Senate GOP Seek Interviews from Obama-era Officials About Hunter Biden, Burisma Holdings
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Some Republican senators are expanding their investigation into Hunter Biden and his one-time Ukrainian employer Burisma Holdings by requesting interviews and records from former Obama administration officials.
Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Ron Johnson (R-WI) made the announcement on Wednesday as House Democrats prepared to impeach President Donald Trump in part because of the younger Biden’s overseas work. The senators — who chair the Senate Homeland Security, Finance, and Judiciary Committees respectively — are looking into whether Hunter Biden and the Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma benefited from exclusive access to the Obama administration.
As part of the investigation, the senators now plan to interview former top aides to former Vice President Joe Biden and ex-Secretary of State John Kerry. Included on the list are former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, former international energy affairs envoy Amos Hochstein, ex-Under Secretary of State Catherine Novelli, former Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, and one-time Kerry chief of staff David Wade.
Documents revealed through a Freedom of Information Act request in November showed that officials like Blinken, Hochstein, and Novelli met with Burisma lobbyists in 2015 and 2016. The meetings were arranged after the lobbyists name-checked Hunter Biden when reaching out to the Obama-era officials.
Graham, in particular, has cited the timing of those meetings and the pressure campaign that followed — in which Joe Biden demanded Ukraine fire its top prosecutor, who at the time was looking into Burisma for corruption — as an impetus for further investigation.
The GOP senators’ decision to expand their investigation by interviewing the former Obama administration comes as Hunter Biden and his father struggle to explain why he was appointed to Burisma’s board of directors in the first place.
As Peter Schweizer detailed in Secret Empires: How the American Political Class Hides Corruption and Enriches Family and Friends, the younger Biden secured the position, which paid as much as $83,000 per month, despite having no background in energy or Ukraine.
Adding to concerns was that Hunter Biden joined the company at a time when it was actively courting western leaders to prevent scrutiny of its practices. The same month as the appointment, Mykola Zlochevsky, Burisma’s founder, had his assets frozen in the United Kingdom on suspicion of money laundering.
A Ukrainian official with ties to Zlochevsky admitted in October the only reason Hunter Biden secured his position with Burisma was to “protect” the company from foreign scrutiny.
Joe Biden? Seriously?
“He (Biden) is totally corrupt swamp thing, and here’s the worst part of his manifest corruption – he doesn’t seem to realize that he’s corrupt, if not personally than in terms of allowing his bum kid to leverage his position. He thinks it’s A-OK for his boy Hoover to cash in all over the globe. After all, that’s what you do, right? That’s part of the benefits package for being in the liberal elite. And all these people fussing and fighting about the paternity test-failing dirtbag getting rich are totally out of line. How dare they? HOW DARE THEY!”
Joe Biden? Seriously?
The establishment narrative on Joe Biden is, to put it mildly, malarkey. Gropey J actually is everything the liberals accuse Donald Trump of being – bizarre, vulgar, dumb, corrupt, incompetent, and utterly unfit to be president. But yet the Creepy Veepy is so much more. In the last month, this totally not-senile, not-at-all-weird guy has assembled a track record of freaky behavior that would put mid-eighties Crispin Glover to shame.
Biden mocks Trump: ‘No one wants their kid to grow up like him’
2020 Democratic front-runner Joe Biden took a swipe at President Trump, insisting that no parent in America wants their child to "grow up like him."
The former vice president was addressing a crowd of about 80 people at international law firm O’Melveny & Myers in New York City on Monday. While there, he answered questions from attendees on how the nation should proceed if the president is impeached by the House this week but acquitted by the Senate in a trial that would likely take place next year.
Even if Trump is acquitted, Biden said, "The American people, including the senators who are going to vote to acquit him, know no one wants their kid to grow up like him," according to a pool report from the event.
"No psychiatrist or anyone in the association can talk about the fact that this president has a serious problem," he continued. "Narcissism is a mental deficiency. And it means you cannot tolerate any criticism at all."
He added, "Now, whether he's a narcissist or not, some people think he's a narcissist."
Biden also touched on the rule of law and how he would work to regain the trust of United States allies if he were elected president after Trump.
"The rule of law is real, and it applies to both Left and Right ... There's a lot going on. I think we can fix it, and we have one shot, and that's this next election," he said. "I think that the reason I'm running is because I have been in a position where I've actually been able to get things done in the United States Congress."
The impeachment proceedings against Trump revolve around his July 25 phone call with Ukraine, during which he urged the Ukrainian president to open an investigation into Biden and his son Hunter. House lawmakers have been gathering evidence and testimony to determine whether the president conditioned military aid to the country or a state visit on the investigation.
Last week, lawmakers introduced two articles of impeachment against him, abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, which have since been approved by the House Judiciary Committee. On Wednesday, the full House is expected to vote on the articles.
Biden currently leads the pack of 2020 Democrats with nearly 27% support, according to RealClearPolitics.
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