President Biden on Friday spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about his “plan to tackle corruption,” according to a White House statement.
This first phone call between the two leaders happened more than two months after Biden took office. Last year, the Biden family’s involvement in alleged corruption in Ukraine was a major issue in the US presidential campaign.
Biden “emphasized his administration’s commitment to revitalize our strategic partnership in support of President Zelenskyy’s plan to tackle corruption and implement a reform agenda based on our shared democratic values,” the White House said of the call.
Ukraine’s widespread corruption has been a thorny matter for Biden, who as vice president led the Obama administration’s Ukraine policy while his son Hunter Biden earned a reported $50,000 per month on the board of Ukrainian energy firm Burisma, despite no industry experience.
House Democrats impeached President Donald Trump in late 2019 over a call with Zelensky in which Trump suggested the Ukrainian authorities investigate the Bidens for corruption. The Senate acquitted Trump of allegedly abusing his power.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and President Biden also discussed “Russia’s ongoing aggression.” Ukrainian Presidency via Getty ImagesWhite House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at her daily press briefing on Friday that she was “not aware” of whether Trump and his request for a corruption probe of the Bidens were mentioned on the call.
However, a member of the White House National Security Council, which generally prepares readouts of foreign leader calls, told The Post that Trump and his requested probe were not discussed.
The Biden family’s links to Ukraine courted controversy for years.
The elder Biden claimed in 2019, “I have never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings.” But documents from a laptop formerly belonging to Hunter Biden indicate that the younger Biden introduced a visiting Burisma exec to his dad in 2015.
As vice president, the elder Biden pressured Ukrainian officials to fire a prosecutor who had investigated Burisma, though Biden defenders say the prosecutor was well known for being corrupt himself.
Ukrainian demonstrators gather at the country’s court system near the Office of the President during a protest against corruption. Sergei Chuzavkov via Getty Images“I said, ‘You’re not getting the billion,’” Biden said in a 2018 speech. “I looked at them and said: ‘I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money.’”
“Well, son of a bitch, he got fired,” Biden concluded.
Biden and Zelensky also discussed the COVID-19 pandemic and US support for Ukraine’s central government against “Russia’s ongoing aggression in the Donbas and Crimea,” the White House said.
