A Senate committee has voted to issue a subpoena as part of its
investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden’s son, a move that
met immediate opposition from Democrats who said the panel should be
focused on overseeing the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on
Wednesday voted 8-6 to subpoena Blue Star Strategies, a lobbying firm
that was a consultant to Burisma, a gas company in Ukraine that paid
Hunter Biden to serve as a board member.
There is no evidence of wrongdoing by the Bidens, and Hunter Biden
has denied using his influence with his father to aid Burisma. But
Republicans coming to President Donald Trump’s defense during and after
last year’s impeachment trial have encouraged investigations of Hunter
Biden’s activities, questioning whether his highly paid job created a
conflict of interest for Joe Biden as the former vice president worked
on Ukraine policy in the Obama administration
The chairman of the Republican-led panel, Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson,
has repeatedly insisted that the investigation is not designed to hurt
Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee in this year’s presidential
election. Another Republican on the committee, Florida Sen. Rick Scott,
said at the vote that “we need to get to the truth about the Bidens’
relationship with Burisma. These hearings will provide the Senate with
the full picture.”
A Biden campaign spokesman said in a statement that Johnson was “running a political errand” for Trump.
“Senator Johnson should be working overtime to save American lives —
but instead he’s just trying to save the president’s job,” said Andrew
Bates.
Democrats decried the investigations as politically motivated and
said they are a distraction from work the committee could be doing to
try to help mitigate the pandemic.
“At this moment when Americans need us to work together, this
extremely partisan investigation is pulling us apart,” said Michigan
Sen. Gary Peters, the top Democrat on the committee.
Peters noted a letter from Blue Star Strategies to the committee in
which the CEO, Karen Tramontano, said the company has already cooperated
with the probe and is willing to cooperate further. Johnson told Peters
that he would allow the letter to be added to the committee’s official
record, but said he disagreed that the company has been cooperating.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer accused Republicans of promoting “conspiracy theories.”
“It appears the subpoena is just for show, a way to create the false
impression of wrongdoing,” Schumer said Wednesday from the Senate floor.
“It’s like in a third world dictatorship, a show trial with no basis in
fact, with no due process, with no reality.”
Trump has been clear about his intentions to use Hunter Biden’s work
in his reelection bid, saying in March that it will be a “major issue”
in the campaign. “I will bring that up all the time,” he said then.
The president’s efforts to have Ukraine investigate Hunter Biden’s
role as a board member for Burisma were at the heart of House Democrats’
impeachment probe last year. Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Zelenskiy to investigate the Bidens on a July phone call that was later
revealed by a whistleblower’s complaint.
The House impeached Trump in December for pressuring the Ukrainian
government on investigations while withholding military aid to the
country. The Senate acquitted him in February.
Source: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/senate-panel-approves-subpoena-in-hunter-biden-probe