The U.S. Treasury Department was asked by two Republican senators about any possible reports of money laundering or fraud in the business dealings of former Vice President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, with a Ukraine energy firm long accused of corruption.
The letter, dated Nov. 15, didn’t note if there were any cases relating to Biden.
Republicans sent the letter amid an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. Democrats have alleged Trump abused his oath of office by “pressuring” Ukraine to investigate the Bidens, Burisma, and alleged interference in the 2016 election in exchange for military aid, an allegation denied by the White House and Ukrainian officials. Hunter Biden had served on the board of Burisma while his father was vice president and who was considered the Obama administration’s “point man” in Kyiv. Hunter Biden, in recent weeks, denied being involved in any corruption and resigned from his position earlier this year.
The senators noted that Burisma was paying Hunter Biden as much as $50,000 per month as their committees investigate “potentially improper actions by the Obama administration with respect to Burisma Holdings and Ukraine.”
Johnson and Grassley, citing a report, said Burisma’s consulting company, Blue Star Strategies, used Biden’s board membership to access Obama administration officials at the U.S. Department of State.
The move comes as Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) wrote to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to obtain documents related to 2016 contacts between the Bidens and other Obama administration officials as well as former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
Joe Biden on Friday criticized Graham’s letter to Pompeo, saying the longtime senator will “regret” it.
“I am disappointed, and quite frankly I’m angered, by the fact—he knows me; he knows my son; he knows there’s nothing to this. Trump is now essentially holding power over him that even the Ukrainians wouldn’t yield to,“ the former vice president said. ”The Ukrainians would not yield to, quote, ‘investigate Biden’—there’s nothing to investigate about Biden or his son.”