The U.S. Treasury Department this week handed over highly sensitive and closely held documents to Republican leaders in the Senate as part of a months-long probe into Joe Biden’s son Hunter and the allegedly corrupt Ukrainian company Burisma where he worked.
Yahoo News reported Thursday:
Some of the documents the GOP Senators obtained from Treasury include “highly confidential suspicious activity reports (SARs) filed by financial institutions with FinCEN [Financial Crimes Enforcement Network], an agency of the Treasury that helps to police money laundering.
Late last year, D&A Investigations, a Florida-based firm hired by a woman in Arkansas as part of a paternity case against Hunter Biden, claimed to have “lawfully” obtained documents implicating him in a multi-million dollar money laundering and counterfeiting scheme involving Burisma.
According to D&A, the Department of Justice (DOJ), including the FBI, have been investigating Burisma and Biden since April 2019 and the probe remains open. The FBI refused to confirm or deny the allegation. Hunter has pushed back against D&A’s allegations, denying that he is the subject of a money laundering probe linked to Burisma.
The GOP senators who requested the Treasury documents are Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-WI). Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has vowed to look into Hunter’s activities in Ukraine and has urged Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch (R-ID) to follow suit.
It is unclear whether any of the GOP Senators who have shown interest in launching a Hunter-Burisma probe have reached out to the private investigation firm.
Early this week, Grassley and Johnson also requested documents from the Secret Service on information regarding Hunter’s travels to China and Ukraine during the time his father served as vice-president under the administration of former President Barack Obama.
In a joint statement issued Wednesday, the Republican senators’ office noted that they “are seeking records of Hunter Biden’s travel while he was under U.S. Secret Service protection as they continue to investigate potential conflicts of interest to boost his business ventures in Ukraine and China.”
Grassley and Johnson have also sought documents for their Hunter-Burisma probe from the Departments of State, Treasury, and Justice, as well as the FBI, the National Archives, and Blue Star Strategies, a lobbying firm employed by Burisma.
Despite concerns expressed by individuals inside and outside the Obama administration that Burisma is corrupt, Hunter served on the Ukrainian natural gas company’s board of directors between April 2014 and April of this year.
When Hunter took the job without any experience in the natural gas field, VP Biden was in charge of leading U.S. policy towards Ukraine, including anti-corruption efforts. Hunter’s decision to take the job triggered concerns of corruption and a conflict of interest. In October 2019, Hunter admitted that his father’s position as Vice President of the United States helped him secure the lucrative position at Burisma.
Former VP Joe Biden has bragged about pushing Ukraine to fire its top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, claiming he was not doing enough to combat corruption in Ukraine.
“At the time Shokin was fired, an already-launched investigation into Burisma became dormant,” the New York Post recently noted.
The joint February 5 statement from the GOP lawmakers noted:
Burisma was under investigation for corruption at the time [Hunter took the job]. Grassley also previously raised concerns about the Obama administration’s approval of the sale of a U.S. company to the Chinese government and an investment firm formed, in part, by Hunter Biden.
Johnson and Grassley obtained the Treasury documents this week, Yahoo News reported Thursday, citing a spokesperson for the top Democrat on the finance panel, Ron Wyden of Oregon.
In November 2019, the GOP chairmen sent a letter to the Treasury saying they were investigating “”potentially improper actions by the Obama administration with respect to Burisma Holdings and Ukraine,” Reuters reported.
During the Democrats’ partisan impeachment effort, which came to a conclusion this week, Sen. Graham vowed to look into Hunter’s activities in Ukraine after the attempt to remove President Donald Trump failed.
Sen. Graham called for an investigation into Hunter Biden’s business dealings in Ukraine and what the former VP’s son did for Burisma.
“I don’t think it’s wrong for us to look at the Biden connection in the Ukraine, the $3 million given to the vice president’s son by the most corrupt company in the Ukraine,” he said on January 24, according to the Hill.
“I don’t think Joe Biden is corrupt, but I don’t think he is beyond being looked at,” Graham said the previous day, the Washington Examiner reported. “I love Joe Biden, but I can tell you I am not going to sit on the sidelines and just watch the Trumps be looked at.”
Graham suggested that it would also be more appropriate for a non-partisan special probe by an outside-politics investigator to look into Hunter and Burisma than members of Congress.
The South Carolina Republican, however, suggested to Fox News last Sunday that he is planning to call Hunter to testify “in the coming weeks.”
During the interview, he reportedly urged Chairman Risch to also launch a Burisma-Hunter Biden investigation.
On Friday, the Hill reported that the plan to investigate Hunter Biden had triggered divisions among the GOP, with some lawmakers calling on the party to move on from anything impeachment related.