Key impeachment witness gave 2017 corruption warning about Hunter Biden-tied Ukraine firm
Ex-Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch claimed in 2019 testimony she knew little about Burisma beyond media reports. Her emails show more substantive knowledge.
By John Solomon
Updated: December 11, 2020 - 11:38pm
Former U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovich cautioned John McCain's think tank in 2017 not to accept funding from the Ukrainian gas firm that had hired Hunter Biden because State officials considered Burisma Holdings and its founder to be corrupt, according to newly released memos.
During impeachment hearings last year, Yovanovitch, a key witness for Democrats, testified to Congress that she knew little about Burisma beyond what she'd gleaned from her pre-confirmation State Department briefing in summer 2016 and press reports. "It just wasn't a big deal," she declared under oath on Oct. 11, 2019.
Two years earlier, though, she had enough knowledge to warn a McCain Institute official not to become entangled with Burisma.
At the time, Burisma wanted to sponsor a two-week training seminar at the McCain Institute for prosecutors from the very Ukraine Prosecutor General's Office that Yovanovitch's team believed had been bribed to drop corruption investigations against the gas firm back in 2014 and 2016.
"There would be raised eyebrows in Kyiv over the irony of Burisma training prosecutors," Yovanovitch wrote in advising a McCain Institute official to avoid taking the Burisma money.
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https://justthenews.com/accountability/russia-and-ukraine-scandals/key-impeachment-witness-gave-warning-2017-hunter-biden
