Ukrainian officials expressed feelings of being “puzzled and let down” after Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to Kyiv in December 2015, where he delivered a speech denouncing corruption as a “cancer.” The Ukrainians implicated the U.S. in having a “double standard,” particularly in light of Biden’s familial connections to the allegedly corrupt energy company Burisma, according to newly revealed intelligence from the Obama era that has just been declassified.
In a significant break from standard protocol, the report detailing Ukrainian officials’ discontent was kept from public view at the behest of Biden’s national security adviser at the time, Dr. Colin Kahl, and was omitted from the Presidential Daily Brief (PDB), as disclosed by a senior CIA source who briefed reporters this week.
Kahl reportedly “strongly preferred” the report not be shared, according to an email from a sender listed only as “PDF Briefer” sent to the CIA on February 10, 2016.
“Thank you for your understanding.”
“PDF Briefer” is likely Deputy Director of National Intelligence Michael Dempsey, who was responsible for providing daily intelligence briefings to President Barack Obama during that period. Dempsey reported to the then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who has faced scrutiny in the Russiagate investigation regarding efforts to undermine Donald Trump’s initial presidency. Clapper is currently being investigated by a federal grand jury looking into the actions of former Obama administration officials concerning the Trump-Russia dossier.
The PDB, which compiles classified information from all 18 U.S. intelligence agencies, aims to alert the commander-in-chief to emerging crises and significant global issues.
“This intelligence was regarded as significant by CIA in late 2015,” stated the senior CIA official.
“Typically, … such intelligence reports would be shared with individuals who possess the necessary security clearance and ‘need to know’ within the U.S. government.
“However, in February 2016, the vice president’s national security adviser indicated a strong preference that the report not be distributed. Thus, it remained undisclosed.”
The report and accompanying email were recently uncovered during an “internal review of historical agency records and databases” initiated by CIA Director John Ratcliffe.
According to the eight-page document, “by mid-December 2015,” officials within Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s administration articulated feelings of confusion and disappointment regarding Biden’s visit to Kyiv on December 7-8, 2015.
They assessed that the U.S. Vice President seemed to visit Kyiv primarily to deliver a generic public address and appeared not to engage in discussions of substantive issues with Poroshenko or other Ukrainian officials.
Following Biden’s departure, the report notes, Ukrainian officials “privately speculated about the U.S. media’s scrutiny of the alleged connections of the Vice President’s family to corrupt practices in Ukraine, interpreting this as evidence of a double-standard maintained by the U.S. Government in addressing corruption and political power.”
Simultaneously, while Biden, now 82, was delivering his address denouncing corruption to the Ukrainian parliament, his son Hunter was reportedly receiving $1 million per year for his role on the Burisma board.
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Prior to Biden’s visit, marking his fifth since Ukraine’s February 2014 Maidan revolution overthrew pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych, a Burisma executive had sent an email to Hunter detailing “deliverables” expected in exchange for his board compensation.
Among these demands was a push for high-ranking U.S. officials to pressure the Ukrainian government on behalf of Burisma’s owner Mykola Zlochevsky, who was then facing investigation for corruption from Kyiv’s Prosecutor General, Viktor Shokin.
“The ultimate goal is to halt … any legal proceedings against Zlochevsky in Ukraine,” Vadym Pozharskyi’s November 2015 email, found on Hunter’s abandoned laptop, stated.
Just three days before Biden’s arrival in Kyiv, on December 4, 2015, he participated in a speakerphone conversation with Hunter, Zlochevsky, and Pozharskyi during a Burisma board meeting in Dubai.
Devon Archer, a former associate of Hunter and fellow Burisma board member, testified in 2023 before the House Oversight Committee that Zlochevsky and Pozharskyi were under pressure and had sought Hunter’s assistance with that pressure, which they clarified was linked to “Ukrainian government investigations” involving Shokin and Zlochevsky.
A few days later, Biden threatened to withhold $1 billion in loan guarantees unless Poroshenko dismissed Shokin.
“I told them, ‘I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor isn’t fired, you’re not getting the money,’” Biden recounted during a 2018 speech at the Council on Foreign Relations. “Well, son of a bitch. He was fired. And they brought in someone who was solid at that time.”
Shokin’s successor, Yuriy Lutsenko, later discontinued all investigations into Burisma and Zlochevsky.
Recently declassified FBI source files contain allegations suggesting that two CIA officers “encouraged Lutsenko to discontinue the investigation into Zlochevsky” because he was said to be “protected by the U.S.”
“This situation is exceptionally atypical and inappropriate,” the senior CIA official remarked regarding the report’s suppression. “Frankly, it is not standard practice to bypass the intelligence community and consult the White House on disseminating a specific report for seemingly political motivations.
“Typically, the protocol for intelligence reporting excludes external inquiries regarding the dissemination of specific reports.”
Intelligence analysts at the CIA, who recently assessed the report, concluded it consisted of information “of intelligence value [that] should have been shared since it would benefit U.S. officials in their interactions with the Ukrainian government.
“That’s why dissemination was warranted, yet it did not occur,” the official added. “As a result, policymakers were left uninformed.”
“Director Ratcliffe views this as exemplifying the politicization of intelligence, which must be addressed with utmost severity in the intelligence community.”
The CIA records do not clarify how the report was initially relayed to Vice President Biden’s office, “but it is evident that something distinctly irregular transpired.”
In 2021, Kahl was nominated by President Biden to serve as undersecretary of defense for policy at the Pentagon. During his contentious confirmation, Republican lawmakers highlighted his anti-Trump tweets, including one from 2020 that criticized the Republican Party for its “death-cult devotion to Trump.”
In a 2024 tweet, after exiting government to join Stanford University, Kahl proclaimed, “I love Joe Biden.”
