A staffer of Rep. Adam Schiff’s (D-CA) has ties to Burisma Holdings and the alleged “whistleblower,” according to a report from Breitbart.
Sean Misko worked at a think tank funded by Burisma three years before joining Schiff’s staff, Breitbart reported Tuesday. This is the second staffer of Schiff’s to be tied to the Ukrainian energy company on whose board Hunter Biden sat.
In addition, the Washington Examiner reported that Misko had a “bro-like” friendship with the man alleged to be the infamous Ukraine “whistleblower” when he worked at the National Security Council (NSC).
Schiff staffer connections
In 2015, Misko was a Millennium Fellow for the Atlantic Council, a think tank with links to Burisma Holdings. According to the think tank’s website, Misko worked for the State Department and on the NSC, where he dealt with affairs in the Persian Gulf.
The Atlantic Council signed a cooperative agreement with Burisma in 2017 to “develop programs with Burisma’s support to strengthen transatlantic relations, including a focus on energy security and related issues.” The Atlantic Council’s mission in Ukraine is to reform the nation and strengthen its security and autonomy, making its partnership with Burisma — a company investigated by Ukrainian prosecutors for corruption and founded by an oligarch and ex-minister of Ukraine’s ousted president, Viktor Yanukovych — ironic to say the least.
Misko was recognized — along with Burisma, Google, and George Soros’s Open Society — as donors to the Atlantic Council in this 2016 report marked down by Breitbart (see page 37). The document spotlights the think tank’s connections with Obama administration goons like John Kerry and Samantha Power, and its globalist commitments are evidenced by the use of progressive jargon about “global citizens.”
The think tank also organized a “study trip” for congressional staffers to Ukraine in August that came 12 days after the “whistleblower” complaint surfaced, according to Breitbart. On that trip was another Schiff staffer, Thomas Eager, who is currently a fellow for the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, which seeks to “educate” congressional staffers on foreign policy in Ukraine, with a focus on countering Russian influence — a common fixation of numerous State Department witnesses who have testified against President Donald Trump.
While in Ukraine, Eager met with impeachment witness Bill Taylor, President Trump’s acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine. The diplomat has written think pieces for the think tank, Breitbart notes.
Ties to the whistleblower?
Schiff has also been scrutinized over his staff’s contacts with the so-called “whistleblower.” The Democrat leader eventually conceded that he should have been “much more clear” after lying about his staff’s foreknowledge of the whistleblower complaint, which surfaced in August — the same month that Misko joined Schiff’s staff.
The Examiner reports that Misko worked at the NSC with the man who some outlets have reported is the whistleblower, Eric Ciaramella. Ciaramella was the director for Ukraine on the council; the two were reportedly friends and shared a dislike of President Trump.
“My understanding was that they were friendly with one another,” said a former NSC official and boss of Ciaramella. “They would walk around the halls. Get lunch together and stuff like that,” the source added, describing the pair’s workplace relationship as “bro-like.”
The Democrats are expected to soon proceed with impeachment articles in the House Judiciary Committee, and a Senate trial could start as soon as January. But with impeachment already losing the public’s interest, Republicans could soon turn things around by refocusing the narrative around the Bidens, Burisma, and Schiff’s connections.
And it looks like Schiff has more than a few reasons to be worried.
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