This right-wing pundit admits that the Biden-Ukraine allegation is a 'coo-coo for cocoa puff conservative conspiracy'

President Donald Trump's efforts to defend himself from accusations that he abused his power in his dealings with Ukraine have blown up in his face, as the partial transcript released of a key call in question shows a clear effort to corruptly induce President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.

Some of the president's defenders have tried to diminish the allegations of corrupt intent and influence, arguing that the Biden issue really is a big deal that Zelensky should be concerned with. But a powerful refutation of this claim emerged Wednesday from a surprising source: strident right-winger Erick Erickson, a writer for the conservative Resurgent.

The basis of the criticism of Biden is that, while he was serving as vice president and advocating for Ukraine to oust its prosecutor general, his son was serving on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian oil company that faced investigations of its own. Biden has even explicitly said that he threatened to withdraw the administration's aid to the country unless the prosecutor was removed.

But as Erickson correctly pointed out on Twitter, the implication that there is something nefarious here is on extremely shaky ground.

"Regarding Biden getting the Ukrainian prosecutor fired: Joe Biden was doing the bidding of Barack Obama, the then President of the United States," Erickson noted. "Had Joe Biden not been the one entrusted with the role, someone else would have done it. The exact same threat would have been made."

He continued: "Should Joe have recused himself? Absolutely. Did it make a difference? Only in coo-coo for cocoa puff conservative conspiracy land. Every major western power on earth wanted that guy fired and Obama sent Biden to be the hatchet man. To suggest otherwise is flat out bullshit."

It shouldn't be lost, of course, that there's something sleazy about Biden's son, Hunter, getting a high-paying position on an oil company that he appears to have no qualifications for other than social status. But this kind of shadiness and nepotism by proxy is ubiquitous in Washington D.C., and indeed, in the business world and beyond. Suggesting that it's particularly egregious in Biden's case is at odds with the facts, and the implication that there was something criminal or corrupt going on is unfounded.

"To suggest Biden had the prosecutor fired to protect Hunter Biden is nonsense. The prosecutor was going to get fired via American pressure. Biden just happened to be the guy Obama chose to do it," Erickson said.