Via press release from the Congressional Integrity Project
Washington, D.C. – Today in a Fox News interview, former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko completely blew up one of James Comer’s most repeated reasons for investigating Joe Biden: the firing of Victor Shokin. Poroshenko told Fox in no uncertain terms that Shokin was fired because of his own statements, not because of any involvement from Joe Biden.
In response, Congressional Integrity Project executive director, Kyle Herrig, issued the following statement:
“Once again, James Comer’s evidence blows up in his face. Petro Poroshenko confirmed what numerous investigations and reports have found: Shokin’s firing was a matter of U.S. government policy. This conspiracy theory has been debunked repeatedly, but Comer and the MAGA Republicans continue to spread lies to attempt to distract from Trump’s multiple indictments and hurt President Biden. Today’s interview, once again, proves James Comer and MAGA House Republicans have nothing but hot air to back up their impeachment inquiry.”
TRANSCRIPT:
Kilmeade: Is that why he [Shokin] got fired… Because of the former vice-president, now president?
Poroshenko: First of all, this is the completely crazy person, this is something wrong with him. Second, there is no one single word of truth. And third, I hate the idea to make any comments and to make any intervention in the American election… please do not use the such person like Shokin to undermine trust in bipartisan support in Ukraine… He was fired but because of his own statement and if he do not do that, next day Ukranian parliament will fire him.” [Fox News, 9/25/23]
Washington Post: The Republican case against Biden takes a body blow … from Fox News. “This isn’t news, as such. It’s been known for some time that there was no Burisma probe, that Shokin was seen as too lenient on corruption and that it wasn’t simply Biden who was pressuring Poroshenko to remove him. There were protests in the streets and resignations from within Shokin’s office that contributed to the pressure at stake. Once Trump was president, though, Shokin found sympathetic ears in the Republican’s orbit and convinced both right-wing writers and Trump himself that his ouster was a function of Democratic maneuvering. The news here is that Fox, which has been an essential platform for every unfounded allegation from Comer and his allies, accidentally stepped on its own messaging. Sure, Poroshenko is not the most reliable narrator himself. But his disparagement of the credibility of Shokin joins a hefty amount of other evidence on the lower side of a lopsided scale… This is the problem with the narrative constructed by right-wing elites and media: it’s too far down the path for all of them to admit that they were wrong.” [Washington Post, 9/25/23]
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