Former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko has dismissed allegations from President Trump that he had been pressured by former Vice President Joe Biden to close an investigation into Burisma Holdings, a natural gas company that Hunter Biden sat on the board of.
“The former vice president, at least in personal conversations, didn’t raise any requests to open or close any concrete cases,” Poroshenko told Bloomberg on Wednesday.
Poroshenko said that Victor Shokin, the prosecutor looking into the case, resigned after “massive campaigns” by politicians and the media, and that went through with the move “to restore public confidence and trust” in the prosecutor general’s office and to “move the country forward.”
Biden has publicly admitted that he wanted the prosecutor fired, but claims it was over allegations of insufficient efforts in fighting corruption.
“We definitely do not want to be involved in the political process inside the United States,” Poroshenko told reporters. “ … we never, with any American official, speak about any commercial company.”
Impeachment has gained momentum on Capitol Hill following the release of a transcript of a July phone call between President Trump and newly elected Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, in which Trump mentioned Biden in the midst of a discussion about corruption.
According to The New York Times, Poroshenko, in an attempt to garner support during an election year, moved ahead with investigations into connections between Burisma and the Bidens earlier this year at the request of Trump and personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.