This Wednesday night, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to draw attention to a new report on outside interference in the 2016 election.
Rather than the alleged meddling by Russians to help President Trump, this report is about an investigation into an alleged Ukrainian plot to help the President’s opponent, Hillary Clinton.
Citing Fox News host Sean Hannity, President Donald Trump tweeted the following: “John Solomon: As Russia Collusion fades, Ukrainian plot to help Clinton emerges.”
The post refers to a new report from John Solomon, The Hill, who made an interview with Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko on Hill.TV this Wednesday about a newly launched investigation into “alleged attempts by Ukrainians to interfere in the United States’ 2016 presidential election.”
As The Hill reported, Lutsenko revealed that officials will be “probing a claim from a member of the Ukrainian parliament that the director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), Artem Sytnyk, attempted to the benefit of the 2016 U.S. presidential election on behalf of Hillary Clinton,”
“According to the member of parliament of Ukraine, he got the court decision that the NABU official conducted an illegal intrusion into the American election campaign,” Lutsenko told The Hill. “It means that we think Mr. Sytnyk, the NABU director, officially talked about criminal investigation with Mr. [Paul] Manafort, and at the same time, Mr. Sytnyk stressed that in such a way, he wanted to assist the campaign of Ms. Clinton.”
The Ukrainian state department said in a statement to The Hill that they are aware of the probe and the need to “address corruption” within their own government.
“We have consistently said that Ukraine’s long-term success and resilience depends on its commitment to reform, in particular the fight to address corruption,” a state department spokesperson told Hill.TV. “To succeed, Ukraine needs committed government officials and strong anti-corruption institutions. The United States is committed to engaging with our partners in Ukraine, including on efforts to roll back the persistent corruption that continues to threaten Ukraine’s national security, prosperity, and democratic development.”
The Daily Wire’s Ryan Saavedra noted that, few days before the President was sworn into office, Politico broke the story on the alleged pro-Clinton Ukrainian plot.
“Ukrainian government officials tried to help Hillary Clinton and undermine Trump by publicly questioning his fitness for office,” Politico reported. “They also disseminated documents implicating a top Trump aide in corruption and suggested they were investigating the matter, only to back away after the election. And they helped Clinton’s allies research damaging information on Trump and his advisers, a Politico investigation found.”
Politico reported that “Ukrainian-American operative who was consulting for the Democratic National Committee met with top officials in the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington in an effort to expose ties between Trump, top campaign aide Paul Manafort and Russia, according to people with direct knowledge of the situation.”
