The bribery seems never to end — at least until January 20, when the Bidens will have little or no influence.
Case in point: Ukrainian Ambassador Oksana Markarova gave First Lady Doctor Professor Jill Biden a brooch. The Ukrainian embassy claims the brooch was worth less than a dollar. But the Bidens documented one on a disclosure form estimated value of – wait for it – over $14,000.
Embattled Ukrainian Ambassador Oksana Markarova said a brooch she gave to Jill Biden actually cost “less than $1” after the White House indicated on disclosure forms that it was worth more than $14,000.
Markarova, who is facing fire from leading Republicans in Congress over an event they believed was designed to boost Democrats in the swing state of Pennsylvania, gave the first lady the forget-me-not flower brooch the same day The Bidens welcomed them to the convention center for the 2023 State of the Union address.
“Failure to accept would cause embarrassment to the donor and the U.S. government,” reads a note on the gift registry.
Uh-huh.
It is tempting to be charitable and view this as an innocent gift, rather appropriately made from leftover spent ammunition to represent the conflict involving Ukraine with Tsar Vladimir I’s Russia. But the Biden family’s track record in Ukraine makes them somehow suspect; Hunter Biden’s inexplicably lucrative (other than bribery) employment with a Ukrainian oil company, for example.
The Biden family’s transplant options seem endless. But in this case, the Ukrainian ambassador’s protests ring a bit hollow.
But the ambassador wrote opposite and bronze, by the brilliant Ukrainian artist Stanislav Drokin from the daily attacked Kharkiv,” she said tweeted Friday.
“The material value is less than $1. The significance of this brooch, which transforms Russian aggression and our Ukrainian pain into resilience and creation, knows no bounds. And so does our gratitude to the American people, who have supported us through three difficult years for Kharkiv, Ukraine and the world.”
Of course, the material value is not the only problem. The materials do not correspond to what was delivered; A finished piece of jewelry was delivered. That’s like pointing out that a particular drug contains $5 worth of raw materials – without taking into account that the drug is high-priced to develop and produce.
See related: Ammunition worth $725 million: Christmas comes early in Ukraine, courtesy of American taxpayers
WATCH: Speaker Johnson just commented on Biden’s call for more money for Ukraine ahead of Trump 2.0
The Ukrainian ambassador is Controversies are not novel.
Markarova’s position as ambassador was thrown into doubt in September when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited a munitions factory in Scranton, Pennsylvania, at the height of the election campaign between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) demanded this from Zelensky “Fire immediately” Markarova for arranging the trip with Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro.
“The facility was in a politically contested state, was run by a high-level political surrogate for Kamala Harris, and did not contain a single Republican because — intentionally — no Republicans were invited,” Johnson said at the time.
Of course, no Republicans were invited – because it was a campaign event organized by an agent of a foreign government.
One hand washes the other, as the saying goes.
