On Saturday, October 17, U.S. President Donald Trump spoke at a rally in Muskegon, Michigan as part of his relection campaign. There were many falsehoods that were reiterated during his speech. On the subject of Joe Biden and his connection to Ukranian officials during Biden’s tenure as Vice President, Pres. Trump said, “I never had a quid pro quo. How about this quid pro quo? ‘We’re not going to give you the billion dollars unless you get rid of the prosecutor … Stop investigating my son.’ And then he goes, boom, the prosecutor was fired and they got the billion dollars.”
This quote is referencing the claim alleging that Biden (then Vice President) pressed to have a prosecutor fired while the prosecutor was investigating Burisma. We rate this claim as False. Trump’s statement is projecting misinformation by omiting facts, and omiting the series of events that followed the Ukranian money laundering investigation.
As reported by the Associated Press…
THE FACTS: Trump is repeating a false claim alleging that Biden as vice president pressed to have a prosecutor fired while the prosecutor was investigating Burisma, the energy company in Ukraine where Biden’s son Hunter sat on the board of directors. In fact, by the time Biden came out against the prosecutor, the investigation into the company was dormant.
Biden, among other international officials, was pressing for a more aggressive investigation of corruption in Ukraine, not a softer one.
Trump’s team often cites a video of Joe Biden from 2018. Speaking on a public panel, Biden recounted threatening to withhold a loan guarantee from Ukraine’s government unless it fired the prosecutor, who was widely considered ineffective if not corrupt himself.
What Trump doesn’t say is that in February 2016, a few months after Biden threatened to hold back a $1 billion loan guarantee, the International Monetary Fund threatened to delay $40 billion in aid unless Ukraine took action to fight corruption.
An investigation into Burisma’s owner for money laundering, tax evasion and other alleged misdeeds began in 2012 and pertained to the years before Hunter Biden joined the board.
