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Thread: Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) threatens subpoena over Hunter Biden's Ukraine work

  1. #1

    Question Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) threatens subpoena over Hunter Biden's Ukraine work

    A key senator is threatening to issue a subpoena for records related to former Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter and his work for a Ukrainian energy firm — the most significant escalation yet in an investigation that has divided Senate Republicans.

    In a letter obtained by POLITICO, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) told members of the panel that he will soon schedule a business meeting to vote on a subpoena for the documents, which are purportedly related to Hunter Biden’s role on the board of the Ukrainian firm, Burisma.

    The subpoena seeks records from Blue Star, a Democratic public affairs firm. In his letter to committee members, Johnson cited government documents indicating that the firm “sought to leverage Hunter Biden’s role as a board member of Burisma to gain access to, and potentially influence matters at, the State Department.”

    If issued, the subpoena would be the first as part of the panel’s joint conflict-of-interest investigation with the Senate Finance Committee. It also comes on the heels of Biden’s landslide victory in the South Carolina primary on Saturday, and ahead of several Super Tuesday contests that could shape the trajectory of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

    President Donald Trump was impeached in December for allegedly pressuring the Ukrainian government to investigate the Bidens over similar allegations that the Senate committees are probing. The Senate acquitted Trump last month on a mostly party-line vote.

    In his letter, Johnson said Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, the committee’s top Democrat, had objected to the subpoena in separate correspondence. Democrats have said there is no evidence to buttress the allegations that Biden or his son did anything wrong related to Hunter’s role on the board of Burisma.

    Peters said he was “concerned that the United States Senate and this committee could be used to further disinformation efforts by Russian or other actors.” He also demanded that the committee receive “defensive briefings” from the U.S. intelligence community about the information the panel receives as part of the probe.

    Indeed, some Republican senators have expressed similar concerns — both privately and publicly.

    Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has said senators should “take very cautiously anything coming out of the Ukraine against anybody.”

    And in December, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) met privately with Johnson and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the Finance Committee chairman, to express similar concerns about the Senate’s Biden investigation, saying it could aid Russia’s efforts to sow chaos in American politics.

    In his letter, Johnson said the report about his meeting with Burr was “inaccurate” but said he could not discuss the substance of any discussions he had in a classified setting.

    “Apparently, some here in Congress believe they are above the law when they publicize the fact of a meeting and purported details of conversations that took occurred in a classified setting,” Johnson wrote.

    Johnson said Blue Star and one of its former consultants, Andrii Telizhenko, provided some documents to the committee, but added that Telizhenko was barred from turning over some of the information due to his non-disclosure agreement with Blue Star.

    “Blocking the receipt of relevant records, and any committee member voting against this subpoena would be doing, only heightens the risks of ‘disinformation’ because the committee would not have access to all pertinent information,” Johnson wrote.

    Telizhenko, who has made unsubstantiated allegations of coordination between the Democratic National Committee and the Ukrainian government in 2016, met with Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani earlier this year to discuss “Ukrainian collusion” with Democrats during the election.

    Johnson pledged to go “to great lengths” to verify the information the committee receives.
    https://www.politico.com/news/2020/0...ubpoena-118751



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  3. #2
    All talk & no action.
    I don't trust them!

  4. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Sammy View Post
    All talk & no action.
    I don't trust them!
    Lindsey is all talk. They're protecting Biden.

  5. #4
    Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) is planning to force a committee vote next week on the first subpoena stemming out of his probe tied to former Vice President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden and Ukrainian gas company Burisma.

    Johnson, the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, said he will notify members of the panel soon, with plans to force the vote next Wednesday, March 11.

    "I have no reason not to believe I don't," Johnson said Wednesday when asked if he thought he could get the majority required to issue the subpoena over the objection of Sen. Gary Peters (Mich.), the top Democrat on the committee.

    Johnson wants to subpoena Andrii Telizhenko a former consultant for Blue Star Strategies, a U.S. firm that Johnson noted in a letter sent to committee members on Sunday has ties to Burisma Holdings.

    According to Johnson, Telizhenko has said he wants to "cooperate fully" with the investigation but is limited by a nondisclosure agreement.

    Johnson has been running a broad, multi-pronged investigation, part of which is tied to Hunter Biden's work for Burisma. Republicans have questioned if the work constituted a conflict of interest given his father's work on Ukraine during the Obama administration.

    The former vice president has denied wrongdoing and there's no evidence that either Biden engaged in any criminal wrongdoing. Fact checkers have also debunked claims that Biden was working with his son's interest in mind.

    Johnson said he could issue an interim report on his findings within a month or two, which would keep the committee's investigation in the headlines deep into the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.

    "What you'll probably see on our committee is once we have verified enough information we just might publish an interim report and lay out this is what we know," he said.

    Johnson caveated that his timeline for an interim report depended on how quickly investigators could get access to information.

    Peters indicated to reporters on Wednesday that he does not expect Democrats to support the subpoena vote.


    He warned in a statement earlier this week that the panel should make sure Senate resources "are not used to advance interference efforts by foreign adversaries that seek to undermine our democracy or put our national security at risk."
    https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/...-burisma-probe

    Rand sits on the Homeland committee he says he will vote for it.


  6. #5
    All bark and no bite. Biden's son isn't going to jail.
    "Perhaps one of the most important accomplishments of my administration is minding my own business."

    Calvin Coolidge

  7. #6



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