Kent was recently promoted to a new rank in the Superior Foreign Service, and is one of the few impeachment witnesses who was not expelled from the government after his impeachment testimony. She told lawmakers in closed and open sessions late last year that then-Trump personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani carried out a “campaign of lies” about the US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, which led to her early retirement. from Kiev.
But he also testified that he had raised concerns in 2015 about the emergence of a conflict of interest stemming from the position of Biden’s son, Hunter, on the board of a Ukrainian gas company, Burisma. At the time, he emphasized that “he did not witness any effort by any US official to protect Burisma from scrutiny.” When asked later during his testimony if there was any truth to Trump’s theory that Biden was trying to protect his son’s interests, Kent replied, “None at all.”
Burisma owner Mykola Zlochevsky has been investigated multiple times by Ukraine’s chief prosecutor and the country’s National Anti-Corruption Office, but a money laundering investigation against him was dropped abruptly in January 2015, causing surprise. among American officials at the time.
“In early 2015, I raised questions with the deputy attorney general about why Mr. Zlochevsky’s investigation had ended, based on our belief that prosecutors had accepted bribes to close the case,” Kent said in prepared remarks during his testimony of public impeachment. .
“Later, I realized that Hunter Biden was on the Burisma council,” Kent continued. “Shortly after that, in a briefing call with national security personnel in the Office of the Vice President, in February 2015, I expressed my concern that Hunter Biden’s status as a board member could create the perception of a conflict of interests. However, let me be clear: I did not witness any effort by any US official to protect Burisma from scrutiny. In fact, I and other US officials constantly advocate for reinstating a grim investigation of Zlochevsky, the founder of Burisma, as well as holding the corrupt prosecutors who closed the case accountable. ”
Kent’s statement is part of a growing Republican investigation of the alleged Democratic presidential candidate and his family. Johnson is also seeking the testimony of former Undersecretary of State Antony Blinken, currently senior foreign policy adviser on the Biden campaign; former special envoy for international energy Amos Hochstein; and former State Department officials Geoffrey Pyatt and Elizabeth Zentos.
The committee believes that Blinken and Hochstein’s testimony, in particular, is critical to their next report on the allegations about Hunter Biden’s role on the Burisma board, and is considering subpoenas for the couple if they don’t agree to appear voluntarily soon. before the panel.
On Wednesday, Biden’s campaign communications director Kate Bedingfield said in a memo to “stakeholders” that the Johnson investigation was a “desperate taxpayer-funded smear campaign” based on “a theory of far-right, phony, long-discredited conspiracy. “
Trump has long urged his Republican allies on Capitol Hill to attack his political enemies, and Democrats have expressed concern, including in a recent letter to the FBI, that Johnson’s investigation has become a vehicle for ” launder “a campaign of foreign influence to harm Biden.
Johnson renewed his demand for interviews and transcribed documents from former Obama administration officials days after a Ukrainian lawmaker, Andriy Derkach, who met with Giuliani to discuss the Biden family investigation, used a press conference to make unsubstantiated corruption allegations against the Bidens and Hochstein. .
