post:
http://sfcmac.com/biden-and-sons-deals-with-ukraine/