It was a delicate personality at an explosive time: in mid-May 2014, it was announced that the son of former US Vice President Joe Biden moves up to the supervisory board of a gas company - in the Ukraine. After the Maidan revolution greeted by the US and Europe, the ongoing war in the eastern part of the country started with Russia-supported and highly-equipped associations.
Hunter Biden then hired as a kind of chief lobbyist at a holding called Burisma, the gas company of a Ukrainian oligarch. He was not the only foreigner there: There were already several Americans in the Burisma Supervisory Board. Former Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski is still on the panel today. Hunter Biden retired from the board of Ukrainians in early 2019.
Back in May 2014, the White House made a succinct statement. The son of the vice-president as well as all other members of the family are also "free citizens of the US Their commitment to the government as well as the president or his deputy."
Why was the procedure suddenly reopened?
However, five years later, Father Joe Biden could catch up. Rudy Giuliani, US President Donald Trump's lawyer, was on the verge of a trip to Kiev, according to US media reports. The "New York Times" reports that Giuliani has inquired about the state of investigations into Hunter Biden and Burisma in several talks with the acting Prosecutor General of Ukraine (this is the report). During one of these rounds Giuliani Trump has called excitedly and informed about the situation.
The Ukrainian Attorney General is a follower of the Ukrainian non-President Petro Poroshenko. He reopened the Burisma procedure in March after it was closed in 2016. The "New York Times" speculated that Poroshenko's camp might have wanted to "worship the Trump administration" and, in return, get help from Washington in the then ongoing Ukrainian election campaign.
Meanwhile Poroshenko has lost the election, he is only a short time in office. For this reason, Giuliani wanted to Kiev and tried to meet with election winner Wolodymir Selensky, who will take up the presidency in early June. He said with the contact "to ensure that the investigation continues," Giuliani has given in a short interview on the record.
Under US Democrats, the announcement of his travel plans caused a stir: Giuliani admitted "today to seek help from a foreign government - again," tweeted Democratic MP Adam Schiff of California.
Giuliani has canceled the trip to Kiev. He apparently did not get an appointment at the elected President Selensky.