The whole reason Donald Trump pressured Volodymyr Zelensky for a probe into Joe Biden was to generate ominous headlines about the former vice president—news reports he could exploit to gin up uncertainty about one of his potential 2020 rivals. Now, thanks to Ukraine, he’s getting what he wants. On Friday, the country’s top prosecutor announced he would review closed cases handled by his predecessors—including the inquiry into an energy company where Hunter Biden served as a board member.

“We are conducting an audit of all cases, including those which were investigated by the previous leadership of the prosecutor’s office,” prosecutor general Ruslan Ryaboshapka said Friday, triggering headlines from CBS News (“Ukraine to review cases into firm linked to Hunter Biden”), the Wall Street Journal (“Ukraine to Review Investigations Into Firm Linked to Biden’s Son”), and the New York Times (“Ukraine to Review Criminal Case on Owner of Firm Linked to Biden’s Son”), among others.

Trump and Rudy Giuliani have insisted that Biden leaned on Ukraine to quash a probe into Burisma, where Hunter was compensated for his role as a board member. The conspiracy theory doesn’t add up, but the president and his attorney (and maybe his vice president, attorney general, and secretary of state, too!) have pressed Ukraine and other governments to look into the matter, even going so far as to withhold military aid and a White House visit unless Kiev would take up the probe, explosive texts between diplomats released by House Democrats Thursday night suggested.

Ryaboshapka claimed on Friday that the new review was not in response to political pressure, but the timing raised significant questions about whether Zelensky is bending to the White House’s will. Trump is explicitly using his presidential powers to advance his own political interests; Ryaboshapka’s audit suggests that his gambit may be working. The revelations about Trump’s conduct with world leaders—not to mention his public call Thursday for both Ukraine and China to investigate the Bidens—have put him on a path to impeachment, with Democrats leading a fast-moving inquiry into his extortion efforts. “It’s not about the whistleblower or the complaint. It’s not about Democrats. Or me,” Adam Schiff tweeted Friday. “It’s about our democracy.”

The impeachment inquiry, which is increasingly favored by Americans in the polls, likely won’t result in the president’s removal from office, but could ding him in the lead-up to 2020, forcing voters to contend with his corruption. Even so, Trump may wind up getting the Biden narrative he wants and using it to his political advantage, just as he used vague, unfounded allegations of criminality to paint Hillary Clinton as “crooked” in 2016. The longevity of both efforts—Democrats’ to impeach, and Trump’s to smear Biden—all depends on how they play out in the public sphere. And in that sense, the political media plays a crucial role.

More Great Stories from Vanity Fair

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— Why Rudy Giuliani’s Ukrainian adventure could end his career

— Inside the stunning collapse of WeWork (and its kooky CEO)

— It’s official: Trump has met his Twitter match

— A surprise appearance by Tiffany Trump

— From the Archive: The power broker who taught Donald Trump the dark political arts

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