INTERNACIONAL
Biden didn’t want intel disseminated showing Ukrainian concerns over family’s ‘corrupt’ business ties: records
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Then-Vice President Joe Biden in 2015 told the CIA he would «strongly prefer» an intelligence report documenting Ukrainian officials’ concerns with his family’s ties to «corrupt» business deals in the country «not be disseminated» — and so it wasn’t, according to a newly-declassified email and records made public by the agency.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe declassified the heavily redacted records, which he said he believes is an example of «politicization of intelligence.»
Fox News Digital obtained the declassified documents, which were discovered during a CIA review of historical agency records.
President Joe Biden waves while speaking to reporters before boarding Air Force One at Des Moines International Airport, in Des Moines Iowa, April 12, 2022, en route to Washington. (AP)
A senior CIA official briefed Fox News Digital on the declassified documents and intelligence report, stating that the intelligence was discovered along with an email showing that Biden «expressed a preference to not share the report.»
Representatives for Biden did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
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CIA officials discovered and declassified an email dated February 10, 2016, with the subject line stating: «RE: OVP query regarding draft [REDACTED].» The email was sent to the CIA.
The classification of the email was listed, and crossed out, as «SECRET.»
«Good morning, I just spoke with VP/ NSA and he would strongly prefer the report not/not be disseminated. Thanks for understanding,» the email states, signed by a redacted name, but with the title of «PDB Briefer.» The «PDB» is the presidential daily brief.
Vice President J.D. Vance swears in newly confirmed CIA Director John Ratcliffe while his wife, Michele Ratcliffe, looks on during a ceremony in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House Jan. 23, 2025. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
The report in question included intelligence revealing that Ukrainian officials viewed the Biden family’s alleged ties to corrupt business practices in Ukraine «as evidence of a double-standard within the United States Government towards matters of corruption and political power.»
«Intelligence officials agreed that, at the time of collection, it would have met the threshold [for dissemination], but based on the Office of the Vice President’s preference, the information was never shared outside of the CIA,» the official said.
The CIA, during its review, confirmed that Biden’s request was granted and that the intelligence report «had not been disseminated.»
The senior CIA official told Fox News Digital that it was «extremely rare and unusual» and «inappropriate to go outside of the intelligence community and inquire with the White House on the dissemination of a particular report for what appears to be political reasons.»
The newly declassified intelligence report, which Biden sought to keep private, had a subject line of: «NON-DISSEMINATED INTEL INFORMATION: Reactions of [REDACTED] Ukrainian Government Officials to the Early December Visit of Senior United States Government Official.»
The document states the date of the information came in December 2015. The document was created in 2016.
At the time, Biden was vice president and was running U.S.-Ukraine relations and policy for the Obama administration.
The intelligence document stated that «officials within the administration of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko expressed bewilderment and disappointment at the 7-8 December 2015 visit of the Vice President of the United States to Kiev, Ukraine.»
«These officials highlighted that, prior to the visit, the Poroshenko administration and other [REDACTED] Ukrainian officials expected the U.S. Vice President to discuss personnel matters with Poroshenko during the visit, and had assumed that the U.S. Vice President would advocate in support of or against specific officials within the Ukrainian Government,» the intelligence states.
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«After the visit, these officials assessed that the U.S. Vice President had come to Kiev almost exclusively to give a generic public speech, and had not had any intention of discussing substantive matters with Poroshenko or other officials within the Ukrainian government,» the intelligence states.
President Joe Biden sits in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, Feb. 9, 2024, in Washington. (Andrew Harnik/The Associated Press )
«Following the visit of the U.S. Vice President, [REDACTED] officials within the Poroshenko administration privately mused at the U.S. media scrutiny of the alleged ties of the U.S. Vice President’s family to corrupt business practices in Ukraine,» the intelligence states. «These officials viewed the alleged ties of the U.S. Vice President’s family to corruption in Ukraine as evidence of a double-standard within the United States Government towards matters of corruption and political power.»
Biden, on Dec. 9, 2015, gave a speech in Ukraine, in which he discussed corruption in the country.
«And it’s not enough to set up a new anti-corruption bureau and establish a special prosecutor fighting corruption,» Biden said in the speech. «The Office of the General Prosecutor desperately needs reform.»
In that speech, Biden also said Ukraine’s «energy sector needs to be competitive, ruled by market principles — not sweetheart deals.»
«It’s not enough to push through laws to increase transparency with regard to official sources of income,» he said. «Senior elected officials have to remove all conflicts between their business interest and their government responsibilities. Every other democracy in the world — that system pertains.»
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At the time, Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin was investigating Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma Holdings. Several months later, in March 2016, Biden successfully pressured Ukraine to remove Shokin. At the time Shokin was investigating Burisma Holdings, Hunter Biden had a highly lucrative role on the board, receiving tens of thousands of dollars per month.
Biden, at the time, threatened to withhold $1 billion of critical U.S. aid if Shokin was not fired.
«I said, ‘You’re not getting the billion.’ … I looked at them and said, ‘I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money,’» Biden recalled telling then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
Biden recollected the conversation during an event for the Council on Foreign Relations in 2018.
But during his first term, President Donald Trump was impeached after a July 2019 phone call in which he pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to launch investigations into the Biden family’s actions and business dealings in Ukraine, specifically Hunter Biden’s ventures with Burisma and Joe Biden’s successful effort to have former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin ousted.
At the same time as that call, Hunter Biden was under federal investigation, prompted by his suspicious foreign transactions.
Former President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)
Trump was acquitted in Feb. 2020 on both articles of impeachment against him — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress — after being impeached by the House of Representatives in December 2019.
Meanwhile, the declassified intelligence report had a «warning,» noting that «due to the extreme sensitivity, this report should be distributed only to the renamed recipients. No further distribution is authorized without prior approval of the originating agency. Violation of established handling procedures are subject to penalty, including termination of access to this reporting channel.»
It added that «any discussion of or reference to information in this report [REDACTED] is strictly prohibited. Any references to this report in derived or finished intelligence should include this warning.»
A senior CIA official told Fox News Digital that Ratcliffe believes the suppression of this intelligence is an example of «politicization of intelligence.»
CIA Director John Ratcliffe, flanked by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, left, and Defense Intelligence Agency Director Jeffrey Kruse, testifies as the House Intelligence Committee holds a hearing on worldwide threats, at the Capitol, in Washington, on Wednesday, March 26. (AP/J. Scott Applewhite)
«Director Ratcliffe believes this is an example of politicization of intelligence that we need to work to eliminate and for what we have zero tolerance,» a senior CIA official told Fox News Digital. «We believe transparency is important. We will release information and avoid any future weaponization of the intelligence community.»
As for the heavily redacted nature of the intelligence report, the senior CIA official told Fox News Digital that the agency was «careful about protecting CIA sources and methods with redactions.»
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The official stressed that Ratcliffe believes in «maximum transparency» and said he will continue to declassify CIA information and intelligence «when it serves the public’s interest.»
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives launched an impeachment inquiry against Biden during his presidency, and found, after years of investigating, that he engaged in «impeachable conduct,» «abused his office,» and «defrauded the United States to enrich his family.»
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Israel’s Foreign Ministry blasted Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani on the second anniversary of the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, after he marked the day with a post criticizing Israel and the U.S. and calling to end what he described as «occupation and apartheid.»
«Two years after Hamas launched its barbaric massacre against Israel and the Jewish people, Mamdani has chosen to act as a mouthpiece for Hamas propaganda — spreading Hamas’s fake genocide campaign,» wrote the ministry.
The Israel Foreign Ministry said that «by repeating Hamas’s lies, he excuses terror and normalizes antisemitism.»
ZOHRAN MAMDANI EMPLOYED WOMAN CAUGHT ON CAMERA TEARING DOWN HOSTAGE POSTERS
The Israel Foreign Ministry called New York City Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani (left) a «mouthpiece for Hamas propanda.» Pictured on right are Hamas terrorists in Gaza. (Michael Nigro/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images and Getty Images)
«He stands with Jews only when they are dead. Shameful,» the ministry added.
Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani’s campaign for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
In his statement, Mamdani acknowledged that «two years ago today, Hamas carried out a horrific war crime, killing more than 1,100 Israelis and kidnapping 250 more.»
He wrote, «I mourn these lives and pray for the safe return of every hostage.»
‘EXISTENTIAL THREAT’: JEWISH LEADERS WARN OF NYC ‘MASS EXODUS’ IF ZOHRAN MAMDANI WINS IN NOVEMBER
Mamdani criticized Israel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for having «launched a genocidal war» with a death toll he said, «far exceeds 67,000: with the Israeli military bombing homes, hospitals, and schools into rubble.» (Deirdre Heavey/Fox News Digital)
At the same time, Mamdani also criticized Israel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for having «launched a genocidal war» with a death toll that, he said, «far exceeds 67,000: with the Israeli military bombing homes, hospitals, and schools into rubble.»
«Every day in Gaza has become a place where grief itself has run out of language,» Mamdani wrote, adding, «our government has been complicit through it all.»
Mamdani also wrote that «the occupation and apartheid must end» and that the U.S. «must hold those responsible to account.»
«The last two years have demonstrated the very worst of humanity. We must answer it by modeling the very best: a relentless pursuit of our higher ideals and an unwavering commitment to universal human rights,» wrote Mamdani.
Jewish leaders and advocates have criticized 33-year-old socialist Zohran Mamdani since he secured the Democratic nomination for mayor of New York City, particularly for his hesitancy to condemn the phrase «globalize the intifada.»
NEW YORKERS SKEPTICAL AFTER ZOHRAN MAMDANI DISTANCES HIMSELF FROM PHRASE ‘GLOBALIZE THE INTIFADA’
A pro-Gaza ceasefire tent encampment at Columbia University in New York City on April 28, 2024. (Getty Images)
After months of refusing to condemn the anti-Israel rallying cry, which, according to the American Jewish Committee, «calls for people from around the globe to participate in rising up against Israel,» Mamdani shared with business leaders during a closed-door meeting in July that he would not use the slogan and would discourage others from using it moving forward.
However, his previous record has left many still very concerned.
«If Zohran Mamdani is elected, expect a Jewish exodus out of New York City,» Yuval David, an actor, filmmaker and Jewish activist told Fox News Digital.
In an interview with «Meet the Press» host Kristen Welker in June, Mamdani was asked to condemn the phrase three times but refused. He attempted to justify his position, saying, «My concern is, to start to walk down the line of language and making clear what language I believe is permissible or impermissible, takes me into a place similar to that of the president, who is looking to do those very kinds of things, putting people in jail for writing an op-ed, putting them in jail for protesting.»
JEWISH LEADER PREDICTS VIOLENT FUTURE FOR NYC RESIDENTS IF MAMDANI WINS IN NOVEMBER: ‘REAL CONCERN’
Israeli soldiers watch the northern Gaza Strip from southern Israel, Wednesday, July 30, 2025. (Ohad Zwigenberg/AP Photo)
«Ultimately, it is not language that I use. It is language, I understand there are concerns about, and what I will do is showcase my vision for the city through my words and my actions,» he said.
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Mamdani has also been criticized for supporting a slate of anti-Israel positions such as supporting BDS, an acronym for boycott, divestment and sanctions, and sanctions against Israel.
After Mamdani’s Oct. 7 post, the antisemitism awareness group Canary Mission also criticized him, saying he «pays lip service to condemning the Hamas massacre» while he «reserves much more vitriol for Israel, which he accuses of perpetuating a Nakba, occupation and apartheid on a regular basis- including in his October 7 statement itself!»
Fox News Digital’s Deirdre Heavey contributed to this report.
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INTERNACIONAL
Israel-Hamas: las cifras escalofriantes de los dos años de guerra que han devastado las vidas palestinas en Gaza
Aproximadamente el 11% de la población de Gaza ha muerto o ha sido herida
Casi toda la población está desplazada y miles están desaparecidos
Ruins of apartments destroyed by Israeli strikes litter the area next to Khaled Nassar’s home in the Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza City Feb. 9, 2025. Nassar’s daughter, Dalia, and his son, Mahmoud, were killed in separate airstrikes, leaving both buried under their homes. (AP Photo/Abdel Hana)Israel ocupa la gran mayoría de Gaza
Al menos el 30% de las personas pasan días sin comer
Las ciudades han sido arrasadas
Una imagen satelital facilitada por Vantor muestra una vista general de la ciudad de Gaza y el norte de Gaza el 27 de septiembre de 2023. Foto EFE
Una imagen satelital facilitada por Vantor muestra una vista general de la ciudad de Gaza y el norte de Gaza el 11 de septiembre de 2025. Foto EFE
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Exactly two years ago, Hamas terrorists stormed the Israeli border from Gaza, killing young families living on a small kibbutz and hunting down young people attending an outdoor music festival. The attackers killed more than 1,200 Israelis and took 251 hostages.
Fox’s Trey Yingst was on the scene several days after the massacre in Beeri. This is what he saw:
«The kitchen floors are stained with blood. People were home at the time. It was early in the morning on Saturday when Hamas militants stormed into their homes. The soldiers here tell us they found bodies that appeared to be executed. People with hands tied behind their backs, mothers holding their small children, bodies decapitated. Pure horror in this small town,» Yingst reported.
TWO YEARS AFTER HAMAS’ OCT. 7 MASSACRE, 48 HOSTAGES — DEAD AND ALIVE — REMAIN IN CAPTIVITY
Keith Siegel, accompanied by his wife Aviva (on his left), disembark from a military helicopter at the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (Ichlov) on Feb 1. 2025. (Getty Images)
Forty-eight hostages remain in Gaza. Twenty are believed to be alive. Aviva Siegel was held for 51 days, while her husband, Keith, was held for more than 400.
«When they came in to kidnap us, they shot us. And one of the bullets hit Keith. And it didn’t hit me because I was lucky, but it could have been different. And we were taken underneath the ground and we just didn’t have any air to breathe. And I really felt that it’s gonna be my last hours of my life,» Siegel told Fox News on the second anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks.
She remembers arriving in Gaza and seeing Palestinian families cheering and jeering at the wounded hostages.
Israeli forces are seen among the rubble of buildings destroyed after Palestinian terrorists attacked parts of southern Israel, in Be’eri, Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. (Nir Keidar/Anadolu via Getty Images)
«Everybody was just waiting for us. They knew we were coming. And we were taken immediately underneath the ground. And I’ll never forget the picture that I’ve got in my head of the terrorist, telling me to come down this ladder. It’s very narrow to go underneath the ground. I’m shaking. I’ll never forget his smile,» Siegel said on the second anniversary of the attacks and the start of her captivity.
ISRAEL ELIMINATES GAZA TERRORIST WHO TOOK PART IN OCT. ATTACK ON KIBBUTZ, TOOK YARDEN BIBAS HOSTAGE
American Israeli citizen Keith Siegel walks toward his release by Hamas terrorists during a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in February 2025. (Omar-Al-Qattaa/AFP via Getty Images)
Her husband Keith was kept in solitary confinement for six months.
«I was moved 13 times in 51 days while I was there. While Keith stayed there for 484 days, we were tortured, we were starved. They used to eat in front of us. I lost 10 kilos. Keith came home looking like a skeleton. He was just so thin. I couldn’t walk when I came back. I was so ill,» Aviva said.
Tens of thousands of Gazans have been killed in the aftermath by the Israeli military, which now controls 80% of the Gaza Strip. Israel says it does not target civilians but more than 90% of Gaza is now destroyed.
Keith Siegel meets his family at the Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv. (GPO)
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«I’m a witness to the Hamas terrorist touching the girls and doing whatever they wanted. I’m witness of the Hamas terrorists beating one of the girls that was with us and threatening her that they’re gonna kill her just because they thought she was lying,» Siegel said. «For me, it was like I was killed. For me not to be able to help them and to help Keith when he was tortured was the worst thing that I could go through. It was worse than when I was tortured. And I was tortured. I was pulled by my hair. I was pushed. I was starved. I was laughed at. I was threatened. I went to hell.»
israel,conflicts,middle east,terrorism
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