On Tuesday, former US President Donald Trump called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to release alleged documents compromising Hunter Biden. In an interview with Solomon and Amanda Head on Real America’s Voice network, Trump claimed that Yelena Baturina, wife of former Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, allegedly paid Hunter Biden $3.5 million.
“One thing, while I'm on your show, as long as Putin now is not exactly a fan of our country, let him explain, where did — because Chris Wallace wouldn't let me ask the question — why did the mayor of Moscow’s wife give the Bidens, both of them, $3.5 million dollars? That's a lot of money,” the ex-president said.
“I would think Putin would know the answer to that, I think he should release it. I think we should know that answer,” Trump claimed.
He added that he would also like to know details about Hunter Biden’s relationship with Ukrainian businessman Mykola Zlochevsky, who owns the gas company Burisma Holdings.
Burisma Holdings employed Hunter Biden between 2014 and 2019 and has been at the center of the Hunter Biden laptop scandal that escalated after the release of data in 2020. Some of the emails obtained from the laptop may indicate that he used his father’s position as vice president to benefit himself financially. In one message, he arranged a meeting between the company’s management and Joe Biden.
Meanwhile, according to Politico, Trump himself sought to do business with Luzhkov’s government in the late 1990s and “was pursuing high-profile real estate deals in Russia as recently as 2016, including a proposed Trump Tower Moscow.”
In September 2019, Republican Senators Ron Johnson and Chuck Grassley presented a report, which alleged that Baturina transferred $3.5 million to the account of the American company Rosemont Seneca Thornton, co-founded by Hunter Biden on February 14, 2014. The payment was claimed to have been made for certain consulting services in accordance with an agreement concluded some days earlier.
After Luzhkov's death in 2019, Baturina was investigated as part of a large-scale criminal case related to embezzling funds from the Bank of Moscow.
Earlier this month, White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said she had “no confirmation” of the Senate report's findings.