By John Soloman
For weeks now, Democratic members of Congress, career State Department and National Security Council experts and their allies in the media suggest questions about Joe Biden and a Ukrainian gas company and Ukraine meddling in the 2016 election were nothing more than debunked conspiracy theories.
In reality, the facts on both these issues are clearly substantiated. And as I pointed out last week, many of the witnesses that House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff called during the impeachment proceedings confirmed concerns about both.
Here is a detailed timeline of key events in the Ukraine scandal, complete with the corroborating evidence. You make your own judgement as to what happened.
February 2014.
Vice President Joe Biden named by President Obama to be U.S. point man on Ukrainian crisis after Euromaidan Revolution of Dignity leads to ouster of Viktor Yanukovych as Ukrainian president.
February 21, 2014
George Soros’ Open Society Foundation publishes anticorruption strategy for Ukraine identifying the Anti-Corruption Action Centre, a nonprofit that Soros’ foundation and the U.S. State Department jointly fund, as the leading edge of the foundation’s strategy for Ukraine.
Validation: https://www.scribd.com/document/403223726/Open-Society-2014-Memo
March 2014
New Ukrainian elections set for May 2014 and Petro Poroshenko emerges as top Western-friendly candidate for president.
April 13, 2014:
Devon Archer, the business partner of Hunter Biden, son of the VP, and Christopher Heinz, stepson of Secretary of State John Kerry, is named an independent director of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings.
Validation: https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-27403003
April 15, 2014:
Burisma Holdings makes two payments to the Morgan Stanley account of Devon Archer’s and Hunter Biden’s firm Rosemont Seneca Bohai in the amounts of $83,333.33 and $29,424.82, according to financial records obtained by Ukrainian authorities and the FBI.
Validation: Burisma Holdings financial records obtained by Ukraine Prosecutor General’s Office. https://www.scribd.com/document/436048670/Burisma-Holdings-Accounting-Ledger
FBI records obtained from Rosemont Seneca Bohai: https://www.scribd.com/document/404001731/Rosemont-Seneca-Partners-Court-File
April 15, 2014:
Devon Archer, Hunter Biden’s partner in Rosemont Seneca Bohai and Burisma Holdings, checks into White House for meeting with Vice President Joe Biden, according to the Secret Service’s official WAVES entry logs for the Obama White House.
April 22, 2014:
VP Joe Biden meets with Ukraine Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and urges Ukraine to ramp up energy production to free itself from its Russian natural gas dependence. Biden boasts that “an American team is currently in the region working with Ukraine and its neighbors to increase Ukraine’s short-term energy supply.” Yatsenyuk welcomes help from American “investors” in modernizing natural gas supply lines in Ukraine.
April 24, 2014:
Joe Biden meets with candidate Poroshenko.
April 28, 2014:
Britain’s Serious Fraud Office freezes $23 million in assets kept in London by Burisma Holdings and its founder, Mykola Zlochevsky, on grounds it was fraudulently transferred from Ukraine. Zlochevsky and Burisma deny wrongdoing.
Validation: https://www.sfo.gov.uk/cases/ukraine-money-laundering-investigation/
May 13, 2014
Hunter Biden announced as a board member for Ukraine’s largest natural gas company Burisma Holdings, which is run by Mykola Zlochevsky, a former Cabinet official for ousted president Victor Yanukovych.
Validation: https://www.cnbc.com/2014/05/13/bidens-son-joins-ukraine-gas-companys-board-of-directors.html
May 13, 2014
Christopher Heinz, business partner to Devon Archer and Hunter Biden and stepson to John Kerry, sends email to Secretary of State’s top aides distancing himself from Archer, Biden appointments to Burisma Holdings board, according to FOIA released to Citizens United.
Validation: https://www.scribd.com/document/433436789/CU-v-State-FOIA-Doc-Ukraine
May 15, 2014
Burisma Holdings makes two equal $83,333.33 payments totaling $166,666.66 to the Morgan Stanley account of Hunter Biden’s and Devon Archer’s firm Rosemont Seneca Bohai, according to the company’s official ledger and Rosemont Seneca Bohais bank records obtained by the FBI. Similar payments are made every month for more than a year.
Validation: Burisma Holdings financial records released by Ukraine Prosecutor General’s Office: https://www.scribd.com/document/436048670/Burisma-Holdings-Accounting-Ledger
Rosemont Seneca records seized by FBI: https://www.scribd.com/document/404001731/Rosemont-Seneca-Partners-Court-File
May 20, 2014
David Leiter, former chief of staff to John Kerry, hired as a lobbyist for Burisma Holdings, Senate lobbying records show. The firm is paid $90,000 in 2014 to lobby Congress and the State Department.
Validation: https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/client_reports.php?id=F212407&year=2014
May 25, 2014
Poroshenko wins the Ukraine presidential election
July 5, 2014:
Burisma Holdings pays $250,000 retainer to Boies Schiller law firm where board member Hunter Biden also works.
Validation: Burisma Holdings financial records released by Ukraine Prosecutor General’s Office: https://www.scribd.com/document/436048670/Burisma-Holdings-Accounting-Ledger
Aug. 20, 2014
Ukraine Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin’s office opens criminal investigation of Burisma Holdings and Mykola Zlochevsky for alleged corrupt award of gas exploration permits and eventual looting of company, according to Ukrainian prosecutor general’s case file.
Sept. 16, 2014
Burisma Holdings makes $33,039.77 payment to Boies Schiller law firm, according to company records.
Validation: Burisma Holdings accounting ledger obtained by Ukraine Prosecutor General’s Office https://www.scribd.com/document/436048670/Burisma-Holdings-Accounting-Ledger
December 16, 2014
Former deputy national security adviser Tony Blinken, a longtime Joe Biden adviser, confirmed by Senate as Deputy Secretary of State under John Kerry.
Jan. 18, 2015:
Prosecutor General’s office in Ukraine declares Burisma Holdings founder Mykola Zlochevsky a fugitive “wanted in Ukraine.”
Jan. 29, 2015:
British Serious Fraud Office announces it is closing down investigation into Burisma and Zlochevsky for insufficient evidence.
Validation: https://www.sfo.gov.uk/cases/ukraine-money-laundering-investigation/
March 18, 2015
VP Biden has phone call with President Poroshenko.
Validation: https://ua.usembassy.gov/readout-vice-presidents-call-ukrainian-president-petro-poroshenko-6/
March 30, 2015:
George Soros announces plans to invest $1 billion in Ukrainian energy and technology sectors.
Validation: https://money.cnn.com/2015/03/30/investing/ukraine-soros-billion-russia/index.html
April 15, 2015
VP Joe Biden speaks in Ukraine, praising the decision to appoint a new head of the NABU, the new Ukrainian law enforcement investigative arm set up by United States.
March 22, 2015:
Hunter Biden emails his father’s longtime trusted aide, Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken, with the following message: “Have a few minutes next week to grab a cup of coffee? I know you are impossibly busy, but would like to get your advice on a couple of things, Best, Hunter.”
Blinken responds the same day with an “absolutely” and added, “Look forward to seeing you.”
The records indicate the two men were scheduled to meet the afternoon of May 27, 2015.
Validation: https://www.scribd.com/document/436054889/Hunter-Biden-Blinken-May-2015-Contacts
June 11, 2015
Burisma Holdings makes $20,000 donation to the Delaware Community Foundation in the name of Beau Biden, the vice president’s oldest son who died of cancer, according to the company’s financial records released by Ukraine prosecutor general’s office.
Validation: https://www.scribd.com/document/436048670/Burisma-Holdings-Accounting-Ledger
June 12, 2015
VP Biden calls President Poroshenko.
Validation: https://ua.usembassy.gov/readout-vice-presidents-call-ukrainian-president-petro-poroshenko-8/
July 15, 2015
VP Biden and Commerce Secretary Pritzker attend first ever US-Ukraine Chamber of Business meeting.
Validation: https://www.uschamber.com/first-annual-us-ukraine-business-forum
July 22, 2015:
Hunter Biden meets with Deputy Secretary Tony Blinken for lunch at State Department, according to State Department memos.
Validation: https://www.scribd.com/document/433389212/Biden-Blinken-Meeting
July 24, 2015:
VP Biden calls President Poroshenko, raises concerns about anti-corruption efforts in Ukraine.
Validation: https://ua.usembassy.gov/readout-vice-presidents-call-ukrainian-president-petro-poroshenko-10/
Aug. 16, 2015
Devon Archer throws a $10,000 a plate fund-raiser in New York for the Seed Global Health charity founded by Secretary of State Kerry’s daughter, Dr. Vanessa Kerry, according to official invite.
Validation: https://www.scribd.com/document/432522987/Devon-Archer-Fundraiser-Vanessa-Kerry
Aug. 28, 2015
VP Biden calls President Poroshenko
Validation: https://ua.usembassy.gov/readout-vice-presidents-call-ukrainian-president-petro-poroshenko-082815/
Sept. 25, 2015:
U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt gives speech imploring Ukrainian prosecutors to do more to bring Burisma’s Zlochevsky to justice.
Validation: https://www.rferl.org/a/us-ambassador-upbraids-ukraine-over-corruption-efforts/27271294.html
Sept. 29, 2015
VP Biden meets with President Poroshenko in Ukraine.
Validation: https://ua.usembassy.gov/readout-vice-president-bidens-meeting-ukrainian-president-petro-poroshenko/
Nov. 5, 2015
VP Biden calls President Poroshenko.
Validation: https://ua.usembassy.gov/readout-vice-president-bidens-call-ukrainian-president-petro-poroshenko-110515/
Nov. 18, 2015
Burisma Holdings makes $60,000 payment to the American legal, lobbying and communications firm Blue Star Strategies for consulting work, according to company’s official ledger.
Validation: https://www.scribd.com/document/436048670/Burisma-Holdings-Accounting-Ledger
Dec. 7, 2015
VP Biden meets with President Poroshenko and demands the president make “hard decisions” to eliminate “the cancer of corruption” in his country.
Validation: https://ua.usembassy.gov/remarks-vice-president-joe-biden-ukrainian-president-petro-poroshenko-bilateral-meeting/
Dec. 8, 2015
The New York Times publishes article stating Prosecutor General Shokin’s office is investigating Burisma Holdings and its founder Zlochecvsky, and that Hunter Biden’s participation on Burisma board is undercutting Joe Biden’s anticorruption message in Ukraine. VP Biden office quoted in story.
Validation: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/09/world/europe/corruption-ukraine-joe-biden-son-hunter-biden-ties.html
Jan. 21-24, 2016:
Obama White House invites leaders of Ukraine’s general prosecutor office to Washington for a hastily arranged set of meetings to discuss anticorruption cases, including Burisma and Party of Regions case involving Paul Manafort..
Validation: https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/440730-how-the-obama-white-house-engaged-ukraine-to-give-russia-collusion
Feb. 4, 2016
Ukraine general prosecutor’s office under the direction of Viktor Shokin announces the seizure of assets from Burisma Holdings founder Mykola Zlochevsky under a continuing criminal investigation. The seizure occurred on Feb. 2, 2016, according to the announcement.
Validation: https://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/322395.html
Feb. 4, 2016
Burisma board member Hunter Biden sends a Twitter notification to Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken, a longtime adviser to Joe Biden, indicating he is following Blinken on Twitter.
Validation: https://www.scribd.com/document/433389211/HunterBidenFollowBlinkenTwitter
Feb. 11, 18, 19, 2016
VP Biden holds series of phone calls with President Poroshenko to check on status of pending items from their December 2015 meeting.
Validation: https://ua.usembassy.gov/readout-vice-president-bidens-calls-prime-minister-arseniy-yatsenyuk-president-petro-poroshenko-ukraine-021916/
Feb. 24-March 1, 2016:
An American representative for Burisma Holdings, Karen Tramontano of Blue Star Strategies, seeks meeting with Undersecretary of State Catherine A. Novelli to discuss ending the corruption allegations against the Ukrainian gas firm. Hunter Biden’s name was specifically invoked by the Burisma representative as a reason the State Department should help. “Per our conversation, Karen Tramontano of Blue Star Strategies requested a meeting to discuss with U/S Novelli USG remarks alleging Burisma (Ukrainian energy company) of corruption.”
Validation: https://www.scribd.com/document/433389210/Bluestar-Novelli-Contacts
March 2, 2016:
Devon Archer, a business partner of Hunter Biden and fellow American board member on Burisma Holdings, secures meeting with Secretary of State John Kerry, State Department memos say.
Validation: https://www.scribd.com/document/433389208/Archer-Meeting-Kerry
March 15, 2016
Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland demands Ukraine “appoint and confirm a new, clean Prosecutor General, who is committed to rebuilding the integrity of the PGO, and investigate, indict and successfully prosecute corruption and asset recovery cases – including locking up dirty personnel in the PGO itself.”
Validation: https://ua.usembassy.gov/ukrainian-reforms-two-years-maidan-revolution-russian-invasion/
March 22, 2016
VP Joe Biden engages in phone call from Washington DC with Ukrainian president Poroshenko about U.S. loan guarantees. It is believed in this call that Biden renews his demands that the president fire Prosecutor General Shokin, who is overseeing the Burisma prosecution, or risk losing the next $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees.
Validation: https://ua.usembassy.gov/readout-vice-president-bidens-call-president-petro-poroshenko-ukraine-032216/
March 29, 2016
Ukraine parliament fires Prosecutor General Shokin at urging of President Poroshenko.
March 29, 2016:
John Buretta, an American lawyer hired by Burisma Holdings, seeks to contact the Acting Prosecutor General Sevruk seeking a meeting about the Burisma investigation just hours after his boss, Prosecutor General Shokin, was fired under pressure from VP Joe Biden, according to email Buretta’s legal team sent the Ukraine embassy in Washington.
Validation: https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/463307-solomon-these-once-secret-memos-cast-doubt-on-joe-bidens-ukraine-story
March 30, 2016:
Burisma Holdings’ U.S. legal team seeks help of Ukrainian embassy official Andrii Telizhenko in Washington seeking urgent meeting with new Acting Prosecutor General of Ukraine, according to legal team’s email to embassy.
Validation: https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/463307-solomon-these-once-secret-memos-cast-doubt-on-joe-bidens-ukraine-story
March 31, 2016
VP Joe Biden arrives in Ukraine and announces $1 billion in loan guarantees, ending threat to withhold aid and force Ukraine into debt default, and also delivers $239 million more in promised aid.
Validation: https://ua.usembassy.gov/readout-vice-president-bidens-meeting-president-petro-poroshenko-ukraine-033116/
April 4, 2016:
George Kent, a senior US official at the American embassy in Ukraine, writes a letter asking Ukrainian general prosecutor’s office to stand down their investigation of the Soros-funded group the Anti-Corruption Action Centre.
Validation: https://www.scribd.com/document/402559592/Embassy2GPLetter4-4-16
April 6, 2016
Burisma Holdings’ U.S. legal team of John Buretta, Sally Painter and Karen Tramontano meets with Ukraine’s Acting Prosecutor General Sevruk to seek resolution of Burisma criminal investigation. American lawyers apologize for “false information” spread by U.S. government to force the firing of Shokin and offer Prosecutor General’s office an olive branch of arranging a meeting in Washington to clear the air.
Validation: Official Prosecutor General’s memo of meeting: https://www.scribd.com/document/427618143/Ukraine-PGO-Memo-Untranslated
English translation: https://www.scribd.com/document/427616178/Ukraine-PGO-Memo-Translation
April 14, 2016
VP Biden calls President Poroshenko and “stressed the urgency of putting in place a new Prosecutor General who would bolster the agency’s anti-corruption efforts.
Validation: https://ua.usembassy.gov/readout-vice-president-bidens-call-president-petro-poroshenko-ukraine-041416/
May 4, 2016:
DNC contractor Alexandra Chalupa writes email to bosses at party headquarters derailing her work to get dirt on Trump and Manafort from Ukraine.
Validation: https://wikileaks.org/dnc-emails/emailid/3962
May 12, 2016
Yurii Lutsenko named the new Prosecutor General of Ukraine, taking over investigations that include Burisma Holdings. VP Joe Biden later praises Lutsenko as a “solid guy” during 2018 speech at Atlantic Counsel.
Validation: : https://www.cfr.org/event/foreign-affairs-issue-launch-former-vice-president-joe-biden
May 25, 2016:
Senior George Soros adviser provides private briefing to Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland about Russian bond market, according to official State Department memo of briefing.
Validation: https://www.scribd.com/document/421082234/SorosNulandRussia-Bond-Market
May 27, 2016
VP Biden holds phone call with President Poroshenko.
Validation: https://ua.usembassy.gov/readout-vice-president-bidens-call-president-petro-poroshenko-ukraine-052716/
June 1, 2016:
George Soros seeks and receives a telephonic meeting with Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland to discuss Ukraine, according to the official State Department record of call
Validation: https://www.scribd.com/document/421081817/SorosNulandJune1-2016-Contacts-Ukraine
Aug. 4, 2016:
Ukraine’s ambassador to Washington, Valeriy Chaly, takes extraordinary step of writing an OpEd in The Hill intervening in the US presidential election, slamming Trump’s policies and comments on Russia.
Validation: https://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/international/290411-ukraines-ambassador-trumps-comments-send-wrong-message-to
Aug. 12, 2016
Phone call between VP Biden and President Poroshenko
Sept. 20, 2016
VP Biden meets President Poroshenko on sidelines of UN meeting. Confirms $1 billion in loan guarantees has been made.
Validation: https://ua.usembassy.gov/readout-vice-president-bidens-meeting-president-petro-poroshenko-ukraine/
Nov. 8, 2016
Donald Trump wins election to become 45th president of United States, ending eight years of Democratic control of the White House.
Dec. 15, 2016
VP Biden holds phone call with Ukraine president and prime minister, praises work of NABU.
Jan. 11, 2017:
Politico reports possible effort by DNC contractor Alexandra Chalupa to seek Russia dirt on Trump and Manafort from Ukraine embassy in Washington during 2016 election.
Validation: https://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/ukraine-sabotage-trump-backfire-233446
Jan. 17-18, 2017
Biden makes final appearance in Ukraine with President Poroshenko.
Validation: https://ua.usembassy.gov/remarks-vice-president-joe-biden-joint-press-availability-ukrainian-president-petro-poroshenko/
February 1, 2017:
John Buretta, the American lawyer for Burisma Holdings, gives interview in Kiev confirming there were criminal cases open in 2016 in Ukraine but all have been settled, the last with a penalty for tax violations.
Jan. 25, 2018
Former VP Biden boasts at Council of Foreign Relations events in Washington that he strong-armed Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko into firing Prosecutor General Shokin, using loan guarantees as leverage. He also calls Shokin’s replacement, Yuriy Lutsenko, “solid.”
Validation: https://www.cfr.org/event/foreign-affairs-issue-launch-former-vice-president-joe-biden
May 9, 2018
House Rules Committee chairman Pete Sessions writes letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo demanding removal of US Ambassador to Kiev Marie Yovanovitch.
Validation: https://www.scribd.com/document/402558867/Sessions-Pompeo-correspondence-2018
December 12, 2018:
Ukrainian court rules that the efforts by Ukrainian parliamentary member Sergey Leschenko and NABU chief Artem Sytnyk to publicize the Manafort black ledger documents in 2016 were an improper foreign intervention in the American presidential election.
Validation: https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/publication-of-manafort-payments-violated-law-interfered-in-us-election-kyiv-court-rules.html
Feb. 10, 2019
NABU revives dormant Burisma case, drafting a notice of suspicion against founder Mykola Zlochevsky and asking the special anticorruption prosecutor of Ukraine to bring Zlochevsky in for questioning.
Validation: https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/nabu-prepares-draft-notice-of-suspicion-on-episode-involving-ex-minister-zlochevsky.html
March 28, 2019
Ukraine General Prosecutor’s office under the authority of Deputy Prosecutor General Kulyk announces it has opened a new money laundering investigation against Burisma founder Zlochevsky.
Validation: https://www.scribd.com/document/429942801/March282019NoticeofSuspicionZolchevskyBurisma
May 2, 2019:
Ukraine embassy in Washington issues statement confirming that in spring 2016 the DNC contractor Alexandra Chalupa sought the embassy’s help seeking dirt on Donald Trump and Paul Manafort and asking for Ukraine’s president to meet with an investigative reporter working on the issue.
Validation: https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/441892-ukrainian-embassy-confirms-dnc-contractor-solicited-trump-dirt-in-2016
Text of statement: https://www.scribd.com/document/432699412/Ukraine-Chaly-Statement-on-Chalupa-042519
May 16, 2019:
Artem Sytnyk, head of Ukraine’s National Anticorruption Bureau (NABU), confirms investigations remain open against Burisma and its founder Zlochevsky.
Validation: https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/sytnyk-nabu-has-not-closed-cases-related-to-zlochevsky.html
