New York Post Ukraine Story Based on Misleading Statements

Unfounded claims and misleading statements earn this New York Post story a rating of False. Several red flags raise doubts about its authenticity, and the allegations have yet to be independently verified and reported. Among these red flags, the convoluted chain of possession of a laptop originating at a Wilmington, DE computer repair shop, whether the emails are actually from Hunter Biden’s computer, and whether they contain evidence of wrongdoing in the matter of Ukrainian energy company, Burisma, on whose board Hunter Bolden held a seat from 2014-2018. The fact that the emails featured in the Post’s story were published as images rather than in a file format makes them unable to verify by outside sources, casting suspicion that they are inauthentic. Further investigation is needed to verify the authenticity of the emails, including the possibility that outside agents could have conflated or have planted these emails. In either case, a crime has not been established. The Biden campaign has said in a statement that it “reviewed Joe Biden’s official schedules from the time and no meeting, as alleged by the New York Post, ever took place.”

Furthermore, the allegation itself is predicated on a falsehood that Vice President Joe Biden intervened to halt an investigation into the company. In truth, Vice President Biden was part of an international effort to convince Ukraine to increase their investigations into pre-2014-revolution corruption, not reduce them. 

As reported by the Washington Post:

“Shokin’s firing, however, was not a unilateral action directed by Biden. It was prompted by a push for anti-corruption reforms developed at the State Department and coordinated with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.”

The investigation of Burisma that Vice President Biden is alleged to have wanted to stop was eventually opened, and focused on improperly issued permits from 2010-2012, years before Hunter Biden joined the board. 

And as reported by Reuters:

“The investigation into Burisma covers a period when Ukraine was governed by a Kremlin ally, Viktor Yanukovich. Burisma hired Hunter Biden after Yanukovich was toppled in a popular revolt in 2014 and replaced by a pro-Western government.”