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Trump’s team tries to put Bidens on trial

Trump’s lawyers focused on Hunter Biden, the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, during their arguments.

Pam Bondi said the defense team would have preferred to avoid Biden and his work on the board at Burisma Holdings, a natural gas company in Ukraine, but the impeachment articles accuse Trump of abuse of power for pressuring Ukraine to investigate the Bidens and Burisma.

"The House managers have placed this squarely at issue," she said, "so we must address it."

Bondi focused on news reports that suggested Biden was hired solely because he was the son of the former vice president. She highlighted media reports chronicling the Obama administration’s pressure on Ukraine to fire its top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, who had attempted to investigate Burisma.

House managers said allegations against Burisma had been debunked, and Biden’s effort to have Shokin fired for alleged corruption was part of the U.S. policy and supported by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

Bondi told senators House managers “never gave you the full picture.”

Eric Herschmann, another private lawyer representing Trump, questioned why Hunter Biden was hired and paid so much by Burisma without any experience in the natural gas industry, the energy sector generally or Ukraine.

“What are the House managers afraid of finding out?” Herschmann asked.

Biden told ABC News in October 2019 that he was focused on corporate governance while on Burisma’s board.

“Bottom line is that I know I was completely qualified to be on the board to head up the corporate governance and transparency committee on the board, and that’s all that I focused on,” Biden said in a video Herschmann played at the trial.

During the same interview, Biden refused to disclose how much he was paid. Bondi said public records from an unrelated criminal case suggested Biden was paid $83,333 per month for 17 months. Herschmann said Democrats circled the wagons in August to protect Joe Biden

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/01/27/trump-impeachment-senate-trial/4581274002/

REMINDER: Democrats Want to Keep CIA ‘Whistleblower’ Eric Ciaramella Anonymous Til After Impeachment – Then He’ll Be the Toast of DC, Do All the Talk Shows and Land a HUGE Book Deal

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/01/reminder-democrats-want-to-keep-cia-whistleblower-eric-ciaramella-anonymous-til-after-impeachment-then-hell-be-the-toast-of-dc-do-all-the-talk-shows-and-land-a-huge-book-deal/