Ukrainian officials reportedly felt “embarrassed and disappointed” following then-President Joe Biden’s trip to Kiev in December 2015. During this visit, he delivered a speech condemning corruption, calling it a “cancer.”
A report concerning Ukraine’s situation was unusually withheld at the request of Biden’s then-national security adviser, Dr. Colin Kahl. This report did not show up in the President’s Daily Brief (PDB), as stated by a senior CIA official who spoke to reporters recently.
Kahl expressed his preference against sharing the report, according to an email from a person identified only as “PDF Briefer,” dated February 10, 2016.
This “PDF Briefer” might have been Michael Dempsey, who served as the then Deputy Director of National Intelligence. He provided intelligence briefings to President Barack Obama. Dempsey was under the supervision of James Clapper, the director of National Intelligence, who has been linked to investigations regarding the Trump-Russia collusion narrative.
The PDB, compiled from all 18 U.S. intelligence agencies, is meant to alert leaders to crises and potential issues worldwide.
“This was intelligence that came to the CIA’s attention in late 2015,” a senior CIA official noted.
Typically, such reports are shared with cleared individuals who “need to know” within the government.
However, in February 2016, Kahl advised his intelligence agency against disseminating the report. The recent emergence of these emails and reports was part of an internal examination of historical agency records mandated by CIA Director John Ratcliffe.
As of mid-December 2015, the eight-page document revealed that “Ukrainian officials expressed confusion and disappointment” over Biden’s visit to Kyiv on December 7-8, 2015.
These officials believed Biden’s speeches were mostly general and lacked focus on substantive discussions with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko or other ministers.
After Biden’s departure, the report indicated, Ukrainian officials were “personally silent” while U.S. media scrutinized the Biden family’s alleged corrupt business dealings in Ukraine. They perceived this as a sign of double standards from the U.S. regarding corruption and political influence.
Coinciding with Biden’s anti-corruption rhetoric in the Ukrainian parliament, Hunter Biden was reportedly making $1 million annually while serving on the board of Burisma.
Just a month prior, Biden had made his fifth trip to Ukraine since the 2014 Maidan revolution that ousted then-President Viktor Yanukovych, who had close ties to Moscow.
The implications of Biden’s visit included pressure on Ukrainian leaders to back Burisma’s owner, Mykola Zlochevsky.
Emails hint at a direct connection between Hunter Biden and executives from Burisma during this period.
In fact, just days before Biden arrived in Kiev, he had a phone conversation with Hunter and Burisma officials regarding significant pressures they were facing.
A few days after Biden’s visit, he threatened Poroshenko with withholding a $1 billion loan guarantee unless the prosecutor was dismissed. Biden has recounted bragging about how he made it clear, “If the prosecutor’s not fired, you’re not getting any money.” He claimed the prosecutor was subsequently removed, leading to a pause in inquiries into Burisma.
Recent declassified files from the FBI suggest that some CIA agents encouraged the cessation of investigations into Zlochevsky.
“The suppression of this report is highly unusual,” remarked a senior CIA official. “It’s inappropriate to lobby anyone outside the intelligence community to block sharing a report that appears to have political motives.”
A CIA analyst reviewing the document asserted that it held significant intelligence value, which should have been communicated to policymakers.
According to this official, the lack of dissemination meant that essential decision-makers never received this crucial information.
Director Ratcliffe sees this as an instance of intelligence politicization that needs addressing within the community.
It remains unclear how the report was initially shared with Biden’s office.
In 2021, Kahl was nominated by Biden for a significant role at the Pentagon. During his confirmation, Republican senators pointed to his prior anti-Trump remarks on social media as controversial.
After leaving government for a position at Stanford University, Kahl expressed affection for Joe Biden in a tweet.
