New evidence, unearthed by Hill reporter John Solomon, shows that the Burisma company — the corrupt Ukrainian energy conglomerate that put Hunter Biden on its board — actively used the name of the vice president’s son to get a meeting at the U.S. State Department in the hopes of clearing Burisma of corruption charges.

This information shows how Burisma used Hunter Biden’s name in its campaign to influence the U.S. government through name dropping.

On Feb. 24, 2016– while Joe Biden was still vice president — State Department cables, published by Hill reporter John Solomon, reveal that a lobbyist for Burisma asked for a meeting with U.S. government officials to appeal the designation of Burisma as corrupt.

The lobbyist — Karen Tramontano — noted in her letter requesting the meeting that “two high profile US citizens are affiliated with the company (including Hunter Biden as a board member).”

She requested the meeting to “get a better understanding of how the U.S. came to determine that the company is corrupt.”

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According to Tramontano, “there is no evidence of corruption, has been no hearing or process, and evidence to the contrary has not been considered. Would appreciate any background you may be able to provide on the issue and suggested talking points for the meeting.”

Unbelievably, despite the slow working for which the State Department is famous, Tramontano got her meeting immediately. According to the records unearthed by Solomon, she requested the meeting at 5:04 p.m. on Feb 24, 2016, and received word that it had been scheduled five minutes later at 5:09 p.m. The meeting was set up for one week later on March 1, 2016.

Can there be clearer evidence of the conflict of interest the Bidens presented than the alacrity with which the Burisma meeting was arranged? The State Department is not always so accommodating.

Joe Biden has repeatedly maintained that Hunter did “nothing wrong.”

But isn’t getting paid to sit on a board of directors and allowing your name to be used to influence the U.S. State Department wrong? Particularly when a quasi-judicial determination of whether or not the company is corrupt is involved?

And, with the meeting request granted within a few minutes and the meeting held a week later is it not appropriate to discover if Hunter had any help from his friends — and father — in the administration?

All this evidence bears on the central question: If a vice president of the United States is discovered, after he left office, to have possibly been engaged in corrupt activity while he still served, is it not the responsibility of the president of the U.S. to order an investigation?

And does the fact that this former — and possibly corrupt — vice president is now a candidate against the incumbent president, confer a kind of immunity from investigation on him?

And, carrying it further, if a foreign country is involved in the corruption, is not the president within his rights to seek its cooperation in the investigation and to do all he can to encourage this cooperation?

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It is not Hunter Biden or Joe Biden who has done nothing wrong.

It is Donald Trump.

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