Remember Eric Ciaramella? He’s the Ukraine whistleblower who lobbed a report sent to Rep. Adam Schiff’s (D-CA) office in 2019, which set off the first Trump impeachment effort. It’s where the whole drama started between Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelensky, and the perfect phone call where the crux of the charge against Trump is that there was an attempted quid pro quo arrangement: Zelensky would investigate Biden’s alleged felonious activities during the Burisma investigation, where a top Ukrainian prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, was fired, in return for the United States not cutting off military aid.
With the backdrop of the 2020 election, Democrats alleged Trump was trying to get foreign actors to interfere in our elections. It was a circus that lasted weeks, distracting us from focusing on preparing for the coronavirus pandemic that was to be unleashed the following year.
Hunter Biden was on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company, for which he had zero experience. It was a no-show job, and the fee he was earning was quite steep. Burisma was paying top dollar for government access and a legal shield. They got that, and the main allegation is that Biden wanted Shokin gone to keep the gravy train going. In 2014, Biden oversaw US policy implementation in Ukraine, and he boasted about getting Shokin fired since he threatened to withhold $1 billion in aid. Biden admitted to the very crime the Democrats accused of Trump, but you know why no one attacked him. New emails point to another allegation: Ciaramella had deep ties to the Biden family’s interest in Ukraine, considered a point person on some, and might have covered up the shady deeds in the process. At any rate, Real Clear Investigations’ Paul Sperry couldn’t help but highlight the irony: the man who got Trump impeached could be the one who might be forced to testify in Biden’s impeachment:
The ‘whistleblower’ who sparked Donald Trump’s first impeachment was deeply involved in the political maneuverings behind Biden-family business schemes in Ukraine that Trump wanted probed, newly obtained emails from former Vice President Joe Biden’s office reveal.
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Ciaramella’s role – including high-level discussions with top Biden aides and Ukrainian prosecutors – is only now coming to light thanks to the recent release of White House emails and photos from the National Archives.
The emails show Ciaramella expressed shock – “Yikes” is what he wrote – at Biden’s move to withhold the $1 billion in aid from Kyiv, which represented a sudden shift in U.S. policy. They also show he was drawn into White House communications over how to control adverse publicity from Hunter taking a lucrative seat on Burisma’s board.
Yet there is no evidence Ciaramella raised alarms about the questionable Biden business activities he witnessed firsthand, which is in sharp contrast to 2019. In that instance, he was galvanized into action after being told by White House colleague Alexander Vindman of an “improper” phone call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. During the call, Trump solicited Zelensky’s help in investigating Burisma and Hunter Biden’s role in the company.
Some former congressional investigators say Ciaramella effectively helped cover up a scandal far worse than what Trump was impeached over. What’s more, he failed to disclose that he had a potential conflict of interest stemming from his connection to the matter Trump asked Zelensky to probe when he lodged his complaint against Trump. RealClearInvestigations was the first to identify the then-33-year-old Ciaramella as the anonymous impeachment “whistleblower,” something major media continue to keep under tight wraps.
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RealClearInvestigations has reviewed more than 2,000 pages of newly disclosed archived emails from the former vice president’s office related to Ukraine, of which more than 160 contained references to Ciaramella. They reveal that his role advising Biden’s office potentially intersects with the current impeachment inquiry in several areas. Chiefly, Ciaramella focused on aid to Ukraine and anti-corruption reforms in the country. In that capacity, he:
- Hosted, cleared into the White House, and met face-to-face there with senior Ukrainian prosecutors.
- Gave a “readout” of the meeting to his superiors, who in turn pushed for Shokin’s firing.
- Traveled with Biden to Kyiv during the 2015 trip during which Biden demanded Shokin’s firing.
- Wrote media “talking points” for Ukrainian officials.
- Huddled with the top Biden officials involved in discussions concerning the $1 billion aid package and Shokin, including: Amos Hochstein; Victoria Nuland; Geoffrey Pyatt; Bridget Brink; and Michael Carpenter.
- Corresponded with Biden officials coordinating responses to negative media reports about Hunter’s cushy and controversial Burisma job.
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On Jan. 21, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt emailed Ciaramella and other White House aides an article from the Ukrainian press – “U.S. loan guarantee conditional on Shokin’s dismissal.”
“Yikes. I don’t recall this coming up in our meeting with them,” Ciaramella replied, referring to the White House meeting he hosted with top Ukrainian prosecutors.
But in a closed-door 2020 deposition before the Senate, Pyatt sounded skeptical that Ciaramella was in the dark about the decision. “I think you have to ask Eric what he meant by ‘Yikes,’” Pyatt told Senate investigators. He said that he believed conditioning the loan guarantee on Shokin’s removal “obviously came up in those meetings” hosted by Ciaramella, suggesting that Biden’s aide knew of the quid pro quo before Pyatt circulated the article about it from the Ukrainian press.
The lengthy piece also quotes Jason Foster, former chief investigative counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee. He added that whistleblower protections for Ciaramella no longer apply as he’s in a different line of work. From the paper trail, it’s clear that Ciaramella wasn’t just some errand boy. He was very much ‘in the know’ on a host of issues, some of which may be damning for the Biden family. ‘Yikes’ is an understatement here.
House Republicans on Oversight are mum about whether Mr. Ciaramella is on their witness list. They’re not going to leak that information, but he should be. He did his job, though—as the media and the Democrats were so focused on Trump, the Biden influence-peddling gravy train maintained its course.
The allegations of Shokin being corrupt also took a further hit when the Ukrainian prosecutor ordered the home of Mykola Zlochevsky, a top Burisma executive, to be searched.
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