A former Ukrainian diplomat who was at one point set to give negative testimony about Hunter Biden’s business links appears to have wrongly had his visa to the United States revoked, according to newly released documents.
The White House released the information to reporters late Wednesday about the State Department and Treasury Department taking action in 2020 to revoke the visa of Andrii Telizhenko, the Ukrainian diplomat. Telizhenko had worked for the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington.
Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin had called him to testify in early 2020, shortly after the first President Donald Trump impeachment, regarding the president’s phone call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in which Trump inquired about then-former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden’s links to the energy company Burisma.
Democrats accused Telizhenko of promoting Russian disinformation.
Records showed that Telizhenko was friendly to the Obama administration and was opposed to the administration of pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.
Federal agencies were not able to establish an evidentiary basis for claiming he was tied to Russia, according to an administration official. A Trump administration official said the records show it was based on “assumptions and newspaper articles.”
The administration official said the documents show that Telizhenko is anti-Russian and was banned from going to Russia because he was a Ukrainian nationalist. Yet, those seeking to protect the Bidens sought to depict him as a Russian stooge, the administration official argued.
The records suggest State Department career officials made a “hurried effort” to prevent him from coming to the United States.
The Democrat-led House impeached Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress in December 2019, but the Senate acquitted him in February 2020.
Johnson, then chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, announced in a February letter his intention to subpoena Telizhenko. But the interview did not happen after Democrats said he was spreading Russian disinformation.
In October 2020, the State Department revoked Telizhenko’s visa, and in January 2021, the Department of the Treasury sanctioned him, alleging he was tied to Russian efforts to influence U.S. elections.
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[ H/T The Daily Signal ]
