“Ukrainian Witch Hunt”: how Trump and Biden accused each other of pressure on Kiev

US President Donald Trump accused his political opponents of starting a new bullying campaign against him.

“Democrats, together with fake media, have exhausted all other schemes for witch hunting and are now trying to launch a new, equally ridiculous, - let's call it Ukrainian witch hunt - and at the same time trying to protect sleepy Joe Biden. Another failure awaits them! ”- said the President of the United States on his Twitter.

Now that the Democrats and the Fake News Media have gone “bust” on every other of their Witch Hunt schemes, they are trying to start one just as ridiculous as the others, call it the Ukraine Witch Hunt, while at the same time trying to protect Sleepy Joe Biden. Will fail again!

The American president was outraged by reports of several media that in a telephone conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart Vladimir Zelensky on July 25, he allegedly tried to get incriminating information from him on his opponent - the former US vice president and possible candidate for the presidency from Democrats Joe Biden.

Recall, on September 19, the American newspaper The Washington Post reported that one of the US intelligence officials was alarmed by a certain promise that Trump allegedly made to one of the foreign leaders. Later, the publication, citing sources, stated that it was about Ukraine, and associated this information with a conversation with Zelensky and Trump's alleged attempts to find incriminating evidence on Biden.

In turn, the newspaper The Wall Street Journal on September 20 reported that Trump allegedly eight times during a conversation with Zelensky demanded that he provide assistance in an investigation into Biden.

The American president, however, rejects these allegations. The Ukrainian side adheres to the same position. So, on September 20, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic Vadim Pristayko noted that in the conversation between Trump and Zelensky “there was no pressure”.

“Extended version of Russian history”

Representatives of the Democratic Party reacted sharply to information about Trump's possible attempts to attract Kiev to collect incriminating evidence against Biden, who is now the most likely contender for the role of Trump’s main opponent in the 2020 presidential election.

• Joe Biden
• Twitter
• © JoeBiden

In early September, the leaders of the three committees of the US House of Representatives (for international affairs, intelligence and state oversight) - all Democrats - accused Trump of being together with his lawyer Rudi Giuliani “forcing the Ukrainian government to initiate under the guise of fighting corruption two politically motivated investigations. ” They also associated with Trump’s alleged pressure on Zelensky that the provision of US military assistance to Kiev was suspended.

On September 20, Hillary Clinton, Trump's former rival in the 2016 election, said the incumbent is trying to use the help of a foreign power to win in 2020.

“The president turned to a foreign entity for help in winning the election. Again, ”she said on her Twitter.

The president asked a foreign power to help him win an election.

Again.https: //t.co/EjkE84oCCF

Senator Elizabeth Warren, who, like Biden, claims to be a Democratic candidate in the upcoming elections, in turn, stated that it is necessary to begin the process of impeachment against Trump. Biden himself called for an investigation into reports of contacts between the owner of the White House and the Ukrainian side.

“It seems like a blatant abuse of power. Phoned a leader of another country seeking to get help from the United States and ask him questions about me, making various assumptions ... This is outrageous, ”said the former vice president.

However, even Trump’s critics point out the weakness of this position and the similarity of the Democrat’s accusations with the unproven statements about Trump’s "collusion" with Russia.

“It looks like an extended version of“ Russian history. ” Did not catch him on the topic of Russia? Let's try again on the material of the next country - Ukraine. Here's what it looks like, ”noted Bill Mar, a prominent American broadcaster of liberal views, on HBO on September 20.

“The matter is too serious”

Donald Trump in his Twitter emphasized that by attacking him, the Democrats are trying to divert public attention from the abuse of Biden and his son in Ukraine.

“The fake media and their partner in the Democratic Party want to distance themselves as much as possible from Joe Biden’s demand that the Ukrainian government dismiss the prosecutor investigating his son, otherwise they (the Ukrainian authorities. - RT ) will not see large sums of money from the United States. And so they fabricated a story about me and my absolutely normal and on-call conversation with the new president of Ukraine. None of the above (during this conversation. - RT ) was wrong, but Biden’s demand is a complete and absolute disaster. Fake media know about this, but do not want to report! ”- said the US President.

The Fake News Media and their partner, the Democrat Party, want to stay as far away as possible from the Joe Biden demand that the Ukrainian Government fire a prosecutor who was investigating his son, or they won't get a very large amount of US money, so they fabricate a .....

Recall that the son of Joe Biden Hunter, after his father's visit to Kiev in 2014, joined the board of directors of the Ukrainian oil and gas company Burism Holdings.

In April 2019, the American newspaper The Hill stated that Ukrainian law enforcement authorities suspected Hunter Biden of receiving bribes from the leadership of Burisma Holdings.

At the same time, Biden Sr. previously admitted that he insisted on removing Viktor Shokin from the leadership of the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office, threatening to suspend financial assistance to Kiev. However, journalist John Solomon in the material for The Hill noted: Shokin told him that on the eve of this dismissal, he intended to interrogate Hunter Biden directly.

• Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden
• Reuters
• © Carlos Barria

As an American journalist Peter Schweitzer stated in a podcast for the Breitbart portal, Democrats "are trying to make a scandal around Trump out of the Biden scandal." According to the journalist, the US Justice Department should join in the investigation of Hunter Biden’s activities, since "Ukraine is a terribly corrupt country."

“This is too serious a matter, we cannot leave it under the jurisdiction of Ukrainian prosecutors,” the American journalist believes.

Earlier, American media reported that Trump's lawyer Rudolf Giuliani met with representatives of the Ukrainian side on the issue of conducting an investigation against Biden's father and son.

Giuliani himself admitted that he was discussing with Spain’s assistant Vladimir Zelensky Andrei Ermak issues related to the investigation of corruption cases and interference with the U.S. election in 2016. At the same time, Giuliani assures that the State Department recommended him to meet with Ermak.

On September 20, on CNN's air, Trump's lawyer said that he was discussing with representatives of Kiev the possible interference of Ukrainians in the 2016 elections on the side of Hillary Clinton. Back in March of this year, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko said that an investigation had begun in Kiev regarding the possible influence of Ukrainian officials on the course of the election campaign in the United States in 2016.

In addition, in a conversation with CNN presenter Rudi Giuliani said that the conversation indirectly affected Joe Biden, and his son Hunter, and the reasons for the dismissal of Attorney General Shokin.

Scandal with consequences

However, experts, despite the growing scandal related to the accusations against Trump of pressure on Ukraine, believe that he will not have a significant impact on US domestic policy.

According to HSE professor Alexander Domrin, Trump's claims to the Democrats and Biden seem much more justified than reproaches against him.

"Trump has a simple explanation for why he needed information on Biden: here is a very powerful corruption component, in addition, it is a matter of US national security," Domrin explained in a conversation with RT.

At the same time, as Denis Denisov, director of the Institute for Peace Initiatives and Conflictology, noted in an interview with RT, the American president may accuse his political opponent of meddling in Ukrainian affairs.

“Based on the background of this story, it is necessary to raise the issue of Biden’s interference in the internal affairs of Ukraine,” RT Denisov said. “The public statements he made as vice president show that he really intervened in the affairs of a sovereign state.”

Denis Denisov believes that “with this or that promotion”, the Ukrainian scandal may affect the results of the upcoming US presidential election.

• US polling station
• Reuters

According to Alexander Domrin, during the election campaign, Trump will continue to use an investigation into the activities of his son in Ukraine as a tool to undermine Biden’s reputation. However, Democrats can push against the incumbent president and other strong candidates.

As for relations between Washington and Kiev, from the point of view of Domrin, Ukraine is now of little interest to the United States.

“Ukraine is tired of Europe, Russia. And Trump is now openly demonstrating that Ukraine is not interested in America, ”the expert notes.

The day before, commenting on Trump’s accusations of pressure on Zelensky, Vadim Pristayko emphasized that in Kiev “they always tried to appreciate the help from both parties.” In turn, Advisor to the Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov, Anton Gerashchenko, told The Daily Beast, an American newspaper, that Trump intends to get dirt on Biden, but Kiev will not take any action before receiving an official request from Washington.

Political analyst Vladimir Kornilov noted in an interview with RT that the US domestic political conflict is forcing the Ukrainian leadership to make a concrete choice.

“Zelensky is forced to play on the side of one of the two camps of the presidential campaign. Given the fact that Kiev has once sided with Hillary Clinton and lost, now in Ukraine they are afraid to get burned again, ”says Kornilov. - Any of Zelensky’s statements will be negatively perceived by either one or the other side. And after the election, if not the one whom Kiev puts on wins, Zelensky will have to deal with an objectionable winner. ”