Family members gather for a road naming ceremony with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, centre, his son Hunter Biden, left, and his sister Valerie Biden Owens, right, joined by other family members during a ceremony to name a national road after his late son Joseph R. “Beau” Biden III, in the village of Sojevo, Kosovo, on Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2016. President Joe Biden is the guest of honor during the street dedication ceremony naming the national road Joseph R. “Beau” Biden III. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), who serves as the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee announced that he awould go forward with a subpoena on Blue Star Strategies, a consulting firm that is connected to Hunter Biden and Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company that hired the firm to fight back against allegations of corruption.
His announcement comes after he canceled a committee vote to subpoena Andrii Telizhenko, a consultant who works with the company. In a memo written to members of the committee, Johnson stated that, “There were discrepancies in what had been told in one briefing versus the next briefing, and then even greater discrepancies in staff notes.”
Instead of targeting Telizhenko, the committee will subpoena the firm itself, according to a report from The Hill. Initially, Johnson planned to subpoena Telizhenko because he possessed information pertaining to the relationship between Hunter Biden, Burisma, and Blue Star Strategies. As RedState’s Nick Arama explained, “Johnson said Telizhenko had already provided some documents, but can’t turn over others without a subpoena because of non-disclosure agreements.”
Now, Johnson intends to compel the consulting firm to provide Burisma-related records. Additionally, the committee will question Karen Tramontano and Sally Painter, the firm’s co-founders. He wrote a letter to ranking committee member Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) explaining the reason for the subpoena of Blue Star Strategies. He wrote:
“This subpoena is in furtherance of the committee’s ongoing work to address the many unanswered questions about potential conflicts of interest and the extent to which representatives of Burisma – including officials at Blue Star – used individuals with close personal connections to high-level officials within the Obama administration to gain access to and potentially influence U.S. government agencies.”
Johnson also pointed out that issuing a subpoena for the company’s records was suggested by “Democratic and Republican members of our committee.”
The subpoenas are part of a more extensive investigation into Hunter Biden’s alleged conflicts of interest during his tenure on the board of Burisma. Biden served on the board while his father, former Vice President Joe Biden, was in charge of U.S. policy towards Ukraine. Hunter Biden was paid up to $50,000 per month even though he had no previous experience in the gas industry.
Hunter Biden’s legal woes garnered national attention when Democrats attempted to remove President Donald Trump from office due to a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. House Democrats impeached the president, alleging that Trump tried to pressure Zelensky into digging up dirt on Joe Biden in exchange for military aid.
The impeachment saga brought to light the fact that the former vice president also pressured the Ukrainian government into firing the prosecutor who was investigating his son, Hunter Biden, for his dealings with Burisma. It raised questions as to whether the gas company hired him so that he could influence U.S. policy towards corruption in Ukraine.
This situation isn’t the only legal problem for Hunter Biden. He is under scrutiny for failing to pay child support to a stripper he impregnated. The date for the vote to subpoena Blue Star Strategies has not yet been set, but despite the protestations from the left, it seems that Hunter Biden is still not off the hook.
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