State Department diplomat George Kent told Congress this week that President Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, asked the State Department and the White House to grant a visa for a former Ukrainian prosecutor who has claimed to have dirt on Joe Biden. According to CNN, Kent—who is currently the deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs—told Congressional investigators that Giuliani first requested a visa for Viktor Shokin from the State Department. When the department objected to the request and denied the visa, Kent said Giuliani went to the White House to have the department's decision reversed. A visa was never granted to Shokin, and Giuliani ended up speaking to him via Skype.
Giuliani has told CNN that Shokin provided information to him about alleged coordination between Democrats and Ukrainians. The lawyer also said Shokin, who was ousted as Ukraine's top prosecutor at the urging of Biden, the Obama administration, and European Union officials, made allegations about Biden's son, who sat on the board of a Ukrainian energy company. Bloomberg reported earlier Friday that Shokin was also central in efforts by Ukrainian oligarch Dmitry Firtash, who is currently wanted by U.S. authorities on conspiracy charges, to dig up dirt on Biden in a bid to get legal help from Giuliani. Shokin reportedly provided a witness statement to associates of Firtash that was later held up on cable news by Giuliani as proof of Biden's wrongdoing. Firtash paid about $1 million to Giuliani-tied lawyers Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing, and sought to enlist Giuliani's legal help in the U.S.' case against him.
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