New Audio Reveals Biden's Ukraine Quid Pro Quo

A member of Ukraine's Parliament has released audio of former Vice President Joe Biden engaging in a quid pro quo with former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. In that call, Biden congratulated Poroshenko on forming a new government and ousting Prosecutor General Victor Shokin, who had been investigating Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy company on whose board Biden's son Hunter sat.

Biden praised Poroshenko for installing a new Prosecutor General who was apparently personally approved by the Obama Administration.

"It’s going to be critical for him to work quickly to repair the damage that Shokin did," Biden told Poroshenko. "And I’m a man of my word. And now that the new prosecutor general is in place, we’re ready to move forward to signing that new $1 billion loan guarantee."

Biden had been withholding that loan guarantee until Poroshenko agreed to remove Shokin.

President Trump was impeached earlier this year for allegedly withholding U.S. aid to Ukraine in exchange for an investigation into Biden's dealings with the Poroshenko regime. He was acquitted of all charges following a trial in the Senate.

Biden had previously bragged about using a quid pro quo to force Poroshenko's hand and get Shokin fired during a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations in 2018.

"I went over, I guess, the 12th, 13th time to Kiev," Biden told the group. "And I was supposed to announce that there was another billion-dollar loan guarantee. And I had gotten a commitment from Poroshenko and from Yatsenyuk that they would take action against the state prosecutor. And they didn’t.

"So they said they had — they were walking out to a press conference. I said, nah, I’m not going to — or, we’re not going to give you the billion dollars. They said, you have no authority. You’re not the president. The president said — I said, call him. I said, I’m telling you, you’re not getting the billion dollars. I said, you’re not getting the billion. I’m going to be leaving here in, I think it was about six hours. 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. And they put in place someone who was solid at the time."