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SALT LAKE CITY — A day after saying an investigation related to former Vice President Joe Biden’s son and a Ukrainian gas company appears political, Sen. Mitt Romney won’t stand in the way of a Senate committee subpoena.
Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee Chairman Ron Johnson is planning to force a committee vote next week on the first subpoena stemming from his probe tied to Hunter Biden and Burisma.
“Sen. Romney has expressed his concerns to Chairman Johnson, who has confirmed that any interview of the witness would occur in a closed setting without a hearing or public spectacle. He will therefore vote to let the chairman proceed to obtain the documents that have been offered,” Romney spokeswoman Liz Johnson said Friday.
Johnson, R-Wisc., wants to subpoena Andrii Telizhenko a former consultant for Blue Star Strategies, a U.S. firm that Johnson noted in a letter to committee members has connections Burisma Holdings.
Romney was seen as a possible roadblock to Johnson’ investigation after telling reporters Thursday that looking into Burisma and Hunter Biden “appears political.”
“I think people are tired of these kind of political investigations and would hope that if there’s something of significance that needs to be evaluated that it would be done by perhaps the FBI or some other agency that is not as political as perhaps a committee of our body,” he said.
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Back in May, President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, mentioned a connection between a Ukrainian gas company and Hunter Biden, the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, to The New York Times. (Photo: Evan Vucci, AP Photo.)Romney said he intended to talk to Johnson and then decide how he would vote on the subpoena.
Republicans hold an 8-6 majority on the committee. A “no” vote from Romney would end in a 7-7 tie, which would result in the subpoena failing.
President Donald Trump plans to make a campaign issue of the investigation.
On Wednesday, the president tweeted a report about Johnson’s probe and later told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that portraying the Bidens as corrupt would be a central theme of his reelection campaign.
“That will be a major issue in the campaign,” Trump said in the interview. “I will bring that up all the time.”
