The US President Donald Trump hoped he could discredit former Vice President Joe Biden by investigating his activities in Ukraine, Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton said.
“Weeks and months passed, and he talked about them (about Biden and Ukraine – ed.) more and more… It became an obsession for him that if he could reveal what was happening in Ukraine, he would be able to discredit Biden”, – Bolton said in an interview with ABC News.
According to him, this would have contributed to the re-election of Trump in the upcoming US presidential election.
“There is no doubt that this had a political background”, – Bolton added.
Democrats in the United States organized an impeachment process against Trump, suspecting him of delaying military assistance to Ukraine and demanding in exchange to investigate his political opponent Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
Trump said that he demanded that the Ukrainian authorities only fight corruption. Biden’s son served on the board of directors of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma, and Trump believed that Biden Sr. had succeeded in ending the investigation against this company and firing Viktor Shokin, the then Prosecutor General of Ukraine.
Burisma executives were suspected of money laundering, tax evasion, and illegal mining licenses. The US Senate acquitted Trump on both counts of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Thus, the process of impeachment ended to no avail, Trump remained in office.