Trump impeachment inquiry: Three Republican claims fact-checked

The whistleblower has links to the Democrats

As for allegations of prior links to the Democratic Party, a lawyer representing the anonymous whistleblower says they never worked for or advised any political party, candidate or campaign.

In considering these possible links, the top official in charge of dealing with complaints within the intelligence community had examined “indications of arguable political bias” on the part of the whistleblower, but had concluded the complaint about the president was still credible.

Ukraine interfered in the 2016 US election

The Ukrainian embassy says it “refused to get involved in any way.”

But the idea there was concerted Ukrainian interference has been largely debunked, and the State Department’s expert on Ukraine, George Kent, said during the impeachment hearing that the theory had “no factual basis.”

The Bidens were up to no good in Ukraine

It’s certainly true that Mr Biden wanted the prosecutor to be sacked, but he wasn’t alone.

There was near unanimity among international institutions, Western countries and local anti-corruption activists at the time that he had to go.

It’s technically true to say the sacked prosecutor was looking at Burisma amongst cases he’d inherited from his predecessor, but like so many in Ukraine it was not being actively pursued.

We also know that George Kent, the senior state department official, had raised concerns at the time with Joe Biden’s office about Hunter Biden taking on this role, that it could appear to be a conflict of interest.

But in Eastern Europe and elsewhere in the world it’s fairly common for well-known public figures to be given well-paid positions to improve the public image of a controversial company.

Navy Vet

Article URL : https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50424322