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Ukrainian collusion (view source)
Revision as of 08:29, September 29, 2019
, 08:29, September 29, 2019→Steele dossier
At this point, the questioning abruptly moved on and no further questions involving either Manafort or Leshchenko were put forth. Ohr was never asked if she had ever met with Leshchenko directly.
At this point, the questioning abruptly moved on and no further questions involving either Manafort or Leshchenko were put forth. Ohr was never asked if she had ever met with Leshchenko directly.
===Ukrainian prosecutors===
===Alexandra Chalupa and the DNC===
According to the ''Kyiv Post'', {{quotebox|“Chalupa said she first came across Manafort after she organized a meeting with then-U.S. President Barack Obama’s [[National Security Council]] and leaders of Ukrainian-American organizations in January 2014, to brief the [[White House]] about the [[Euromaidan Revolution]] that drove President Viktor Yanukovych from power on Feb. 22, 2014.”}}
According to the ''Kyiv Post'', {{quotebox|“Chalupa said she first came across Manafort after she organized a meeting with then-U.S. President Barack Obama’s [[National Security Council]] and leaders of Ukrainian-American organizations in January 2014, to brief the [[White House]] about the [[Euromaidan Revolution]] that drove President Viktor Yanukovych from power on Feb. 22, 2014.”}}
The “Democratic operative” refers to Chalupa, while the “Ukrainian lawmaker” refers to Leshchenko.
The “Democratic operative” refers to Chalupa, while the “Ukrainian lawmaker” refers to Leshchenko.
===Michael Isikoff===
===Michael Isikoff and Yahoo News===
On April 26, 2016, Yahoo News investigative reporter Michael Isikoff published a story about Paul Manafort's business dealings with Russian oligarch [[Oleg Deripaska]].
On April 26, 2016, Yahoo News investigative reporter Michael Isikoff published a story about Paul Manafort's business dealings with Russian oligarch [[Oleg Deripaska]].
In late July, according to the ''Politico'' article, Chalupa left the DNC to work full-time on her research into Manafort. Around the same time, on Aug. 4, 2016, Chaly, the Ukrainian ambassador, wrote an op-ed in ''The Hill'' against candidate Trump, noting that “recent comments by [[Republican]] nominee [[Donald Trump]] about the Ukrainian peninsula of [[Crimea]]—occupied by Russia since March 2014—have raised serious concerns in Kyiv and beyond Ukraine.”
In late July, according to the ''Politico'' article, Chalupa left the DNC to work full-time on her research into Manafort. Around the same time, on Aug. 4, 2016, Chaly, the Ukrainian ambassador, wrote an op-ed in ''The Hill'' against candidate Trump, noting that “recent comments by [[Republican]] nominee [[Donald Trump]] about the Ukrainian peninsula of [[Crimea]]—occupied by Russia since March 2014—have raised serious concerns in Kyiv and beyond Ukraine.”
===Ukrainian prosecutors===
Following the successful overthrow of Ukrainian President Yanukovych, Biden had a direct hand in the formation of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau or NABU as he personally “pushed for the creation of an independent anti-corruption bureau to combat graft."
NABU was formally established in October 2014 in response to pressure from not only from the U.S. State Department and Biden, but also by the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission.
Despite the international push, the fledgling anti-corruption unit took over a year to actually become a functioning unit. During this time, NABU officials began establishing a relationship with the [[FBI]]. In early 2016, NABU director Artem Sytnyk announced that his bureau was very close to signing a Memorandum of cooperation with the FBI and by February 2016, the FBI had had a permanent representative onsite at the NABU offices.
On June 5, 2016, Sytnyk met with U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt to discuss a more formalized relationship with the FBI and on June 30, 2016, NABU and the FBI entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that allowed for an FBI office onsite at NABU offices to focus on international money laundering cases. The relationship was renewed for an additional two years in June 2017.
NABU has repeatedly refused to make the Memorandum of Understanding with the FBI public and went to court in 2018 to prevent its release. After receiving an unfavorable opinion from the Kyiv District Administrative Court, NABU appealed the ruling which was overturned in their favor by the Sixth Administrative Court of Appeal.
Serhiy Leshchenko became the subject of an investigation in December 2018 after a [[Kyiv]] court ruled that Leshchenko, along with NABU Director Artem Sytnyk acted illegally when they illegally leaked Manafort's name in the Black Ledger.<ref>https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/publication-of-manafort-payments-violated-law-interfered-in-us-election-kyiv-court-rules.html</ref><ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/12/world/europe/ukraine-paul-manafort.html Ukrainian CourtRuled Manafort Disclosure Caused 'Meddling' in U.S. Election], ''The New York Times.''</ref> The court ruled the disclosure broke the law and “led to interference in the electoral processes of the United States in 2016 and harmed the interests of Ukraine as a state."<ref>https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/434892-senior-ukrainian-justice-official-says-hes-opened-probe-into-us-election</ref>
In Dec. 2017, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko accused Sytnyk of allowing the FBI to conduct illegal operations in Ukraine, claiming that the “U.S. law enforcers were allegedly invited without the permission required and in breach of the necessary procedures.” Lutsenko continued, asking “who actually let the foreign special service act in Ukraine?”
Taras Chornovil, a Ukrainian political analyst, also questioned the FBI's activities, writing that “some kind of undercover operations are being conducted in Ukraine with direct participation (or even under control) of the FBI. This means the FBI operatives could have access to classified data or confidential information.”
Prosecutor General Lutsenko called for an audit of NABU, claiming to “possess information of interest to the auditors” and was pushing for Sytnyk's resignation, along with that of Nazar Kholodnitskiy, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP). According to reporting by Euromaiden Press, Lutsenko's efforts failed “thanks to the reaction from Ukraine’s American partners.”
[[Michael Carpenter]], an advisor to former vice-president Joe Biden, personally issued a public warning to Lutsenko and others pushing for Sytnyk's removal, stating, “If the Rada votes to dismiss the head of the Anticorruption Committee and the head of the NABU, I will recommend cutting all U.S. government assistance to #Ukraine, including security assistance.”
===US Embassy in Kiev===
Lutsenko accused the Obama-era U.S. Embassy in 2016 of interfering in his office's ability to prosecute corruption cases, saying the U.S. ambassador gave him a list of defendants that he could not pursue, then refused to cooperate in an investigation into alleged misappropriation of U.S. funds to aid Ukraine. Embassy official George Kent wrote, “We are gravely concerned about this investigation for which we see no basis."<ref>https://html1-f.scribdassets.com/6ngpwwr6yo6tov9k/images/1-204cb3458d.jpg</ref> Ukrainian officials said, {{quotebox|The implied message to Ukraine’s prosecutors was clear: Don’t target AntAC in the middle of an America presidential election in which [[Soros]] was backing Hillary Clinton to succeed another Soros favorite, [[Barack Obama]].}}
Kostiantyn Kulyk, deputy head of the Prosecutor General's International Legal Cooperation Department, said senior Ukrainian [[law enforcement]] officials have tried since 2018 to get [[visa]]s from the U.S. Embassy in Kiev to deliver their evidence of Obama-era wrongdoing by [[Democrat]]s to Washington but have been thwarted. “We were supposed to share this information during a working trip to the United States. However, the U.S. ambassador blocked us from obtaining a visa." House Rules Committee chairman Pete Sessions asked [[Secretary of State]] [[Mike Pompeo]] to recall the current U.S. ambassador who has spoken against U.S policy in 2018.<ref>https://html2-f.scribdassets.com/36o8ydebgg6touoh/images/1-b12b1ad1d1.jpg</ref>
Kulyk said one focus of investigators has been as disbursements of much as $7 billion in Ukrainian funds spirited unlawfully out of the country and moved to the United States by businessmen friendly to the prior regime of Viktor Yanukovych. Ukrainian businessmen “authorized payments for lobbying efforts directed at the U.S. government,” he told me. “In addition, these payments were made from funds that were acquired during the [[money-laundering]] operation. We have information that a U.S. company was involved in these payments.” That company is tied to one or more prominent Democrats.
Ukrainian investigators also gathered evidence that money paid to a Democrat allegedly was hidden by Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) during the 2016 election under pressure from the Obama administration. “In the course of this investigation, we found that there was a situation during which influence was exerted on the NABU, so that the name of the American would not be mentioned.<ref>https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/437719-ukrainian-to-us-prosecutors-why-dont-you-want-our-evidence-on-democrats</ref>
===Serhiy Leshchenko===
===Serhiy Leshchenko===