Was Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin prosecuting Burisma?

 https://edition.cnn.com/factsfirst/politics/factcheck_3fae078e-8724-4c28-9340-2c154688af43

CLAIM

Trump said that the Ukrainian prosecutor Joe Biden had pushed to oust, Viktor Shokin, was "prosecuting" the company where Hunter Biden sat on the board, Burisma.

CONCLUSION

Shokin was not prosecuting Burisma.

EVIDENCE

While there had been an investigation of the company, Shokin's former deputy, Vitaliy Kasko, has said that it was dormant at the time of Joe Biden's intervention. (The former US ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, and the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, George Kent, testified in Trump's impeachment inquiry that Shokin was corrupt; the US and its allies had made a coordinated effort to oust him.)

Republican senators echoed Biden in urging Ukrainian president to reform prosecutor general’s office

 https://edition.cnn.com/2019/10/03/politics/gop-senators-echoed-biden-on-ukraine-reforms-kfile/index.html

At the same hearing, John E. Herbst, a former Ambassador to Ukraine in the Bush administration and now director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, testified that there was widespread support for the removal of Sholkin and praised specifically praised Biden.

Biden–Ukraine conspiracy theory

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biden–Ukraine_conspiracy_theory

The false conspiracy relies on the concept of quid pro quo with the lie blaming then Vice President Biden withheld loan guarantees to pressure Ukraine into firing a corrupt prosecutor. This is in contrast to the attempted quid pro quo when President Trump unsuccessfully tried to pressure Ukrainian President Zelensky in a quid pro quo manner to start a publicly announced investigation of Burisma and the Bidens in exchange for military aid.[19] This led to President Trump's first impeachment.

In January 2018, a videotaping by the Council on Foreign Relations shows Biden taking credit for withholding the loan guarantees to have the prosecutor fired. His actions were implementations of bipartisan US policy rather than done for any of the reasons alleged in the conspiracy theory.[24][25][26]

‘This is game over’: Andrew Weissmann on bombshell Trump audio recording

Rachel and Lawrence react to new audio evidence in Trump docs case

This is secret information’: Hear exclusive audio of Trump discussing classified documents

The GOP ‘bribery’ allegations against Biden remain transparently thin

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/06/13/gop-biden-allegation-analysis/

Two members of Congress who have seen the 1023 told the New York Post that the executive at issue was Burisma founder Mykola Zlochevsky. In 2020, former Giuliani aide Lev Parnas — then himself under indictment on federal charges — told Politico that Giuliani had met privately with Zlochevsky in mid-2019, in the middle of Trump’s effort to get Ukraine to announce an investigation into Biden.

“Asked to detail any contacts he had with Joe Biden from 2013-2019, and whether Hunter ever facilitated any meetings,” Politico’s Natasha Bertrand wrote, “Zlochevsky replied: ‘No one from Burisma ever had any contacts with VP Biden or people working for him during Hunter Biden’s engagement.’ "

Giuliani, Parnas said, was furious at that answer.

Why are Republicans accusing Joe and Hunter Biden of bribery?

 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/joe-hunter-biden-president-burisma-bribery-republicans-b2362621.html

The increasing legal jeopardy facing former president Donald Trump, and news of the plea agreement between the Department of Justice and President Joe Biden’s son Hunter, has led Republicans in Congress to make increasingly outlandish accusations against the 46th president and his family, even as evidence to support their claims continues to be lacking.

Web of biblical cities depicts King David as major ruler, says Israeli archaeologist

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/web-of-biblical-cities-depicts-king-david-as-major-ruler-says-israeli-archaeologist/

In a new academic paper, Prof. Yosef Garfinkel of the Institute of Archaeology at Hebrew University claims he has found evidence of urban settlement in organized cities dating to around 1,000 BCE, during the reign of King David.

His article, published Monday in the Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology, a peer-reviewed publication of Hebrew University, supports the theory that King David ruled over a well-developed kingdom, complete with roads connecting between cities. This runs counter to the belief of some scholars from the minimalist school of thought who have previously suggested that since there is scant evidence of cities during King David’s reign, his position as a ruler of a great kingdom as written in the Bible could be exaggerated.

"Planted by scoundrels": Trump melts down on Truth Social after DOJ reveals evidence against him

 https://www.salon.com/2023/06/22/planted-by-scoundrels-melts-down-on-truth-social-after-doj-reveals-evidence-against-him/

Trump has repeatedly argued that the President Records Act, which defines the scope of presidential records and states they belong to the government, exonerates him from prosecution for hoarding classified materials.

Legal experts, however, clarified for Salon last week that Trump is not facing charges for violating the PRA but rather the Espionage Act, which instead pertains to national defense records from agencies like the CIA that the indictment accuses him of willfully retaining.

Missionaries targeting Orthodox Jewish communities in Jerusalem

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/373303

"It could very well be that he is merely boasting to raise funds, but I can testify, as someone who walks the streets of Jerusalem a lot, that their number is much greater than what we knew before the coronavirus," King warns. "I hear about materials in mailboxes in every neighborhood in the city, including Givat Shaul, Har Nof, Givat Mordechai, etc. They arrive everywhere and that means a lot of people, beyond the streetcar in the Safra square and the Western Wall. When you reach so many people, you have to be much more connected. He may be from Paris, but there is no doubt that there is a much larger number of Messianic Jews and missionaries on the streets of Jerusalem."

University under fire for 'anything but orthodox' adver

 https://www.thejc.com/news/world/university-under-fire-for-anything-but-orthodox-advert-689Ltm8DYbePgby73qU1Tc

An advert placed in the New York Times by a prestigious American university has been criticised by orthodox Jews for being 'tone-deaf' towards its Orthodox students.

“Brandeis was founded by Jews. But, it’s anything but orthodox,” reads the ad, which runs across a two-page spread.

Trump Audio 'Even More Damning' Than Indictment: Ex-Prosecutor

 https://www.newsweek.com/trump-audio-even-more-damning-indictment-prosecutor-1809157

In a statement to Newsweek Monday night, a spokesperson for Trump's campaign said via email that the tape proves "once again" that the former president is innocent and called it "bait" for "Trump-haters."

"The audio tape provides context proving, once again, that President Trump did nothing wrong at all," the campaign spokesperson said. "The President is speaking rhetorically and also quite humorously about a very perverted individual, Anthony Weiner, who was deep inside the corrupt Clinton campaign. The media and the Trump-haters once again were all too willing to take the bait, falling for another Democrat-DOJ hoax, hook, line, and sinker."

Trump's campaign also shared a statement on behalf of the former president, which read, "As we've been saying from the moment President Trump rode down the golden escalator, the President did nothing wrong."

Jan. 6 Convict Tells the Truth About Trump: He’s a Cult Boss

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/jan-6-convict-pamela-hemphill-tells-the-truth-about-trump-hes-a-cult-boss?ref=home?ref=home

“I started debunking them and they got mad at me and they started getting more mad at me and started a smear campaign on me,” Hemphill recalled. “That I was a fed agent. That I was antifa. Just silly children, high school stuff.”