By Paul Sperry of RealClearInvestigations
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is not the only one seeking military assistance from President Biden to protect Kiev from Russian forces. As such, he is a close friend of Biden and a financial supporter, who owns luxury car dealerships around the Ukrainian capital.
By sending billions of dollars in weapons and other military equipment to defend Ukraine, Mr. Biden is also protecting the money of auto millionaire John Hynansky, a Ukrainian-American and former presidential aide.
Throughout Biden’s years in office, Hynansky and his family have donated more than $100,000 to his campaigns, Federal Election Commission records show. Hynansky’s relatives have been guests at the White House, and Hynansky has floated hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans to Biden’s relatives, records show. Hynansky’s son, Michael, who helps him drive his car, loaned his Lear jet to Biden when he was a senator.
Ever since Russia began destroying the area around Kiev in February 2022, the US government has destroyed it $77 billion to help Ukraine rebuild and eliminate future protests.
Ethics officials say the president’s relationship raises a potential controversy that calls for a full accounting of how massive foreign aid, which includes open-ended humanitarian and economic aid, has been spent and who has benefited from it. On the military side, in addition, billions of dollars have gone to unspecified areas, such as “defense,” “intelligence,” and “education.” Previously, Hynansky provided police cars and ambulances in several regions of Ukraine.
The Biden administration helped Hynansky’s team in Ukraine plan the attack, including calling his commander in Kiev 13 days before Russian tanks crossed the border. It has sent billions of dollars to help rebuild the war-torn cities where Hynansky operates one of the country’s largest car showrooms and service centers known for Porsches, Jaguars, Land Rovers, and Bentleys, among other brands. America they export.
The president’s close relationship with Hynansky highlights the larger ethical questions that have surrounded Biden and his cronies, who often have a vested interest in the economy and policies they espouse. While serving as President Obama in Ukraine in 2015, Biden sought the firing of a prosecutor investigating the oil company, Burisma, which paid his son Hunter $80,000 a month to work on his team.
Related: What Will Joe Biden Do If Hunter Is Convicted?
The connection between the businesses of Joe Biden and Hynansky began in 2009, when the vice president visited Ukraine for the first time. In a Speaking in Kiev for government officials, Mr. Biden praised Hynansky, saying that he had just had breakfast “My best friend, John Hynansky.” (Last year, Hynansky donated more than $33,000 to the Obama-Biden ticket primarily through the Obama Victory Fund, according to FEC filings.)
Within months of meeting with the vice president and government officials in the Ukrainian capital, Hynansky secured his first development loan from the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation, or OPIC, a federal agency whose board was appointed by President Obama. Hynansky spent $2.5 million to set up a new headquarters and distribution center outside Kiev that plans to sell 8,000 cars every year. In 2012, Hynansky also secured a $20 million investment from OPIC to expand its retail portfolio. federal records showhelping him corner about 25% of the luxury car market in Ukraine.
Hynansky is connected to politicians in Kiev and Washington. President Zelensky also calls Hynansky a close friend and in recent years has given him state awards. Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko is also close to the prominent Wilmington businessman.
In August 2021, Hynansky protected a loan of $ 24 million from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to expand its operations in Ukraine to electric cars, including the construction of new Renault and Volvo dealerships in Lviv. The US is a founding member of the EBRD and provides 10% of its capital. The Biden administration has been pushing for “green” trade. “In the near future, we want to increase our presence in the Ukrainian market,” Hynansky’s head in Ukraine, Petro Rondiak, said at the time.
The White House did not respond to questions about the president’s relationship with Hynansky.
Although Mr. Biden has not spoken about what he did in Ukraine when he was involved with Hynansky and his businesses there, he has repeatedly denied that his son Burisma’s actions in Ukraine – which included giving more than $50 million in US aid to support Ukrainian power. companies, the support package Biden announced himself in Kiev a month before Burisma hired his son in 2014.
Republicans are investigating whether the money was meant to support his son’s business in Ukraine. Less investigated is whether US tax dollars have also been used to protect or promote Hynansky’s businesses in Ukraine.
Paul Kamenar, counsel at the National Legal and Policy Center, a Washington watchdog group. He said that in dealing with Ukraine, Mr. Biden suspects that he may be putting his economy ahead of politics rather than the interests of the country.
This article was adapted from a RealClearInvestigations article published on April 26.
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