Ukraine Corruption Backgrounder

Yesterday Gateway Pundit ran a blog that provided an overview of Ukraine's corruption problem, while pointing out that, so far, with the Biden and Kerry cases, we've still only seen the tip of the Ukraine corruption iceberg--and, in all probability, the US connection. As I've said before, the likelihood is that there are Republicans involved as well as Democrats--Manafort certainly comes to mind, but we're also learning about Romney and his Deep State adviser. Nevertheless, to this point the Democrat involvement seems overwhelmingly dominant, if party affiliation can be construed as a real factor:

Ukraine Burisma Story is Massive – Involves BILLIONS of IMF and US Funds Looted and Lost by Bank Connected to Burisma Holdings!

Here's GP's capsule version of the issues that the Ukraine Hoax has brought to public view:

The Biden (and now Kerry) scandal in the Ukraine is much more than about the money paid to Hunter Biden for being a Board member at the largest gas producer in the Ukraine, Burisma Holdings.  The real scandal involves billions in funds from the IMF and US in aid that has gone missing. 

Burisma (Ukraine’s largest oil and gas provider) has been the subject of many recent news articles because of its scandalous close-knit ties with President Obama’s Vice President Biden and Secretary of State Kerry.  (Yes, Kerry is involved here too) 

... 

Where are the billions of dollars that went missing in the Ukraine?  What do Obama, Biden and Kerry and their children know about where the money is and are they connected?

There's lots more. However, fascinatingly, GP links to a 2015 article by old line Lefty Alexander Cockburn--Undelivered Goods: How $1.8 billion in aid to Ukraine was funneled to the outposts of the international finance galaxy. I'll quote the final paragraph first, in which Cockburn warns against the Washington Establishment consensus on Ukraine--Ukraine good and and vital to US national interests, Putin bad. End of story--but, says Cockburn, we make that the end of the story at great risk:

Holy, uh, Cow! Solomon's Big Scoop On Weissmann

Last week I noted John Solomon's tease re "new evidence emerging about the conduct of one of Mueller’s deputies." I assumed that would mean Andrew Weissmann, and I haven't been disappointed. I'm still working on a commentary based on Paul Sperry's article today. I'll finish that first, but I'll just say that Solomon's story is, IMO, very big. Here are the first few paragraphs:

The ink was still drying on special counsel Robert Mueller’s appointment papers when his chief deputy, the famously aggressive and occasionally controversial prosecutor Andrew Weissmann, made a bold but secret overture in early June 2017. 

Weissmann quietly reached out to the American lawyers for Ukrainian oligarch Dmitry Firtash with a tempting offer: Give us some dirt on Donald Trump in the Russia case, and Team Mueller might make his 2014 U.S. criminal charges go away. 

The specifics of the never-before-reported offer were confirmed to me by multiple sources with direct knowledge, as well as in contemporaneous defense memos I read. 

... 

At first blush, one might ask, “What’s the big deal?” It’s not unusual for federal prosecutors to steal a page from Monty Hall’s “Let’s Make a Deal” script during plea negotiations. 

But Weissmann’s overture was wrapped with complexity and intrigue far beyond the normal federal case, my sources indicate.

IMO, Solomon isn't exaggerating: How Mueller deputy Andrew Weissmann's offer to an oligarch could boomerang on DOJ. One more thing for Mueller to explain.