GOP Senators claim Secret Service ‘hid’ info on Hunter Biden’s travels

by mcardinal

Chris Lange, FISM News

 

Two Republican Senators are demanding answers as to why the Secret Service improperly redacted hundreds of pages of documents pertaining to Hunter Biden’s overseas travel, including trips to China and Russia, while his father, Joe Biden, was vice president, as initially reported by the Washington Examiner

In a joint letter to Secret Service Director James Murray, Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) on Tuesday accused the agency of deliberately concealing “names and other information contained in email conversations regarding Hunter Biden without any proper legal justification.”

“These inappropriate redactions impede our offices’ ability to understand the full scope of the interactions between Hunter Biden, his associates, and the USSS,” wrote the Senators.

The lawmakers point specifically to documents turned over at their request which “do not show whether [Secret Service] personnel or Hunter Biden traveled to Kazakhstan in May or June 2014.” At the time, Biden purportedly ditched his Secret Service bodyguards before embarking on a flight to Kazakhstan to try to secure a deal on behalf of Ukrainian energy Company Burisma, according to a 2021 Washington Examiner report

Hunter Biden had allegedly arranged to meet with then-Kazakhstan Prime Minister Karim Massimov, who on Saturday was arrested on charges of treason after being booted from his position as head of the country’s counterintelligence agency. Hunter is said to have had close business ties with Massimov while serving on the board of Burisma. Emails discovered on Hunter’s now-infamous laptop between Biden, his Rosemont Seneca business partner and fellow Burisma board member Devon Archer, and Ukrainian Burisma official Vadim Pozharskyi reveal their intention to facilitate a deal with Massimov. 

A report last year said the Justice Department was investigating a consulting firm linked to Hunter for possible illegal lobbying after it took Burisma on as a client while Hunter served on its board. The firm, Blue Star Strategie​s, paid the younger Biden as much as $1 million a year​, according to Politico.

Sens. Grassley and Johnson are demanding that the Secret Service provide them with complete, unredacted copies of the documents by Jan. 26 and further compel the agency to provide an explanation as to why it has failed to produce records from 2010, 2011 and 2013.

The two senators have been scrutinizing Hunter’s overseas business dealings since accusations began to surface that he used his father’s position as vice president to peddle influence abroad. Images of then-Vice President Joe Biden and Hunter posing with Massimov and Kazakhstani oligarch Kenes Rakishev at a 2015 Washington DC event surfaced during the 2019 presidential campaign. At the time, then-candidate Biden denied knowing anything about his son’s business dealings and the liberal media largely ignored the story.

Grassley and Johnson in 2020 released a report stating that Hunter’s position on the board of Burisma created a “potential conflict of interest” for his father, who at the time was heavily involved in US policy toward Ukraine.

Hunter Biden also purportedly sent “thousands of dollars” to individuals connected to “an Eastern European prostitution or trafficking ring,” according to the report.

Critics have long accused Hunter of enriching himself by using his father’s position in the White House to peddle influence with China and Russia – countries hostile to the U.S.

Questions have also arisen concerning Hunter’s 10-percent stake in Chinese Investment firm BHR Partners. His attorney last month told the New York Times Hunter “no longer holds any interest” in the company. 

In September, Republicans on the House Oversight and Reform Committee launched an investigation into Hunter’s controversial artwork business, which they say poses a national security risk by giving foreigners special access to the White House through the purchase of overpriced works of art.

Hunter disclosed in 2020 that he was being investigated for possible tax fraud purportedly involving his business dealings in China and other foreign countries, according to the New York Post.

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