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.
FLASHBACK: BIDEN COMMITTED ‘IMPEACHABLE CONDUCT,’ ‘DEFRAUDED UNITED STATES TO ENRICH HIS FAMILY’: HOUSE GOP REPORT
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.»
joe biden,cia,biden brink,hunter biden investigation explained,hunter biden
INTERNACIONAL
Cuba sufre un apagón total y anuncia que los emigrados y sus descendientes podrán abrir negocios en la isla
En medio de un apagón total a nivel nacional, el gobierno cubano dio este lunes la primera señal de apertura bajo fuerte presión de Donald Trump: los emigrados y sus descendientes podrán invertir y tener sus propios negocios en la isla.
“Cuba está abierta a mantener una relación comercial fluida con empresas estadounidenses” y “también con cubanos residentes en Estados Unidos y sus descendientes”, dijo el ministro de Comercio Exterior e Inversión Extranjera, Oscar Pérez-Oliva, en una entrevista con la cadena de televisión estadounidense NBC difundida este lunes.
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En la entrevista que concedió en La Habana, el ministro explicó que los emigrados podrán tener sus propios negocios en la isla, lo que constituye un viejo reclamo de la diáspora.
El anuncio se conoce en coincidencia con la confirmación de negociaciones con Estados Unidos y el aumento de las protestas y cacerolazos en distintos puntos de la isla. En la localidad de Morón, en el centro de la isla, manifestantes provocaron un incendio en la sede del Partido Comunista local.
Nuevo apagón nacional
Cuba sufrió este lunes un nuevo apagón nacional, el sexto en apenas año y medio, informó el Ministerio de Energía y Minas (Minem).
“Se ha producido una desconexión total del Sistema Eléctrico Nacional (SEN), se investigan las causas y comienzan a activarse los protocolos para el restablecimiento”, explicó en redes sociales Una imagen del héroe revolucionario cubano Ernesto «Che» Guevara junto a un televisor en el que aparece el presidente cubano Miguel Díaz-Canel dando un discurso, en el interior de una tienda de recuerdos en La Habana, Cuba, el viernes 13 de marzo de 2026. (AP Foto/Ramón Espinosa)
Cuba se encuentra sumida en una profunda crisis energética desde mediados de 2024. La situación se agravó en los últimos tres meses con el bloqueo petrolero impuesto por Estados Unidos y después de la captura de Nicolás Maduro y el ataque estadounidense a Venezuela.
Trump obligó al nuevo gobierno chavista de Delcy Rodríguez a interrumpir de cuajo el suministro de crudo a la isla.
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La economía cubana está virtualmente paralizada sin combustible. La generación de electricidad del país está sostenida por una red de termoeléctricas envejecidas, algunas con más de 40 años de explotación.
Desde el 9 de enero no ha llegado a Cuba ningún tanquero, lo que obligó al gobierno de Miguel Díaz-Canel a adoptar medidas drásticas de ahorro, incluidas la suspensión de la venta de diésel y el racionamiento de la gasolina, así como la reducción de algunos servicios de atención hospitalaria.
Comienza la apertura en Cuba
El anuncio de la autorización a los emigrados y sus descendientes a abrir negocios en la isla se copnoce después que el presidente Miguel Díaz-Canel confirmara la marcha de negociaciones con el gobierno de Donald Trump, que viene amenazando con imponer un cambio de régimen en el país.
En la entrevista, el ministro Pérez-Oliva destacó que la apertura “se aplica a las inversiones (y) no solo a las pequeñas, sino también a las grandes inversiones, especialmente en infraestructuras”.
Según afirmó, el objetivo es reactivar sectores clave de la economía, como el turismo y la minería, así como restaurar la obsoleta red eléctrica del país, que lleva varios años sufriendo averías que provocan prolongados apagones.
Leé también: Israel: Netanyahu grabó un video en una cafetería para desmentir los rumores sobre su muerte
Si bien hasta hace poco el 80% de la economía cubana se basaba en un sistema de producción planificado y centralizado por empresas estatales, la crisis impulsó al gobierno a abrirse al sector privado.
En 2021 se permitió nuevamente la actividad de pequeñas y medianas empresas privadas, con hasta 100 empleados, tras haber estado prohibidas durante casi seis décadas.
Para 2025, unas 10.000 empresas privadas del país representaban el 15% del PIB y empleaban a más del 30% de la población activa. Ese mismo año, las ventas minoristas del sector privado superaron por primera vez a las del sector público, representando el 55% del comercio total.
A inicios de marzo, el gobierno cubano autorizó, por primera vez en casi 60 años, la asociación entre empresas públicas y privadas. Hasta entonces, las únicas empresas mixtas existentes eran las constituidas entre el Estado cubano y compañías extranjeras no estadounidenses.
(Con información de EFE y AFP)
cuba, Donald Trump
INTERNACIONAL
Hamas reasserts control in Gaza as Iran war dominates regional attention and global focus
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As the war with Iran dominates the region’s attention, Hamas is quietly reasserting control inside Gaza, according to videos and photos circulating on social media. An Israeli analyst and a Gazan political commentator say the developments raise fresh doubts about whether postwar plans for the enclave can move forward anytime soon.
Michael Milshtein, a senior analyst at the Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University, said Hamas has used the past two and a half weeks not only to rehabilitate militarily but to project visible control in public life.
«They are really making good use of them to establish their power in the public sphere, not just for military rehabilitation,» Milshtein said, describing what he said were new recruits, police deployments and even parades in central Gaza. «Hamas is here to stay.»
TRUMP LAUNCHES PHASE 2 OF GAZA PEACE PLAN — BUT HAMAS DISARMAMENT REMAINS THE REAL TEST
Hamas terrorists stand in formation as Palestinians gather on a street to watch the handover of three Israeli hostages to a Red Cross team in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, on Feb. 8, 2025. (Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
He said Gazans have reported that Hamas is also rebuilding the machinery of governance. «Their police are everywhere,» he said. «They are also improving their taxation system.» During Ramadan, he added, Hamas personnel were checking markets and mosques and «starting to build education systems.»
Mukhaimer Abu Saada, a Gazan political analyst, agrees momentum around postwar Gaza planning has largely stalled since the Iran war escalated.
«Everything with regard to Gaza has been put on hold,» Abu Saada told Fox News Digital. Before the regional war erupted, he said, developments had been «moving in the right direction,» including work around the Board of Peace, the Gaza Technical Committee and discussions tied to a possible international stabilization force.
«Yes, Hamas has taken advantage of the current situation,» Abu Saada said. «They are not under the pressure that they were before.»
Both analysts pointed to the same broad dynamic: as attention shifted to Iran, pressure on Hamas eased.
Abu Saada said that before the war, there had been what he described as serious discussions about disarmament, the deployment of an international force and Gaza’s political future. But «the enthusiasm that preceded the war has come down,» he said, adding that Gaza has been pushed to the «back burner.»
«When I talk to Palestinians, they tell me, ‘Listen, we are actually already waiting for the day after the war,’» Milshtein said. He said some expect Netanyahu to become «very indebted to Trump because of the war in Iran, and he will have to accept whatever dictates he has regarding Gaza.»
US SEEKS UN AUTHORIZATION FOR GAZA INTERNATIONAL FORCE LASTING THROUGH 2027 UNDER TRUMP PLAN
Terrorists in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah celebrate the ceasefire on Jan. 19, 2025. (TPS-IL)
At the center of that conversation is the prospect of an international stabilization force entering Gaza. But both men suggested Hamas may not see such a force as a threat.
Abu Saada said Hamas had «welcomed the deployment» of such a force and appears to view it as «restraining the Israeli army» rather than coming in «to disarm» the group. He said the possibility of troops from countries such as Indonesia may make such a deployment appear less threatening to Hamas, which could see it as a buffer against continued Israeli military operations.
Milshtein took that argument further, saying Hamas sees the model less as a peacekeeping mission than as a version of the Hezbollah-UNIFIL arrangement in Lebanon.
«Hamas says, ‘I have no problem, it will be like UNIFIL in Lebanon,’» Milshtein said. «Don’t even dream about starting to chase us, taking our weapons, and entering the tunnels. You need to protect us from Israel as well.»
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Hezbollah terrorists are taking part in cross-border raids, part of a large-scale military exercise, in Aaramta, bordering Israel, on May 21, 2023, ahead of the anniversary of Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000. (Fadel Itani/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Abu Saada said the next phase depends heavily on how the Iran war ends. If the Iranian regime survives and avoids collapse, he said, Hamas will draw encouragement from that outcome.
«If Iran is not defeated, if the Iranian regime is not collapsing, that’s going to be some kind of moral support for Hamas,» he said.
war with iran,hamas,terrorism,israel
INTERNACIONAL
Trump lawyer in Jack Smith case draws conservative backing after DOJ praise rattles ‘elite’ legal conference
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President Donald Trump’s former defense lawyer received swift backing from conservative legal figures online after facing pushback at a recent American Bar Association (ABA) conference for praising the Trump Department of Justice.
Attorney John Lauro, who defended Trump in special counsel Jack Smith’s 2020 election case, said the DOJ was «in a better place» under Trump, causing fellow panelists and audience members to shudder, according to a Bloomberg Law report of the event.
Lauro told Fox News Digital in a brief phone call on Monday that the event «was a highly triggered environment.»
«I called out the ABA and other elite legal organizations for not condemning the prior administration in holding political sham trials and show trials, particularly the one directed at President Trump, where the Biden administration wanted to put him on trial in 90 days, which is shorter than it takes for a traffic ticket to get worked through in D.C.,» Lauro said.
LABOR DEPARTMENT ORDERS LAWYERS TO CUT TIES WITH ABA, SLAMS GROUP AS ‘RADICAL’ ACTIVIST FORCE
President Donald Trump’s attorney John Lauro, left, speaks to the media at following his appearance at the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., Jan. 9, 2024. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
The tense panel put a spotlight on the Trump administration’s ongoing fight with the ABA as it spurred DOJ officials and lawyers to voice their disdain for the organization.
«The ABA is trash and I’m proud to never have been a member,» Civil Rights Division head Harmeet Dhillon said. «Its stunt trashing Judge [Robert] Bork did it for me.»
«As if we needed anymore proof of the absolute disgrace that is the ABA,» wrote Associate Deputy Attorney General Diego Pestana. «John Lauro, one of the best trial attorneys in the country and patriot, treated terribly for simply daring to voice a view contrary to the liberal white collar bar.»
Lauro said during the panel, held at a conference in San Diego, that he had «the unique experience of representing a political figure who was probably more abused by the criminal justice system in America than any other political figure ever.»
«Everything that has gone on in the current administration must be looked at from the eyes of a man who was victimized by the criminal justice system,» Lauro said.
Among those rallying behind Lauro was also Iowa Solicitor General Eric Wessan, who said the ABA «represents a hyperpartisan faction.»
«That’s fine! But they should play no role in law school accreditation (or judicial selection),» Wessan said.
Former DOJ official Jeff Clark, an un-indicted co-conspirator in the 2020 election case, called Lauro «a bold man of principle.»
WHO ARE THE 6 CO-CONSPIRATORS NAMED IN TRUMP’S JAN. 6 INDICTMENT? HERE’S WHAT WE KNOW
Another social media user, an anonymous Georgia-based legal commentator, said that while he disagreed with Lauro’s comments, he was «jealous» that Lauro «had the opportunity to tell a room of the type of haughty, effete defense lawyers who hang around at ABA conferences to go f— themselves. He should have taken it.»
Lauro’s remarks had elicited pushback from participants. Nancy Gertner, a Harvard University law professor and retired federal judge, responded that any issues surrounding Trump’s prosecutions did not «justify the fracture of American democracy.»
Former federal prosecutor Mitchell Epner said: «I wanted to thank Mr. Lauro for admitting the emperor has no clothes. The rule of law is dead because the people in this room and the Department of Justice pissed off President Trump.»
John Lauro, who served as a defense lawyer for President Donald Trump, exits federal court in Washington, D.C., Aug. 28, 2023. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
«I can’t believe that you think that that’s normal or good that one person can dictate who the Department of Justice investigates and indicts,» lawyer and panel moderator Sandy Weinberg said.
Republicans have long argued the ABA promotes Democrat-aligned viewpoints and that its institutional presence in the legal world is a disadvantage to conservatives. The ABA’s website showcases work that includes support for «LGBTQ+» initiatives, abortion access, stricter gun control measures, and diversity, equity and inclusion.
The ABA has also taken a stance against Trump, condemning what its president described as the administration’s «wide-scale affronts to the rule of law.»
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TELLS AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION IT WILL NO LONGER COMPLY WITH RATINGS FOR JUDICIAL NOMINEES
Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks alongside President Donald Trump on recent Supreme Court rulings in the briefing room at the White House on June 27, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
The ABA has for decades wielded enormous power, weighing in on nominations of federal judges, engaging in litigation and helping firms across the legal industry with recruitment. One arm of the ABA also handles law school accreditation.
Under Trump, several departments and agencies, including the DOJ and Department of Labor, have told political appointees they cannot affiliate with the ABA in their official capacity.
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The DOJ, meanwhile, moved to terminate more than $3 million in federal grants to ABA programs, though a judge ruled the move was unconstitutional. Attorney General Pam Bondi told the ABA last year that the DOJ would not give advanced notice to the organization about judicial nominees, a reversal of a decades-long practice of allowing the organization to rate the nominees before they advance in the Senate.
Fox News Digital reached out to the ABA for comment.
justice department,federal judges,donald trump,politics,law
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