Newly released memos show U.S. officials revoked a Ukrainian witness’s visa one day before he planned to travel to the United States to be interviewed by senators investigating Biden family conflicts of interest involving Hunter Biden’s role on the board of Ukrainian energy firm Burisma Holdings and then-Vice President Joe Biden’s decision to withhold $1 billion in loan guarantees to pressure Ukraine to fire its prosecutor general.
The witness, Andrii Telizhenko, a former Ukrainian embassy aide who had worked with consulting firm Blue Star Strategies on behalf of Burisma, was expected to discuss the firm’s work to gain favor with the Obama-Biden administration, his contacts with administration officials and a Democratic National Committee consultant, and alleged efforts by Ukrainian embassy officials to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election.
An August 2020 FBI memo noted that Russia had banned him from entering the country in 2014 because of his involvement in the Ukrainian revolution and that he had rejected Russian recruitment attempts. A separate FBI briefing warned lawmakers that Telizhenko might be connected to Russian-linked figures and a disinformation campaign, halting efforts to interview him. The FBI also labeled the investigating Senators, Ron Johnson and Chuck Grassley, as potential “conduits” of Russian disinformation.
State Department emails confirm that Embassy Kyiv revoked Telizhenko’s visa on September 8, 2020, the day before his planned travel. Treasury Department records show that the Office of Foreign Assets Control later recommended sanctions, citing allegations that Telizhenko spread claims of Biden family corruption and his alleged affiliation with Ukrainian lawmaker Andriy Derkach.
A Treasury memo stated that witnesses in the Senate investigation had testified that Biden did not alter U.S. foreign policy to benefit his son and that Hunter Biden’s Burisma board role had no effect on policy.
Telizhenko was sanctioned on January 11, 2021. Declassified intelligence assessments described him as potentially an “unwitting” participant in Russian influence efforts. The report says the assessments provided little evidence that he knowingly spread Russian narratives, and much of the evidence underlying the CIA’s assessment remains redacted. The CIA cited his participation in a documentary and the amplification of his narratives by Russian media outlets as part of its rationale.
Read the documents.
