Leaked audio revives Ukraine focus on Biden

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday asked for an investigation into a recording of Joe Biden seemingly tying U.S. aid to the ousting of the country’s top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin. The presumptive Democratic nominee for president has openly admitted that while serving as vice president he pressured Ukraine to fire Shokin by threatening to withhold $1 billion in aid to Ukraine.

What is the reaction to the recording? Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, with whom Biden had the discussion, called the audio “bogus.” He said he asked Shokin to resign “despite … the fact that we didn’t have any corruption charges.” Zelenksy said the contents of the conversations might qualify as “high treason.” Biden’s son Hunter Biden previously served on the board of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian natural gas company that Shokin investigated. That investigation was all but closed by the time Biden called for Shokin’s firing. Zelensky wrote an op-ed published in The New York Times on Wednesday about the challenges he has faced in his first year as president, including the media attention from President Donald Trump’s impeachment proceedings.

Dig deeper: Read my report in The Stew on the Bidens’ dealings in Ukraine.