If Ukraine reopened Burisma-Bidengate in 2018, how could there be a quid pro quo in July 2019?

Oct. 7, 2019, Fairfax, Va.–Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning issued the following statement on House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry in light of reporting from The Hill in April, months before the July 25 Trump-Zelensky call, saying that both Burisma and former Vice President Joe Biden were already actively under investigation and that they were requesting mutual legal assistance from the U.S.:

“Based on public statements to The Hill in April by then-Ukrainian Prosecutor General Lutsenko and his office that their investigation into Burisma and Joe Biden was reopened in 2018 long before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was ever elected in April 2019, then there could not have been a quid pro quo in the July 25, 2019 conversation between President Donald Trump and Zelensky. Ukraine says it began its investigation in 2018 after Biden bragged to the Council on Foreign Relations in Jan. 2018 that he had Lutsenko’s predecessor fired and wanted Attorney General Barr to look at it. While it is unclear if Biden was bragging or telling the truth, Ukraine’s government well before the Trump-Zelensky call was actively investigating both Burisma and the firing to see if there was any corrupt activity. They were asking for our help, and Zelensky reaffirmed it in his conversation with Trump, asking the U.S. for mutual legal assistance in the investigation.

“Anyone who actually wants to find out what happened in the Trump-Zelensky phone call must put it into this context of the April 2019 reporting from The Hill’s John Solomon, which quotes Lutsenko and his lead prosecutor on the case at the time, as requesting help from Attorney General Barr, and the transcript, which quotes Zelensky specifically requesting assistance. When put into this context, Adam Schiff can come up with as many coached, so-called whistleblowers as he likes, but the facts refute all of them and completely undermines any pretext for Nancy Pelosi’s impeachment. The facts are so obvious that even Sen. Mitt Romney should be able to figure them out.”

Attachments:

“It was Ukraine that reopened the Burisma-Biden probe in 2018 and sought U.S. mutual legal assistance to look at it, not the other way around,” By Robert Romano, Oct. 7, 2019 at http://dailytorch.com/2019/10/it-was-ukraine-that-reopened-the-burisma-biden-probe-in-2018-and-sought-u-s-mutual-legal-assistance-to-look-at-it-not-the-other-way-around/#comment-4643329611

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 1 or at media@limitgov.org.

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