Joe Biden is the elephant trampling on Schiff’s parade

The conduct and actions of Vice President Biden and his son Hunter Biden in Ukraine received a welcome airing on the first day of the House Intelligence Committee inquiry into impeaching President Trump.

The evidence presented at the hearing on the Bidens was factual and deeply concerning.

President Trump had not asked the Ukrainian President to"make up dirt ..lots of it , on this and on that" on Vice President Biden as Committee Chairman Adam Schiff had misleadingly claimed at an earlier hearing.

Instead – the evidence offered a disturbing picture of the Vice President and his son knowingly allowing themselves to become involved with a dishonest and corrupt Ukrainian oligarch – Mykola Zlochevsky.

State Department witness - George Kent - explained:

The primary concern of the US government since 2014 was Burisma's owner, Mykola Zlochevsky, whose frozen assets abroad we had attempted to recover on Ukraine's behalf. In early 2015 I raised questions with the deputy prosecutor general about why the investigation of Mr. Zlochevsky had been terminated, based on our belief that prosecutors had accepted bribes to close the case.

Joe Biden was America's Vice President in 2014 and his son Hunter Biden had joined Burisma's board in 2014.

Questioned by George Castor - legal counsel for the House Republican Minority - Kent later expanded on his above statement:

Steve Castor: (15:20)

And the company, Barisma, it's leader, Zlochevsky, he has a little bit of a storied history of corruption, doesn't he?

George Kent: (15:32)

Mr. Zlochevsky was Minister of Energy from 2010 to 2012 under the pro-Russian government, and he used his regulatory authority to award gas exploration licenses to companies that he, himself, controlled. That would be considered an act of corruption in my view, yes.

Steve Castor: (15:50)

Certainly self-dealing.

George Kent: (15:51)

Certainly self-dealing and self-enriching.

Steve Castor: (15:53)

And how did the Ukrainian government ultimately pursue that?

George Kent: (15:58)

In the spring of 2014, the Ukrainian government, the new government after the Revolution of Dignity, turned to partners, particularly the U.S. and the U.K., to try to recover tens of billions of dollars of stolen assets. The first case that we tried to recover that money came from Mr. Zlochevsky. The Serious Crimes Office in the U.K. had already opened up an investigation. They worked with us and the Ukrainian authorities to develop more information. The $23 million was frozen until somebody in the General Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine shut the case, issued a letter to his lawyer, and that money went poof.

Steve Castor: (16:32)

He essentially paid a bribe to make the case go away.

Why would the Vice President and his son allow themselves to have anything to do with a man whose frozen assets abroad were trying to be recovered for Ukraine by the Obama-Biden administration?

Why would Hunter Biden remain on the Board of Burisma until 2019 reportedly earning $50000.00 per month?

We now know that Vice President Biden threatened to withhold $1 billion dollars in aid unless Ukraine sacked the prosecutor investigating Burisma within six hours of Vice President Biden delivering his ultimatum - and that the prosecutor was removed.

America needs to be given some answers by Joe Biden – especially as he is vying to be America's next President.

The media should be demanding Biden's explanation in the national interest.

The House Intelligence Committee hearings is the perfect venue for Vice President Biden to explain his extraordinary conduct. Biden should either appear voluntarily or under Subpoena issued by Chairman Schiff.

Vice President Biden is the elephant in the room.

Know a man by the company he keeps.