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George Kent is the Deputy Assistant Secretary overseeing policy towards Ukraine.
He was supposed to help Democrats do in President Donald Trump in his testimony during the hearings today.
Instead, he actually proved the surprising witness who effectively stuck a stake in their case against Trump.
During his testimony, he outlined how he thought there were legitimate conflict of interest concerns about Hunter Biden being on the board of Burisma in 2015 and he said that he raised those concerns with the staff of the then-Vice President Joe Biden.
George Kent testifies that he "became aware that Hunter Biden was on the board of Burisma" and that he raised his concern of a conflict of interest with the then VP @JoeBiden's national security staff in February 2015. pic.twitter.com/WiFVmloyzO
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) November 13, 2019
George Kent says he thought Hunter Biden role in Burisma 'could create the perception of a conflict of interest.' Somebody on Biden staff–doesn't know who–said VP just couldn't deal with it. Kent never brought it up again. Why? Just too busy. pic.twitter.com/hw0dauIU7C
— Byron York (@ByronYork) November 8, 2019
That certainly raises questions again about what Joe Biden knew about Hunter’s business and why nothing was done about addressing the concern about Hunter’s conflicts by the Obama administration.
Kent also testified that he and other U.S. officials had long and abiding concerns about Burisma and corruption.
They thought the Burisma CEO had stolen money, they thought the prosecutor had taken a bribe to shut the case down against Burisma. Kent said he and other officials were fully in favor of the case being reopened and holding the prosecutors who had shut it down accountable. He said that they had continued to press why Ukraine had closed the case because they were concerned about corruption.
BIG –> George Kent testified today that Burisma and its owner "should" be investigated for corruption.
But the media tells us this is all debunked nonsense! pic.twitter.com/3S8JRHju90
— Trump War Room – Text TRUMP to 88022 & get the APP (@TrumpWarRoom) November 13, 2019
From The Federalist:
“To summarize, we thought the [CEO of Burisma] had stolen money. We thought a prosecutor had take an bribe to shut the case,” Kent said.
“Are you in favor of that matter being fully investigated and prosecuted?” asked Minority House Intelligence Committee Counsel Steve Castor.
“I think, since U.S. taxpayer dollars were wasted, I would love to see the Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office find who the corrupt prosecutor was that took the bribe, and how much of it was paid,” Kent said.
So basically Kent was making a great case on behalf of President Donald Trump, noting the corruption concerns, the legitimate concerns about Burisma, that U.S. taxpayer dollars had been spent on it and so they had every right to know if there was a corrupt aspect behind the closure of the investigations surrounding Burisma.
Here’s Rep. Elise Stefanik to make the point crystal clear.
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY): "By 2016, you were so concerned about corruption questions related to Burisma that when there was an effort by Burisma to sponsor an essay contest with USAID, you asked USAID to stop it."
George Kent: "That's correct." https://t.co/Tbcm4X2OaU pic.twitter.com/J4k7GC3Wvh— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) November 13, 2019
It was a completely normal thing to deal with issues of corruption in foreign policy discussions, like the one that took place between Trump and the Ukraine President.
Kent and others had already been asking the same questions. But the President of the United States, the person who is responsible for foreign policy isn’t allowed to have concerns or ask if the case was properly closed against Burisma?
Kent just effectively did in the whole Democratic narrative. Case dismissed.
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