Leaked Tapes Reportedly Show Biden Pressuring Ukrainian President To Fire Prosecutor In Return For $1 Billion

A Ukrainian lawmaker with ties to the Russian KGB released on Tuesday excerpts of recorded phone calls reportedly made between former Vice President Joe Biden and former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in 2016 discussing the ouster of a Ukrainian prosecutor in return for a $1 billion loan guarantee.

The lawmaker, Andriy Derkach, said during a press conference Tuesday that Poroshenko recorded his phone calls with Biden and that he received the tapes from investigative journalists.

The full context of the conversations between the two leaders was edited out of the tapes Derkach released Tuesday, The Washington Post reported, but the portions that were released are mostly consistent with how Biden has publicly characterized his efforts to get former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin fired in return for loan guarantees from the United States.

Biden spokesman Andrew Bates told the Post the release of the tapes was yet another instance of Russia’s efforts to hurt Biden.