State Dept. Docs Reveal Yovanovitch Downplayed Burisma Scandal in 2019 Impeachment
Newly declassified documents show State Department officials knew Burisma was corrupt, contradicting testimony during Trump’s 2019 impeachment.
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Recently declassified State Department documents have revealed that former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch downplayed the corruption scandal surrounding Burisma during her testimony in the 2019 impeachment trial of President Donald Trump. The documents, obtained and reviewed by Just The News, contradict Yovanovitch’s earlier claims that the issue was not a significant concern.
Yovanovitch’s Testimony Contradicted by Internal Documents
During the October 11, 2019, hearing, Yovanovitch was asked by a congressional investigator whether she had been briefed on issues related to Burisma. She responded that she had not, stating, “I don’t recall that I was briefed on that. All I can tell you is it was a long time ago, and it just wasn’t a big issue.” This testimony was later echoed by Yovanovitch, who reportedly insisted once again that the Burisma issue “just wasn’t a big deal.”
However, the newly declassified documents show that Yovanovitch and her aides were well aware of the corruption concerns surrounding Burisma long before the hearing. According to Just The News, Yovanovitch and her top aides engaged in dozens of communications between 2016 and 2019 about Burisma, Hunter Biden, and Mykola Zlochevsky, who was the owner of Burisma. The documents indicate that the State Department viewed Burisma as a corrupt entity and that its legal defense teams and lobbyists were actively trying to suppress investigations into the company.
Internal Emails Highlight Concerns Over Biden Family Ties
One particularly telling email was sent by George Kent, Yovanovitch’s top deputy in Kyiv, on November 22, 2016. The email highlighted the importance of addressing the Bidens’ connections to Burisma, stating that “the real issue to my mind was that someone in Washington needed to engage VP Biden quietly and say that his son Hunter’s presence on the Burisma board undercut the anti-corruption message the VP and we were advancing in Ukraine because Ukrainians heard one message from us and then saw another set of behavior with the family association with a known corrupt figure whose company was known for not playing by the rules.”
🚨🚨🚨 BOMBSHELL: THE EMAIL THEY HID FROM AMERICA 🚨🚨🚨 A previously CLASSIFIED email from top U.S. diplomat George Kent to Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch has just been released — and it changes EVERYTHING about the 2019 impeachment. Kent warned that Joe Biden needed to be quietly told that his son Hunter’s board seat at Burisma was ACTIVELY UNDERMINING America’s anti-corruption efforts in Ukraine…
This email, which is considered by John Solomon, founder of Just The News, to be “the single most important document” they discovered, contradicts the narrative that was presented during the impeachment trial. It suggests that the Bidens’ involvement with Burisma was a major concern for the State Department, not a minor issue as Yovanovitch claimed.
Meetings with Burisma Executives
Yovanovitch also reportedly met with Burisma executive Vadim Pozharskyi on at least two occasions. These meetings, which were not disclosed during her testimony, further indicate that the State Department was closely monitoring the company’s activities and its ties to high-profile individuals like Hunter Biden.
Implications for the Impeachment Process
John Solomon emphasized that the findings from the declassified documents significantly challenge the narrative that was presented during the 2019 impeachment proceedings. He stated, “The story that the Democrats’ key witnesses, particularly some State Department employees, told was not completely accurate. There are some very significant new revelations in these documents showing that Burisma and Hunter Biden and the Biden family scandal in Ukraine was much more consuming to the State Department than we were told during the 2019 impeachment proceedings against President Trump.”
Solomon also noted that if Trump’s legal team had access to the Kent email during the impeachment process, it could have fundamentally altered the course of the trial. He added, “Imagine if President Trump’s lawyers had access to that in the fall of 2019. That, in fact, Hunter Biden had harmed U.S. policy by undercutting the anti-corruption efforts. It was the opposite of what was testified to. But the truth now is written in these documents. And for the first time, the American public gets to see it.”
Broader Implications for U.S. Foreign Policy
The revelations from these documents not only cast doubt on Yovanovitch’s testimony but also raise broader questions about the transparency and accountability of U.S. diplomats and officials when dealing with foreign corruption. The fact that the State Department was deeply involved in addressing Burisma’s corruption suggests that the issue was far more significant than previously acknowledged.
As the documents reveal, the State Department was not only aware of the corruption but was also actively engaged in efforts to address it. This raises the possibility that the impeachment proceedings were based on incomplete or misleading information, which could have serious implications for how such cases are handled in the future.
Conclusion
The declassified documents from the State Department provide a stark contrast to the testimony given by Yovanovitch during the 2019 impeachment trial. They reveal a much more complex and significant situation regarding the Burisma scandal, which was downplayed by the ambassador. As the American public now has access to these documents, it underscores the importance of transparency and accountability in both domestic and foreign policy matters.
Source: The Gateway Pundit
