Ukraine lawmaker says new probe won't involve Biden or his son
(CNN)A prominent Ukrainian lawmaker has said a new investigation of a Ukrainian firm at the heart of a growing US political scandal would not involve Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden or his son.
On Wednesday the White House released a rough transcript of a July 25 phone call that shows US President Donald Trump repeatedly pressing the leader of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, to investigate the Bidens.
Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, a leading parliamentarian and a former head of Ukraine's domestic intelligence agency, told CNN on Thursday that prosecutors were looking to open an investigation into Burisma, a natural gas company that previously employed Hunter Biden.
Nalyvaichenko added, however, that the role of Hunter Biden would not be examined, as far as he was aware, and that Joe Biden's efforts during his tenure as US vice president to dismiss a former Ukrainian prosecutor general will not form part of the restarted investigation.
"This investigation is about Ukraine's corruption at the top," Nalyvaichenko said. "It is about getting to the truth for Ukrainians."
The Ukrainian Prosecutor General's office has not said whether a probe of Burisma had been reopened, and declined comment to CNN.
A series of probes into Burisma have been dropped by Ukrainian prosecutors over the years; Yury Lutsenko, one of Ukraine's former prosecutors general, said this summer there was interest in reviving the case.
An intelligence source in Kiev told CNN investigations into Burisma had been restarted.
The Ukrainian government is walking a fine line in reopening a probe of Burisma. A previous investigation of the company was ended, but Ukrainian President Zelensky said in the July 25 call that a new prosecutor "will look into the situation, specifically to the company [Burisma] that you mentioned in this issue."
CNN's Matthew Chance, Zahra Ullah and Philip Ittner in Kiev contributed to this report.
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