Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R., Wis.) decided on Wednesday to drop a subpoena of a former Ukrainian embassy official as part of an ongoing probe into Burisma and the Bidens, saying instead that he would “go straight to the source” and subpoena Blue Star Strategies, the U.S. firm which lobbied on behalf of Burisma.
Citing “an abundance of caution” and “time for you to receive additional briefings,” Johnson told his colleagues in a letter on Wednesday that he would “postpone” the vote to subpoena Andrii Telizhenko, who worked for Blue Star.
“While we work through those questions, at the suggestion of both Republican and Democrat Committee members, we will instead go straight to the source and compel the same records and an appearance directly from Blue Star Strategies,” he added.
The probe is focused on how Blue Star Strategies attempted to “leverage Hunter Biden’s role as a board member of Burisma to gain access to, and potentially influence matters at, the State Department,” according to a Johnson letter earlier this month. The Wisconsin Republican said last week that he was in possession of a document from Blue Star which apologized for a “misinformation campaign” against Ukrainian prosecutor Victor Shokin, who Joe Biden bragged about getting fired.
Johnson, who asked the State Department for records on the matter Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) in November, has drawn criticism from Democratic lawmakers over his investigations, over fears that they are politically motivated — with President Trump consistently pointing to the Bidens’s “corrupt” dealings in Ukraine.
Senator Chris Murphy (D., Conn.) sent a letter Wednesday to the inspectors general for the State Department, Treasury Department, Department of Homeland Security and the National Archives, over fears of a “really concerning double standard.”
Senator Mitt Romney (R., Utah) initially expressed concerns on the probe, saying “there’s no question that the appearance of looking into Burisma and Hunter Biden appears political,” only to acquiesce after speaking with Johnson and being reassured that his subpoena would occur “without a hearing or public spectacle.”
Romney did not return a request for comment on whether he was involved in the decision to target Blue Star directly.