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Hunter Biden’s tax is being investigated by the U.S. Attorney’s Office
Elected President Joe Biden’s son was in the spotlight during the presidential campaign for his business dealings with Ukraine and China.
USA TODAY
The claim: Joe Biden was involved in corrupt behavior in Ukraine related to the November election
Since the beginning of his campaign for the presidency, President-elect Joe Biden has been plagued by allegations of corruption related to his involvement in the expulsion of a top prosecutor for corruption in Ukraine.
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The conspiracy theories about Biden and his family came to light in the weeks leading up to the 2020 presidential election, when major conservative political figures repeated allegations of changing truth about Biden and his son Hunter.
One recent Facebook post by Omar Faruque reiterated several of these allegations, claiming that Biden was involved in corruption and that members of the Obama administration and Nancy Pelosi, D-California, covered up his crime. It also begins with the claim that Biden ‘never won the election’.
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USA TODAY issued Faruque for comment.
Biden won the 2020 election. Furthermore, there is no evidence that Biden participated in corrupt or otherwise improper conduct in Ukraine. The various conspiracy theories about the Biden family and Ukraine draw from false information and maintain inaccurate accounts of Biden’s time as vice president and his victory in the November election.
Biden’s victory in the presidential election
Biden was certified by the US Congress on January 6 as the winner of the 2020 presidential election. It was preceded by a December 14 vote in which voters across the country formally cast their ballots for the president and vice president, confirming that Biden won 306 votes from the Electoral College to President Donald Trump’s 232 votes .
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The Trump campaign has filed dozens of lawsuits disputing the outcome of the election, and state lawmakers have held hearings to investigate possible evidence of election fraud.
In notable battlegrounds that Biden has won, such as Arizona, Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania, the electoral apparatus has been scrutinized by state and federal courts, federal investigators, and state audits. Journalists also investigated the election for evidence of fraud and found no evidence of widespread fraud.
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The Supreme Court dismissed two lawsuits of widespread fraud in the election.
Shortly after the election, the Department of Homeland Security (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency) declared that the general election was the safest in American history.
Conspiracy theories to the contrary have been repeatedly discouraged by investigations led by Republicans and Democrats.
Joe Biden’s involvement in Ukraine
Accusations that Biden was involved in corruption in Ukraine can be traced back to his part in the Western democracy-promoting efforts in Ukraine in 2014. Shortly after Russia invaded the country the same year, Biden formed the alliance of countries opposing Ukrainian democracy. the Russian government wanted to strengthen, led. aggression.
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As part of the effort, Western diplomats and Ukrainian viewers in 2016 called for the dismissal of Ukraine’s prosecutor Viktor Shokin, who, according to officials, does not adequately prosecute corruption in the young democracy.
Conspiracy theories, such as the Facebook message, suggest that Biden wanted to withhold money from Ukraine for some reason of corruption.
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The conspiracy theory was repeated by the White House’s official report to strike a false balance between Biden’s involvement in Ukraine and Trump’s pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a call leading to his first indictment.
This narrative is inaccurate; as part of the broader Western effort to strengthen democracy in Ukraine, the Obama administration determined that the use of $ 1 billion in aid to Ukraine as leverage was in the interests of the United States, its Western allies, and Ukraine itself .
Regardless of the merits of that decision, Biden did not benefit the direct financially or politically, nor was he the final decision-maker on the issue.
Both Bidens denied the denial.
Comments claiming Biden said “Your son of a bitch” to Ukrainian officials are true, according to Biden’s own comments during a panel at the Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank in Washington, DC. However, the remark is not an indication of any form of corruption.
Bid investigations and accusations
Several other conspiracy theories have claimed that the Obama administration was aware of possible corruption in Ukraine in which Biden was involved, but the information was somehow covered up. These conspiracy theories, which are re-introduced in the Facebook post, also occasionally claim that Pelosi accused Trump of being a political move for Biden.
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Explain: Biden, allies ousted Ukrainian prosecutor for failing to pursue corruption
There is no evidence that the Obama administration has investigated Biden’s involvement in Ukraine.
A Republican-led Senate inquiry into the Biden family in Ukraine has been completed in September, confirming that some Obama administration officials have expressed concern about Biden’s son, Hunter, who is on the board of the Ukrainian government. gas company Burisma Holdings is sitting down, after Biden started leading anti-corruption. efforts in the country.
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However, the same Senate inquiry found no evidence of senior Biden’s offense. The central assertion of conspiracy theories about the Biden family and Ukraine that Biden wanted the removal of Shokin to protect Burisma is untrue.
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There is also no evidence to suggest that Pelosi tried to accuse Trump of concealing alleged violations by Biden or anyone else. It is unclear how Trump’s accusation would eliminate the evidence of misconduct at any of Biden’s.
Our verdict: False
Several iterations of conspiracy theories alleging that Joe Biden committed misconduct in Ukraine have been investigated and unmasked. Allegations that the presidential election in 2020 was the result of corruption are also false. The merging of the two conspiracy theories creates an equally wrong narrative. We rate this claim FALSE based on our research.
Our sources for fact checking:
- USA TODAY, January 6, “Pence confirms Biden as winner, formalizing election after day of riots at Capitol; Trump prepares to retire”
- USA TODAY, December 14, 2020, “Joe Biden Says Democracy was ‘Resilient’ After Hawaii Won Final Votes in Electoral College”
- USA TODAY, November 3, 2020, USA TODAY Election Results
- USA TODAY January 6, “According to the numbers: President Donald Trump’s failed attempts to overthrow the election”
- USA TODAY, December 11, 2020, “A Look at What Several State Supreme Courts Have Said About Rejecting Attempts to Prevent Biden’s Election Election”
- USA TODAY, December 3, 2020, “Attorney General Barr: Justice Department finds no evidence of fraud to change election results”
- USA TODAY, November 15, 2020, “Trump says the battlefield states have seen election fraud. Republican officials who run the states do not agree.”
- USA TODAY, December 11, 2020, “Trump case in Wisconsin thrown out in a fifth unfavorable verdict for the president in a little over a week”
- USA TODAY, October 21, 2020, “Fact Test: Biden helped $ 1 billion to help Ukraine oust corrupt prosecutor, not to help his son”
- USA TODAY, October 23, 2020, “Nothing was unethical”: Joe Biden defends Hunter Biden under pressure from Trump in debate
- Foreign Relations Council, 23 January 2018, “Introducing Foreign Affairs Issue with Former Vice President Joe Biden”
- FactCheck.org, September 24, 2019, “Trump twists facts about Biden and Ukraine”
- Wall Street Journal, September 23, 2020, “Hunter Biden’s Ukrainian work raises concerns with Obama officials, confirms GOP-led probe”
- Cyber Security and Infrastructure Security Agency, 12 November 2020, “Joint Declaration of Electoral Infrastructure Coordinating Council and the Electoral Infrastructure Sector Coordinating Executive Committees”
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