Senate Panel Will Soon Release Report on Biden-Burisma Connections
Sen. Ron Johnson, the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, says he will soon release an interim report on his panel’s investigation into Hunter Biden’s work for Ukrainian energy firm Burisma Holdings.
Johnson said that the report, which will also focus on what Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden knew about his son’s links to Burisma, will be released within the next month or two.
“These are questions that Joe Biden has not adequately answered,” the Wisconsin Republican told reporters Wednesday, according to Politico. “And if I were a Democrat primary voter, I’d want these questions satisfactorily answered before I cast my final vote.”
Johnson and fellow Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa have for months been investigating several Ukraine-related matters, including Hunter Biden’s work for Burisma.
Biden joined the firm as a director in April 2014, despite having no experience in the energy business. The hire drew some attention at the time, in large part because Joe Biden had just taken over as the Obama administration’s chief liaison to the Ukrainian government.
Burisma paid Hunter Biden’s private equity firm, Rosemont Seneca, more than $80,000 per month, according to bank records.
Biden left the board in April 2019, just before his father began running for president.
On Sunday, Johnson said he intends to subpoena a former consultant for Blue Star Strategies, a Democrat-linked consulting firm that worked for Burisma.
Hunter Biden reportedly put Burisma in touch with Blue Star, which was founded by two Bill Clinton White House officials.
Biden was on the board of directors of the Truman National Security Project with Sally Painter, one of Blue Star’s founders.
Johnson is seeking documents from Andrii Telizhenko, who worked for Blue Star after leaving a position with the Ukrainian embassy. Telizhenko has in recent months worked with Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who has led the allegations that Joe Biden pressured the Ukrainian government in order to help Burisma.
Allies of President Donald Trump, led by Giuliani, have accused Joe Biden of pressuring Ukraine’s president in 2016 to fire a prosecutor in order to stop an investigation into Burisma. Biden and his campaign have vehemently denied the allegation.
However, at a Council on Foreign Relations event in January 2018, Biden bragged about an official visit he took to Ukraine during which he demanded that country’s president fire the prosecutor or not receive $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees.
Democrats accused Trump of abusing the office of the president by asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a July 25, 2019, phone call to consider investigating whether Joe Biden put pressure on Ukraine to help Burisma. Democrats also accused Trump of withholding military assistance to Ukraine in order to force Zelensky to open a Biden-related investigation.
House Democrats impeached Trump, but he was acquitted by the Senate.
Johnson told reporters Wednesday that his investigation is not focused on Joe Biden, who surged to the head of the Democratic presidential field with a strong showing on Super Tuesday.
“My investigations are not focused on the Bidens. They’re just not. But I can’t ignore them because they’re part of the story. They made themselves part of the story,” he said, according to Politico.
“If there’s wrongdoing, the American people need to know it. If there is no wrongdoing or nothing significant, the American people need to understand that as well.”
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