Judicial Watch Smoking Gun in Gonzalo Lira Case: How Biden State Dept. Could Have Saved His Life and Didn’t

Judicial Watch has obtained part of the State Department communications relating to the imprisonment and death of US-Chilean YouTuber Gonzalo Lira in Ukraine for criticizing the war and the U.S. and Ukraine governments, as The Gateway Pundit reported.

Today: How the U.S. Embassy in Kiev stonewalled Gonzalo Lira’s father’s desperate please for help and then scrambled to cover their a** after his death.

Ep. 47 Gonzalo Lira is an American citizen who’s been tortured in a Ukrainian prison since July, for the crime of criticizing Zelensky. Biden officials approve of this, because they’d like to apply the same standard here. The media agree. Here’s a statement from Gonzalo Lira’s… pic.twitter.com/4H2otHhYHi

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) December 9, 2023

Gonzalo Lira Sr. gave an interview to Tucker Carlson released Dec. 9, 2023, describing the situation and charging the U.S. Embassy in Kiev “hasn’t done a thing” to help his son.

“Neither I nor his sister living in the USA have been able to communicate” with Lira, his father said. “The Embassy never visited him, except, for the first time, at his court appointment Nov. 8th.”

“An American citizen is in jail because he was exercising his right of freedom of speech”, Lira Sr. told Carlson. “The US government’s silence suggests a degree of complicity, or at least tacit approval of Gonzalo’s arrest, since nothing else convincingly explains the conspicuous lack of response.”

“Did the State Department give the green light to Zelensky to put my son in jail?” Gonzalo Lira Sr. asked.

After the interview with Tucker Carlson, the pressure increased on the U.S. Embassy to do something about the case.

Senator Ron Johnson’s office (R-Wisconsin) began sending inquiries to the U.S. Embassy in Kiev.

Legislative Assistant Justin Stebbins in Senator Ron Johnson’s office wrote to the State Department on Jan. 8, 2024:

“We have received numerous inquiries about Gonzalo Lira’s case, a youtuber arrested in Ukraine. Can you provide an update on his case? Apparently, his first Hearing was on December 10, 2023.

As I am sure you are aware, Lira has alleged he was tortured while detained in May and June and has been less than flattering about State’s support. I am aware of the limitations regarding what State can do for an arrested citizen abroad and have conveyed this but it would be very helpful to have an account of the facts/status of the case according to State.”

In a follow-up mail that same day, Stebbins wrote that ”I am primarily concerned with State’s assessment of Lira’s claims of being beaten/tortured while detained in May/June. Additionally, does State expect to weigh in on (Ukrainian criminal code) 436-2, a law cited by Freedom House as problematic in general.”

This is the first time anybody in an official capacity in Washington seems to have questioned the validity of our “allies” in Ukraine arresting and torturing a U.S. citizen for the crime of “Justification, recognition as legitimate, denial of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine and glorification of its participants.”

Despite the U.S. Embassy’s insistence there was nothing they could do to put pressure on Ukrainian authorities, the pressure was on the Embassy to finally take action.

Gonzalo Lira’s Death Jan. 11, 2024

At the same time, Gonzalo Lira Sr. kept writing to the U.S. Embassy “every day” begging for them to save his son’s life, right up until  Jan. 11, the day Gonzalo Lira died of pneumonia. He was suffering from double pneumonia, pneumothorax, and severe edema.

“Hi team, Mr. Lira’s father is now emailing us everyday with the same information. Let’s talk today about how we want to respond to these”, the American Citizens Services Unit of the U.S. Embassy in Kiev wrote on Jan. 11, attaching a letter from the father that ended:

“My son has been in a hospital since January 4^th in critical health condition. Have you visited him to ensure he is receiving proper medical treatment? Will you report to me or will this be another unanswered letter?”

Note that this was the day of Gonzalo Lira’s death.

However, we now know the U.S. Embassy would actually have been able to intervene on his behalf, and they knew it.

The Smoking Gun

On Jan. 4, 2024, the U.S. Embassy in Kiev wrote to that “we will submit to CA/OCS (Consular Affairs/Overseas Citizen Services) to approve post’s request to request humanitarian release for U.S. citizen Gonzalo Lira.”

Attached was a “Diplomatic Note requesting humanitarian release for Gonzalo Angel Lira.” It was marked “Approved” by Deputy Assistant Secretary for Overseas Citizen Services Angela Kerwin in the Bureau of Consular Affairs of the U.S. State Department in Washington, D.C.

This seems to be the smoking gun in the story of the U.S. Embassy’s refusal to put pressure on the Ukrainian authorities in the case of Gonzalo Lira.

If the U.S. Embassy in Kiev and the State Department in Washington, D.C. were able to file a diplomatic note requesting humanitarian release for Gonzalo Lira January 4, 2024, after Tucker Carlson highlighted the case, why were they not able to do so sooner, despite repeated pleas from for Gonzalo Lira, his father and sister, since his arrest May 2023?

Unfortunately, this turnaround came too late to save Gonzalo Lira’s life.

“The Consular section at Embassy Kyiv (sic) was notified this morning that U.S. citizen Gonzalo Lira passed away late in the evening of January 11 in a Kharkiv hospital. He was admitted to the hospital ICU on January 4 and was receiving treatment for chronic heart disease and pneumonia. An autopsy is being performed, after which we hope to learn the exact cause of death.”

The morning after Lira’s death, the State Department was already in spin control mode. In an e-mail dated 8:45 am on January 12 (presumably Eastern Time – Kiev is 7 hours ahead of Washington, DC), an unnamed official at State wrote “seeking clearance on press guidance on the death of US Citizen Gonzalo Lira in Ukraine by 10 AM”.

The press guidance attached to the e-mail entitled “Ukraine – Death of US Citizen Gonzalo Lira – 12 JAN 24” was not included in the FOIA release. We have written Judicial Watch to ask if this document has emerged.

At 10.16 AM (EST) on Sunday, Jan. 14, an unnamed State department official wrote to ACS and Consular Affairs colleague thanking them “for viewing this clearance request on a weekend! We have a request from Embassy Kyiv to beef up press guidance lines when answering: Q: Why didn’t the U.S. government do more to assist Mr. Lira?”

At 3:13 PM (EST) an unnamed official wrote to U.S. Ambassador Bridget Brink and Deputy Chief of Mission in Ukraine Robert Needham: “If you agree, we’ll go back and ask for a more detailed line to push back on the any possible  (sic) “embassy didn’t do anything” Qs.”

On Jan. 16, an unnamed official wrote, “I’m sure Tucker Carlson and Company will be all over this. I feel bad for Kyiv.”

Soon enough, the State Department was trying to depict any intimation they did not do enough to save Gonzalo Lira’s life as a “Russian narrative”.

“What if any media has Post performed to counter the Russian narrative that State did nothing to help Lira/that he is a martyr/etc. Can you please share statements/tweets/etc. if any)?” an unnamed State Department official wrote on Jan. 20 after a virtual House Foreign Affairs Committee briefing attended by HFAC Staff Director Michael Matlaga, HFAC Senior Advisor Europe and Eurasia Philip Bednarczyk, and State Dept. Senior Counsel Cart Weiland, among others.

If you want to know why State Dept. was out to get Gonzalo Lira, look no further than his almost 2-hour video about Victoria Nuland, Ukraine biolabs, the Maidan coup and how Nuland conspired with Burisma boss Ihor Kolomoisky, sponsor of the ne-Nazi Azov Brigades, to install Volodymyr Zelensky as President of Ukraine 2019:

Next: Congress Republicans Look into the Death of Gonzalo Lira—What’s Next?

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