Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson said his investigation into Hunter Biden’s role on the board of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy firm, has been “hampered” because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Wisconsin Republican had aimed for an early summer release of an interim report, but he indicated to Politico that the timeline could be pushed back closer to the November election.
“We’re in the process of writing different sections of the report that I’d like to make public sometime this summer,” Johnson told Politico. “But obviously, [the coronavirus] has not been helpful and hampered our efforts.”
Homeland Security Committee staffers have been going through documents provided by the State Department and the National Archives, the latter of which includes records from the Obama administration, the senator explained.
“I’ve got staff that have been devoted to that and they’re working on that stuff from home,” Johnson said, adding, “We — and I — can walk and chew gum at the same time here. This is not taking up massive amounts of staff time.”
Last month, Johnson announced his intention to subpoena Blue Star Strategies executives, a Washington-based public affairs firm with ties to Burisma, and produce records as part of the investigation. A formal committee vote to authorize the subpoena was set in motion because of Democratic opposition but has yet to be scheduled.
Democrats have been wary of Johnson’s investigation, questioning if there are political motivations undergirding it related to the 2020 election. Biden’s father, former Vice President Joe Biden, is the presumptive nominee for the Democratic presidential nomination. Johnson has denied the election is a factor.
The younger Biden served on the board from 2014 to 2019, including when his father took a leading role in carrying out U.S. policy toward Ukraine as vice president.
President Trump and his Republican allies have alleged that the former vice president used his position to protect his son from an investigation into the company’s owner.
Trump urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate allegations of corruption related to Burisma and the Bidens. That conversation sparked the impeachment investigation last year that ultimately led to two charges against the president in the Democratic-led House and later his acquittal in the GOP-controlled Senate.
