House Republicans are probing the State Department over its “perception” of former Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin in 2015 after then-Vice President Joe Biden threatened to withhold $1 billion in U.S. aid to the country if Shokin was not fired.

In a Tuesday letter, Rep. James Comer (R-KY), the chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, asked Secretary of State Antony Blinken to provide more context on “certain sudden foreign policy changes” related to Ukraine and Shokin’s firing. 

Biden has been accused of pushing Shokin’s firing to protect his son, Hunter Biden, who was then on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company facing corruption allegations. The White House has claimed that the move was because Shokin was not pursuing corruption in Ukraine. 

The letter is part of the committee’s work investigating Biden’s “connections to certain international and domestic business transactions and practices, including his family and associates peddling influence to generate millions of dollars for the Biden family.”

“Shokin was elevated to lead the Office of the Prosecutor General in the midst of an ongoing, international investigation focused on corruption surrounding Burisma — a natural gas company in Ukraine — and its founder, Mykola Zlochevsky,” the letter said. 

Comer said that the State Department was initially favorable toward Shokin at the beginning of 2015 but later decided to push for his firing. Comer cited a letter from State Department official Victoria Nuland “applauding” Shokin’s anti-corruption efforts. He also pointed to a memo from the Interagency Policy Committee that showed in September 2015 that another $1 billion loan to Ukraine would be approved. 

Sometime later, though, the State Department policy toward Shokin cooled, and it began pressuring Ukrainian officials to fire him. 

“On November 5, 2015, then-Vice President participated in a call with then-President of Ukraine Poroshenko and provided no indication that the United States’ policy regarding Ukraine required the dismissal of Prosecutor General Shokin. By late 2015, however, the removal of Prosecutor General Shokin became a condition of the loan guarantee by the United States,” Comer’s letter said. 

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According to the letter and comments from Hunter associate Devon Archer, the pressure for the termination came as Burisma corporate secretary Vadym Pozharsky was pushing Hunter to “deliver help from the U.S. government.” Archer said that Hunter “called D.C.” in December 2015 for a call with Burisma officials, a claim that House Republicans are still investigating. 

Comer wants the State Department to provide calls, emails, and memos all related to policy on Burisma, Shokin, Burisma, and the billion-dollar U.S. loan to Ukraine.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) took shots at multiple Democrat officials in a new episode of his podcast as he touched on current events across the U.S.

During the episode, Cruz touched on the 9/11 anniversary, the Biden administration reportedly considering keeping illegal aliens in Texas, and New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham unilaterally suspending open and concealed carry laws in her state.

Cruz made the remarks on his “Verdict” podcast with co-host Ben Ferguson on Monday as the nation mourned the 22nd anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Early in the podcast, Cruz talked about the vulnerability on the nation’s southern border, noting that numerous individuals on the terror watch list have been apprehended there.

The open border is “also an invitation to terrorists,” Cruz said. “If you’re the next planner of 9/11, it’s obvious where you go, you go to Mexico. And you come right across. And Joe Biden, and the idiots in his administration, will fly you to wherever you want to go in this country, and you can carry out your terror attack. And sadly, every day that we have an open border under Joe Biden and the Democrats, the odds of another major attack in this country, a major terror attack go up systematically, they are exposing us. They are exposing vulnerabilities whether it is someone trying to hijack an airplane or whether it is a suicide bomber in a mall, or an amusement park, or a concert, or what have you.”

Several minutes later, Cruz addressed a report from the Washington Free Beacon that said the Biden administration was considering using ankle monitors to prevent illegal immigrants from leaving Texas.

“Look, this is utter and complete garbage. It is nakedly political. It is blatantly illegal,” Cruz said. “There is no other explanation for this. The reason they want to target Texas is because they hate Texas, because Texas is red. Listen, 7.2 million people have crossed illegally under Joe Biden, is he really proposing let’s keep all 7.2 million in Texas? We got 30 million Texans. Yeah, he wants to take us to 37 million Texans and have a quarter of the state be illegal and he wants to do that so that he doesn’t upset Democrats in blue states. This is, it is blatantly illegal. And it is it is illegality piled on illegality. Look, current federal law requires that he deport these people. He’s defying federal law.”

Cruz also took a shot at New York City Democrat Mayor Eric Adams for blaming Texas Governor Greg Abbott for the illegal immigration crisis that has spread to his city.

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“Newsflash, the border crisis was not caused by Governor Greg Abbott. You know who the border crisis was caused by? Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Chuck Schumer. Nancy Pelosi,” Cruz said. “You know, if Eric Adams doesn’t like this border crisis, he ought to pick up the phone and call someone who lives in Manhattan. His name is Charles Schumer. And Chuck Schumer has defended Joe Biden’s open borders every single day for the last two and a half years. He’s blocked every effort to secure the border. He’s blocked every effort to build the wall. He’s blocked every effort to deport illegal immigrants. He’s blocked every effort to reinstate the remain-in-Mexico policy. He’s blocked every effort to pass Kate’s law, which I introduced to lock up and have mandatory minimum sentences for violent criminals who repeatedly reenter this country. Eric Adams’ party created this problem, and they didn’t just create it in the past. They are creating it today. And they intend to create it tomorrow.”

Cruz then took on Grisham, who signed an executive order last week declaring gun violence a public emergency in her state, which she then used to restrict people’s constitutional rights.

“Look, unfortunately, this is the consequence today, if you elect Democrats, they will come after your constitutional rights, it’s who they are,” said Cruz. “The one unifying factor of Democrats today is they are, I believe, a totalitarian party. They believe, their statist, they believe in government control. And you look at what the governor of New Mexico has done here. It is utterly, blatantly, brazenly, unapologetically lawless.”

Cruz later added, “The Second Amendment to the Constitution says the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, shall not be infringed. What she is saying is you have no right to keep and bear arms. You cannot bear arms. What is bearing arms? What the Supreme Court has said is the right of the people and that’s actually the phrase of the Second Amendment, the right of the people to keep and bear arms.”