Dem senators threatened withholding aid to Ukraine

U.S. Capitol (courtesy Pixabay)

It's already been pointed out that if there is concern about U.S. officials inappropriately threatening aid to Ukraine -- the charge by Democrats against President Trump -- Joe Biden has some explaining to do.

He's on video boasting at a Council on Foreign Relations forum that by threatening to withhold U.S. aid, he forced Ukraine to fire the prosecutor who was investigating a company, Burisma Holdings, from which his son received a $50,000 monthly stipend.

But there are a few other Democrats who also have some explaining to do, writes Marc Thiessen in a column for the Washington Post

He noted little attention was paid to CNN's report in May that Sens. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., Richard Durbin, D-Ill., and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., wrote a letter to Ukraine's prosecutor general, Yuriy Lutsenko, expressing concern about the closing of four investigations they said were critical to Robert Mueller's special counsel probe of alleged Trump-Russia collusion.

In the letter, he pointed out, they implied that their support for U.S. assistance to Ukraine was at stake.

Describing themselves as "strong advocates for a robust and close relationship with Ukraine," the Democratic senators declared: "We have supported (the) capacity-building process and are disappointed that some in Kyiv appear to have cast aside these (democratic) principles to avoid the ire of President Trump."

They then demanded that Lutsenko "reverse course and halt any efforts to impede cooperation with this important investigation."

Thiessen concluded: "So, it's OK for Democratic senators to encourage Ukraine to investigate Trump, but it’s not OK for the president to allegedly encourage Ukraine to investigate Hunter Biden?"

Regarding Biden's threat to withhold $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees to Ukraine if the government did not fire the country's top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, Thiessen cited the New York Times.

"Among those who had a stake in the outcome was Hunter Biden ... who at the time was on the board of an energy company owned by a Ukrainian oligarch who had been in the sights of the fired prosecutor general," the Times said.

The Washington Post said it was "unclear how seriously Shokin — who was under fire by U.S. and European officials for not taking a more aggressive posture toward corruption overall — was scrutinizing Burisma when he was forced out."

But Thiessen pointed out that what is clear is that Biden bragged about getting him fired.

"I looked at them and said, ‘I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money.’ Well ... He got fired."