Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester asked Hunter Biden for Ukraine briefing in 2016
A co-chair of President Biden’s re-election campaign took money from Hunter Biden during her first run for Congress in 2016 — and later asked him for a briefing “on the Ukraine,” according to emails found on the troubled first son’s laptop.
Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), who also served as co-chair of Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign, thanked Hunter Biden for his donations to her before asking him for a favor.
“Thank you again for your generous contribution to my campaign. Your support means so much to me,” the now-representative wrote in an email on Feb. 15, 2016.
“Brian suggested I reached [sic] out to you to see if you could brief me on the Ukraine. Is there someone who manages your calendar or should I give you a few times for a phone call? Looking forward to speaking with you!”
Hunter and Blunt Rochester went back and forth over the following days trying to arrange a phone call.
It is unclear if the briefing ever took place.
At the time, Hunter Biden was on the board of Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma Holdings, a position that paid him up to $1 million per year, despite no relevant energy industry experience.
Hunter Biden donated $3,000 to Blunt Rochester’s principal campaign committee between February and April 2016, according to Federal Election Commission records.
“Let me know what more I can do- lets do a fundraiser in the second quarter down here in DC. Best, H,” he told her just days after his first contribution of $1,000.
Blunt Rochester, who has won all four of her House elections by double digits, is expected to run in 2024 for the Senate seat left open by the retiring Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), Politico reported last week.
The president made the congresswoman the second member of the Delaware delegation to lead his 2020 campaign, joining Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.).
Hunter also aided the junior senator’s fundraising efforts during his successful 2010 campaign, according to other emails reported by Fox News.
Blunt Rochester did not respond to a request for comment.
While Hunter was communicating with the soon-to-be lawmaker, he was receiving birthday gifts from Burisma’s president, Vadym Pozharskyi, who also shared “birthday wishes from Nikolay,” according to another email on the abandoned laptop.
“[T]hank NZ for the beautiful birthday gifts it was far too extravagant but much appreciated. Let’s talk tomorrow or Saturday about the editorial- I have a few ideas I’d like to share,” Hunter responded, apparently using the initials for Burisma founder Mykola Zlochevsky.
Roughly two weeks after the exchanges with Blunt Rochester, then-Vice President Biden pressed Kyiv officials to fire top prosecutor Viktor Shokin.
Shokin had been investigating Zlochevsky at the time he was ousted by then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in late March 2016.
Joe Biden, 80, took credit for the ouster two years later during an event at the Council on Foreign Relations.
“I said, ‘I’m telling you, you’re not getting the billion dollars.’ I said, ‘You’re not getting the billion. I’m going to be leaving here in,’ I think it was about six hours. I looked at them and said, ‘I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money,’” the elder Biden told members of the audience in 2018.
“Well, son of a b—. He got fired,” he added, earning laughs from attendees. “And they put in place someone who was solid at the time.”
