Documents and emails recently uncovered by journalists suggest Trump “whistleblower” Eric Ciaramella — who sparked the first impeachment of former President Donald Trump — had connections to President Joe Biden and his son Hunter’s business dealings in Ukraine.
The first Trump impeachment centered around the former president’s efforts to investigate Biden’s admission that he pressured the Ukrainian government to halt a probe into Burisma Holdings, a corrupt energy company where Hunter Biden served on the board. Ciaramella, who accused Trump of a “quid pro quo” involving his request for Ukraine to investigate allegations of Biden family corruption, now finds himself under scrutiny.
After Ciaramella was named by right-wing media and Trump himself, a significant media blackout and Big Tech censorship campaign ensued to prevent the American public from learning about his identity or background. Until recently, social media users faced potential bans or penalties for even mentioning his name.
Two conversations with Ukraine (in a nutshell):
Biden to 🇺🇦: “fire Viktor Shokin”—the prosecutor investigating Burisma, the company paying his son insane sums of money—“or you’ll lose $1B in U.S. aid.”
Trump to 🇺🇦 : “look into why Shokin got fired and Biden’s role in it.” pic.twitter.com/LJd892WBKj
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) July 25, 2023
But investigative journalists have uncovered his possible motivations despite the fog of censorship: Ciaramella’s ties to the Biden family’s actions in Ukraine that could have been jeopardized by Trump’s investigations.
White House documents released by the National Archives indicate that Ciaramella was aware of then-Vice President Biden’s efforts to remove Viktor Shokin, the Ukrainian prosecutor investigating Burisma Holdings. Ciaramella, who served as a national security analyst and adviser to Biden, feigned surprise in an email response regarding Biden’s threat to withhold $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees from Ukraine unless Shokin was fired.
Despite his apparent shock, emails reveal that Ciaramella played a large role in White House discussions on how to handle Hunter’s Burisma employment. This information is particularly damning considering that Biden’s actual “quid pro quo” with Ukraine was arguably more severe than the one Trump was accused of.
If Ciaramella were a genuine whistleblower, he would have also come forward about Biden’s actions. Instead, his selective targeting of Trump suggests that he was more of an anti-Trump leaker, focused on attacking the former president rather than exposing corruption.
RealClear Investigations highlighted this point, stating, “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 lodge
