The panel also scheduled an interview with David Wade, the former chief of staff for Secretary of State John Kerry. But the committee believes that Blinken and Hochstein’s testimony, in particular, is critical to their next report on allegations of Hunter Biden’s role on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company.
Subpoenas could be authorized as early as Wednesday, when the committee holds its next business meeting. The current agenda does not list actions related to the Burisma investigation, although that could change.
President Donald Trump has long urged his Republican allies on Capitol Hill to attack his political enemies, and issuing the citations would mark a key step in the investigation. The potential move also comes when the president falls behind in most national polls and Republicans are in danger of losing their majority in the Senate.
Among the issues Johnson wants to discuss is one that first appeared in an article by conservative opinion columnist John Solomon: a memorandum of understanding signed in 2014 between Burisma and the United States Agency for International Development, although he does not mention Neither the former vice president nor his son. Solomon’s work on The Hill was previously criticized in an internal review after complaints about the credibility of his Ukrainian sources.
Austin Altenburg, a Johnson spokesman, said the committee “is not commenting on our ongoing conversations with witnesses.” A Biden campaign spokesman declined to comment, but previously described Johnson’s investigation as “a political commission for Donald Trump” and an attempt to “resurrect a cowardly and previously discredited stain against Vice President Biden.”
The committee’s lead attorney previously wrote in a letter to officials that the investigation is focused on “whether certain officials within the Obama administration had actual or apparent conflicts of interest, or whether there was any other crime” associated with Hunter Biden’s position as a Burisma board. member.
Before the two-week Senate recess earlier this month, Johnson said in a brief interview that the report was being written and finalized by members of his staff, and that he expects it to be released sometime during the summer. At the same time, Johnson has said he does not want the investigation to become a political spectacle.
“We have the timeline established, we’re just trying to fill in the gaps,” Johnson said.
Johnson renewed his demand for interviews and transcribed documents from former officials days after Ukrainian lawmaker Andrey Derkach, who met with Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani to discuss the Bidens investigation, charged with Biden, his son, and Hochstein. at a press conference of an elaborate conspiracy. to steal hundreds of millions of Ukrainian dollars.
Many of the misconduct allegations against Joe Biden, which were examined during Trump’s impeachment trial last year, have been denied; others remain unsubstantiated.
The House accused Trump last year on charges that it withheld critical military assistance from Ukraine to pressure the country’s president to announce investigations targeting Biden. The Senate acquitted Trump, and has since sought retaliation against his critics.
The committee has authorized only one subpoena so far as part of the Burisma investigation: Blue Star Strategies, a Democratic public affairs firm that did consulting work for Burisma. Johnson has suggested that Blue Star sought to take advantage of Hunter Biden’s role on the Burisma board to influence the affairs of the Obama State Department.
The committee is also conducting a separate review of the Obama administration’s handling of the Michael Flynn investigation during the presidential transition period in 2016 and 2017, when Trump’s national security adviser was scrutinized for his talks with the Russian ambassador. Johnson has said he also plans to release a report on that research, later in the summer or early fall.
Democrats have said the twin investigations are simply meant to boost Trump’s reelection prospects. They also contend that the probes are a misuse of Senate resources and likely contribute to Russian disinformation campaigns.
On Thursday, Senator Gary Peters of Michigan, the top Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee, sent a letter to Johnson reaffirming his demand for a briefing by the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force and intelligence community officials. .
Peters and Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said the briefings are necessary to “fully understand the national security and counterintelligence implications of foreign election interference and their investigative work. in progress”. The letter was also addressed to Senate Finance President Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who joined Johnson in many of his investigations.
Trump has openly encouraged both investigations as he uses them as a key subject of his run for a second term: that the Obama White House unfairly attacked him with a series of federal investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election and claims that Trump campaign conspired with Russian operatives.
