Catherine Herridge at CBS News reported on Monday that Senate Homeland Committee Chairman Ron Johnson has started to prepare his first subpoena into Hunter Biden’s work with Burisma Holdings.
Johnson states in his letter to his colleague that he wants to subpoena Andrii Telizhenko, a former consultant for Blue Star Strategies and former Ukrainian diplomatic aide.
Burisma hired Blue Star Strategies to fight against corruption charges.
Johnson informed the senators the committee “has received U.S. government records indicating that Blue Star sought to leverage Hunter Biden’s role as a board member of Burisma to gain access to, and potentially influence matters at the State Department.”
Telizhenko told the committee he would work with them in the investigation. Johnson pointed out that the Ukrainian “identified a limited subset of relevant records from his work with Blue Star that are responsive, but subject to a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) in his employment contract.”
Democrats claim Johnson’s “request represented an abuse of power aimed at damaging a leading Democratic presidential contender.”
Sally Painter, a former senior advisor in President Bill Clinton’s administration, and Karen Tramontano, Bill’s former deputy chief of staff, founded Blue Star Strategies:
State Department records show that Painter and her Blue Star co-founder, Karen Tramontano, reached out to top State Department officials through 2016 to set up meetings to discuss Ukraine and Burisma. (RELATED: Emails: Burisma Consultant Linked To Hunter Biden Approached Top State Department Official At Think Tank Event)In an email on June 27, 2016, Painter indicated that she spoke with Tony Blinken, who served as deputy secretary of state, at a Truman National Security Project event about “troubling events” in Ukraine. Painter requested a follow-up meeting with Blinken, who is now a foreign policy adviser to Joe Biden’s presidential campaign.Tramontano, who was deputy chief of staff in the Clinton White House, also contacted State Department officials seeking a meeting regarding Burisma on Feb. 24, 2016.One of the officials that Tramontano contacted said that she wanted to meet in order to get “a better understanding of how the U.S. came to the determination that [Burisma] is corrupt.”Tramontano also mentioned that Hunter Biden was affiliated with Burisma, according to the email.
Telizhenko has recently “worked closely with Rudy Giuliani as he pushed for deeper investigations into the Bidens and Burisma.”
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