Former Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin, who was fired at the behest of then-Vice President Joe Biden in 2016, has said that he would like to sue media outlets for defamation against him, but cannot do so because he lacks the funds, according to an interview which aired on Saturday.
Shokin served as Ukraine’s prosecutor general until 2016 when he was fired by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko due to political pressure from Biden, who claimed that Shokin was corrupt. After American newspapers parroted this allegation despite his denials, Shokin said that he would like to sue them for defamation, but is unable to do so, according to an interview with Brian Kilmeade on Fox News’ “One Nation.”
“What do you say to people who say that you are corrupt and that Joe Biden did the right thing by making sure you were fired?” asked Kilmeade, after quoting from stories written about Shokin by The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. Shokin responded by saying, “I would appreciate it if any of these highly respectable publications could come up with a single example or a single offense committed by me.”
Viktor Shokin – The Ukrainian Prosecutor Joe Biden BRAGGED about getting FIRED speaks out
SHOKIN: "The fact that Joe Biden gave away one billion dollars – in exchange for my dismissal, my firing. – Is that alone a case of corruption?" pic.twitter.com/gy3VCc6JqE
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 25, 2023
“Then why don’t you sue them?” asked Kilmeade. “Why don’t you sue these publications for defamation?”
“I would gladly do that, but suing somebody costs money, and I don’t have the money to do that because I am a retiree and my monthly pension constitutes the equivalent of $800,” Shokin said, claiming that he lacks the funds to pursue a defamation lawsuit in the United States against the newspapers.
“Fox is giving a platform for these lies to a former Ukrainian prosecutor general whose office his own deputy called a hotbed of corruption,” said White House spokesperson Ian Sams in a statement to Fox News regarding Shokin’s interview with Kilmeade. Sams claimed that Shokin’s leadership as a prosecutor “[drew] demands for reform not only from then-Vice President Biden but also from U.S. diplomats, international partners, and Republican senators like Ron Johnson.”
Shokin has received attention in the United States following investigations into Hunter Biden, who served on the board of Burisma Holdings that Shokin’s office was investigating at the time he was fired. Congressional Republicans have suggested that Shokin was fired because Biden wanted to protect his son’s business interests in Burisma.
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