Senators suggest Blinken lied about Burisma — was ‘trying to connect’ with firm’s US lobbyists

Senators suggest Blinken lied about Burisma — was ‘trying to connect’ with firm’s US lobbyists

Antony Blinken may have lied to Congress about his knowledge of first son Hunter Biden’s job at Ukrainian gas firm Burisma

NEW YORK POST

WASHINGTON — Republican Sens. Ron Johnson and Chuck Grassley believe Secretary of State Antony Blinken may have lied to Congress about his knowledge of first son Hunter Biden’s job at Ukrainian gas firm Burisma — in addition to his alleged untruth about never emailing with Hunter.

The senators wrote that emails from Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop as well as additional records assembled by legislative investigators cast doubt on Blinken’s professed ignorance of Hunter’s role on Burisma’s board, where he earned up to $1 million per year, and in fact show Blinken was “trying to connect” with Burisma’s US lobbyists.

“Your statement to Congress that you did not email Hunter Biden is clearly not true and calls into question the veracity of your entire December 22, 2020 testimony,” Johnson (R-Wis.) and Grassley (R-Iowa) wrote to Blinken Tuesday morning.

“Specifically, you denied having any awareness of Hunter Biden’s association with the corrupt Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings.”

Lying to Congress is a crime punishable by up to five years in prison — and the intensifying focus on Blinken comes after he was exposed April 20 as the man who inspired 51 former spy-agency leaders to issue a statement casting doubt on the authenticity of documents from Hunter Biden’s laptop implicating then-presidential candidate Joe Biden in his family’s Chinese and Ukrainian business relationships.

Both Blinken and his wife Evan Ryan, President Biden’s current cabinet secretary and an assistant secretary of state from 2013 to 2017, appeared to be aware of Hunter’s Burisma position, the letter says, demanding that the couple hand over by May 15 “all records, referring or relating to Hunter Biden, his business dealings, or his family’s business dealings.”

Sen. Ron Johnson wrote to Blinken saying his statement to Congress claiming he didn’t email Hunter Biden was not true. AP

Blinken, who was deputy national security adviser when Hunter joined Burisma’s board in 2014 and then deputy secretary of state for the final two years of the Obama-Biden administration, said in a Dec. 22, 2020, Senate deposition he had no idea that the then-vice president’s son scored the Burisma post.

“During your time as deputy secretary of state, were you aware of any association that Hunter Biden had with Burisma?” a Senate questioner asked Blinken.

“I was not,” Blinken said — even though Hunter’s Burisma position was reported by news outlets in May 2014, stoking controversy.

Chuck Grassley and Sens. Ron Johnson said Blinken’s statement calls into question the veracity of his entire December 22, 2020 testimony. AP

“You were not aware that Hunter Biden served on Burisma’s board?” the investigator pressed.

“To the best of my recollection, I was not,” said Blinken, who one month after the grilling became President Biden’s secretary of state.

Grassley and Johnson, who led an initial investigation of the first family’s foreign business ventures while they led the Senate homeland security and finance committees in 2020, cited emails from Hunter’s laptop that appear to contradict the top diplomat, and referred to further non-public documentation.

“Although you denied having any knowledge that Hunter Biden was associated with Burisma, emails reportedly from Hunter Biden’s laptop reveal that your wife, Evan Ryan… corresponded directly with Hunter Biden (from her personal email address) in an apparent attempt to connect you with representatives of Burisma’s US lobbying firm, Blue Star Strategies,” the two senators wrote.

“In an apparent email exchange on July 14, 2016, Hunter Biden told Ryan that ‘S’ and ‘K’ told him that they called the State Department and left a message. ‘S’ and ‘K’ appear to be Sally Painter and Karen Tramontano, Blue Star Strategies’ Chief Operating Officer and Chief Executive Officer, respectively. Ryan wrote to Biden, ‘He didn’t get the msg. He said if we can get him their numbers he can call them late afternoon DC time tmrw — let me know if that works[.]’

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a Dec. 22, 2020, Senate deposition he had no idea that the then-vice president’s son scored the Burisma post. AFP via Getty Images

“Although this email exchange did not reference you by name, State Department documents obtained during our investigation make it clear that you were concurrently trying to connect with representatives from Blue Star Strategies.”

Grassley and Johnson went on: “Another reported email from Hunter Biden’s laptop shows that on July 15, 2016, an individual from Hunter Biden’s firm instructed him and his business associate, Eric Schwerin, to  ‘please call Evan Ryan . . . Hunter – she tried your cell earlier and it went straight to vm[.]’ You told congressional investigators that you did not meet with Tramontano or Painter during  this time period. When asked if either of them informed you that they were representing Burisma, you said, ‘To the best of my recollection, no.’

“It seems highly unlikely that you had no idea of Hunter Biden’s association with Burisma  while your wife was apparently coordinating with Hunter Biden to potentially connect you with Burisma’s US representatives.”

CONTINUE READING…

Header featured image (edited) credit: Blinken/Getty Images

Emphasis added by (TLB) editors

••••

••••

Stay tuned to …

••••

The Liberty Beacon Project is now expanding at a near exponential rate, and for this we are grateful and excited! But we must also be practical. For 7 years we have not asked for any donations, and have built this project with our own funds as we grew. We are now experiencing ever increasing growing pains due to the large number of websites and projects we represent. So we have just installed donation buttons on our websites and ask that you consider this when you visit them. Nothing is too small. We thank you for all your support and your considerations … (TLB)

••••

Comment Policy: As a privately owned web site, we reserve the right to remove comments that contain spam, advertising, vulgarity, threats of violence, racism, or personal/abusive attacks on other users. This also applies to trolling, the use of more than one alias, or just intentional mischief. Enforcement of this policy is at the discretion of this websites administrators. Repeat offenders may be blocked or permanently banned without prior warning.

••••

Disclaimer: TLB websites contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of “fair use” in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, health, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than “fair use” you must request permission from the copyright owner.

••••

Disclaimer: The information and opinions shared are for informational purposes only including, but not limited to, text, graphics, images and other material are not intended as medical advice or instruction. Nothing mentioned is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.