The Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee voted to open up a probe with a subpoena into the Biden-Burisma scandal that presidential candidate Joe and his son Hunter Biden have long downplayed. After Hunter’s employment by Burisma was questioned by President Trump in a phone call with the Ukrainian President, the Democrats launched an angry mob-style impeachment of President Trump.
Trump, however, was ultimately found not guilty in the Senate vote of said impeachment. Meanwhile, The Obama era investigations headed by AG Bill Barr and company have not finished with the Bidens.
It appears they want to know more about Joe Biden’s connection with getting a prosector fired who was investigating Burisma while Hunter was employed there. Blue Star Strategies, a consulting and lobbying firm ran by two former Clinton associates, is the company to be on the receiving end of the subpoena.
The associates are Karen Tramontano and Sally Painter. Tramontano has reportedly taken on Attorney Peter Kadzik, a former Obama era DOJ official. Burisma hired the firm in 2015 to help them defend themselves from an allegation of corruption. Stephanie Myers of OAN tweeted:
“Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee voted along party lines, issuing the first subpoena in Obama-era probes
They issued subpoena to Blue Star Strategies– a firm with ties to Ukraine gas company Burisma Holdings where Hunter Biden was a board member”, see below:
#BREAKING
— Stephanie Myers (@_StephanieMyers) May 20, 2020
Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee voted along party lines, issuing first subpoena in Obama-era probes
They issued subpoena to Blue Star Strategies– a firm with ties to Ukraine gas company Burisma Holdings where Hunter Biden was a board member
Hunter Biden was hired in 2014 by Burisma and was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars despite his lack of experience with energy companies. Bizpacreview also reported:
State Department emails show that Tramontano and Painter reached out to agency officials regarding Burisma in 2016. One email shows that Painter reached out to Tony Blinken, who served as deputy secretary of state, in June 2016 to meet to discuss Ukraine. Blinken is now a top adviser on Joe Biden’s presidential campaign.
Sen. Ron Johnson, the chairman of the Senate committee that authorized the subpoena, had sought documents related to former Ukrainian diplomat Andrii Telizhenko’s work with Blue Star.
Telizhenko, who worked for Blue Star in 2016 and 2017, has met voluntarily with the committee but said that he could not provide some documents because they were protected by a non-disclosure agreement.
Johnson said Blue Star had refused to provide the documents in question.
Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, the top Democrat on the Senate panel, criticized the subpoena following the vote.
“At this moment when Americans need us to work together, this extremely partisan investigation is pulling us apart,” he told the newspaper.
Delaware Sen. Tom Carper, a member of the committee, also blasted the vote and defended Tramontano, the Blue Star co-founder
It is unclear if this is just the first of many subpoenas related to this probe. A Senate Committee under Lindsey Graham will also be calling many Obama Era holdovers such as James Comey, James Clapper, John Brennan, and others to testify about the Russian Collusion investigation as well. Bill Barr has said it’s unlikely that former President Barack Obama or presidential candidate and former Obama Vice President are likely to face charges in that probe, but others related to that administration are being looked at.
