The co-author of a bombshell New York Times story about former Vice President Joe Biden's ties to Ukraine is now the Ukrainian president's spokesperson.

The story was published on May 1, and the writer, Iuliia Mendel, applied to be Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's spokesperson on May 3.

But she did not inform The Times of the conflict of interest until last week, a spokesperson for the paper told INSIDER in a statement.

"Had she informed editors of her job application, they would not have given her that assignment, and we would have stopped working with her immediately given this serious conflict of interest," the statement continued. However, "editors are confident that despite the conflict that should have been disclosed, her reporting — including her work on our recent Hunter Biden story — was fair and accurate."

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The New York Times is standing by a bombshell story about former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter's ties to Ukraine after one of the authors recently became the Ukrainian president's spokesperson.

The story, published May 1, reported that Trump's allies were pushing for an investigation into whether the firing of Ukraine's top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, was politically motivated. Biden had pushed for Shokin to be removed while he was investigating a gas company whose board Hunter Biden served on. The story was written by Times reporter Kenneth Vogel and freelance contributor Iuliia Mendel.On May 3, Mendel entered a competition to be Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky's official representative. The competition began on April 30, and Mendel announced Monday that she had accepted the position.

She did not inform The Times of her application — or any conflicts of interest that arose as a result — until last week, a spokesperson for the paper told INSIDER in a statement.

"Ms. Mendel wrote one story for The Times in May while she was a candidate for the government position, about the dissolution of Parliament," the statement said. "Had she informed editors of her job application, they would not have given her that assignment, and we would have stopped working with her immediately given this serious conflict of interest. All reporters, including freelance reporters, must abide by our ethical journalism guidelines."

However, "editors are confident that despite the conflict that should have been disclosed, her reporting — including her work on our recent Hunter Biden story — was fair an accurate," the statement concluded.

Read more: Ukraine's top prosecutor says he has no evidence of wrongdoing against Joe Biden or Hunter Biden as Trump allies push for them to be investigated