Romney could derail Republican subpoena targeting Bidens
The Utah Republican is concerned the push appears intended to undermine a Trump rival.
A Republican effort to subpoena records about Joe Biden and his son Hunter could be derailed amid concerns from at least one GOP senator that the push appears politically motivated.
The Senate Homeland Security Committee is set to vote next Wednesday on a subpoena for records from a Democratic public relations firm related to the panel’s investigation of conflict-of-interest allegations against the Bidens.
But Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), a member of the panel, has hinted that he could vote against issuing the subpoena, noting the committee’s investigation might look political in nature given Biden’s resurgence and the increasing likelihood that he’ll become the Democratic presidential nominee.
“There’s no question the appearance is not good,” Romney told reporters, adding that he is still “considering” his vote.
Republicans hold a slim 8-6 majority, and if just one GOP senator joins all Democrats, it would mean a 7-7 tie that would result in a failure to issue the subpoena.
Romney’s concerns appeared to be heightened on Thursday after President Donald Trump declared in a Fox News interview Wednesday night that he would seek to use the issue against Biden if he secures the Democratic nomination.
Romney suggested Thursday that the panel shouldn’t even be looking into the issue.
“I would prefer that investigations are done by an independent, nonpolitical body,” said Romney, who split with his party when he voted to convict Trump in the impeachment trial.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), the committee’s chairman, declined to comment on Romney’s views but said he sees “no reason why anybody would object” to the subpoena, which seeks documents from Blue Star, a Democratic public affairs firm, about Hunter Biden’s role on the board of a Ukrainian energy company, Burisma. It would be the first subpoena as part of the committee’s probe.
Johnson’s Democratic counterpart, Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, has opposed the committee’s investigation and the subpoena.
Peters has raised concerns about the veracity of the information the committee receives — in particular, whether it’s part of a Russia disinformation campaign. Several Republicans — including Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) — have expressed similar worries both in private and in public.
“Quite frankly, the Homeland Security Committee should be focusing on issues related to homeland security,” Peters said. When asked about whether he thinks he can defeat the subpoena effort, he said: “I think it’s uncertain. I don’t know how it’s going to go right now.”
Peters said he hasn’t yet talked about the subpoena with Romney, but said he was likely to speak directly with him before Wednesday’s vote in an effort to sway him.
Another potential swing vote, Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), said he, too, remains undecided and was unable to review the documents as of Thursday morning because he was chairing a hearing.
“I want to be supportive of Chairman Johnson and be sure that we’re getting the right information. It should be objective information, and let the American people decide,” said Portman, who voted to acquit Trump in the impeachment trial but was critical of his conduct.
Asked about Trump’s comments about the Burisma issue, Portman said: “That doesn’t surprise me.”
A source familiar with the matter, though, said Portman is leaning toward supporting the subpoena. Johnson has told colleagues that his effort is aimed simply at gathering information.
Marianne LeVine and Martin Matishak contributed to this report.
Emails show Hunter Biden touted political connections to obtain university teaching job
Hunter Biden, the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, reportedly touted his political connections in order to obtain a teaching position at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law.
New emails reveal that, while communicating with university officials, Biden attempted to convince the administration to have him teach a course on drug policy, providing a potential list of guest lecturers who were largely connected to his father.
“In 2019, Hunter Biden inquired about the possibility of teaching a course at UCLA School of Law, and he and school leaders held preliminary conversations about the possibility,” Bill Kisliuk, the law school’s executive director of communications, told the Daily Caller. “Mr. Biden subsequently did not submit further materials for the proposed course, which is a required step when the school is considering adding a course. There are no plans for Mr. Biden to teach at the law school,” Kisliuk continued.
In July 2019, Biden reportedly emailed Jennifer Mnookin, the dean of UCLA's law school, saying he “would like to focus on domestic and international drug policy” and attaching a syllabus from a previous course he taught at Georgetown University. “I will have some combination of key decision makers, leading thinkers, policy implementers and grass roots advocates as guests for each topic,” he wrote in an email.
“For instance I’d like to have former Attorney’s General Dustin McDaniel of Arkansas and Patrick Lynch of Rhode Island to discuss their roles in the state class action suits brought against Purdue Pharma and possibly a prosecutor involved in the criminal cases against the Sackler family,” Biden wrote. “For plan Colombia the El Chapo extradition I’m certain I could get former President Pastrana of Colombia to discuss how he implemented ‘Plan Colombia’ with the US government along with Christopher Putala and Manus Cooney who were both chief’s of staff (Democrat and Republican) to the judiciary committee at the time."
“I would also invite former FBI Director Louis Freeh and possibly the US Attorney responsible for that extradition and indictment. For a the class on decriminalization I would invite [California] Governor [Gavin] Newsom (may be a long shot but I know he would consider it if his schedule allows)... The list goes on.”
The emails reportedly show that, at one point, Mnookin met with Biden about the course, noting she thought Biden's proposal "offers some very exciting possibilities."
“It was great to meet you and Melissa last month, and I very much appreciate your following up and sending along the attached syllabus,” she wrote in an August 2019 email. “I think this offers some very exciting possibilities, and I look forward to seeing what we may be able to do.”
Mnookin forwarded Biden's proposal to another UCLA law school official, Steven Bank, who later informed the former vice president's son that he would not be able to integrate the course into the school's curriculum until Spring 2021 "most likely." Conversations between university officials and Biden diminished after Bank's dismissal.
“Thanks for getting back to me so quickly, although I hope I didn’t give you the impression in my e-mail that this was a rush,” Bank said in an email. “If we decided to move forward, this wouldn’t even be considered by the Curriculum Committee and the Faculty until Spring 2020 for a Spring 2021 slot most likely.”
The controversy follows Joe Biden's public boast that he pressured Ukraine to fire a controversial top prosecutor whose office had investigated Burisma owner and Ukrainian oligarch Mykola Zlochevsky by threatening to withhold $1 billion in loan guarantees.
The former vice president has repeatedly denied doing so in order to benefit his son, who was on Burisma's board, in the face of corruption allegations by President Trump and his allies, which became the center of an impeachment effort.
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