Just saying “Biden” and wrongdoing in the context of the 2020 election risks being political, especially when you have President Trump saying stuff like this about Biden and his family: “I will bring that up all the time.”  Biden’s presidential campaign, through spokesman Andrew Bates, responded right back: “If they really want to go there, they should buckle up.” 

AD

AD

Let’s review three pertinent things happening in the Senate and the Justice Department. 

1.  A Senate investigation of whether a consulting company used Hunter Biden’s name to get leverage at the State Department

1.  What’s being investigated: In 2015, did a consulting firm use Hunter Biden’s name as leverage when it was trying to lobby the Obama State Department for better treatment of the Ukrainian company for which he was a board member? ( That would be Burisma, the Ukrainian oil and gas company Trump kept bringing up during impeachment.) 

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), a Trump ally, says that yes, a company used the Biden name as it tried to reverse Burisma’s reputation as a corrupt company in the government.  Now Johnson is trying to investigate whether the State Department gave Burisma any special attention or favors. 

AD

AD

Why this is potentially politically troublesome: Johnson insists that none of this is political in nature. (“ It just so happens that Joe Biden and Hunter Biden are also wrapped up and connected to the whole Ukrainian issue,” he told reporters Monday.)  But a few points on that:

The investigation started as the House was undertaking the impeachment of Trump.  But Hunter Biden isn’t on the board of Burisma now; he was in 2015.  Burisma wasn’t on the radar for most people then, but it’s not as though Johnson was ignorant about Ukraine issues: He has been closely involved in Ukraine for the past decade, saying he’s taken six trips there since 2011. 

Johnson and his team maintain they’ve been working on this for months, since the House’s impeachment inquiry ramped up.  But he called for a subpoena of a witness — a move that eventually garnered news headlines the day after Joe Biden’s big win in South Carolina and one day before the consequential Super Tuesday elections across the nation. 

Republicans know that just dropping the possibility of wrongdoing by anyone named Biden creates confusion and hypes up the conservative media machine, which can spread the allegations far and wide.  A pro-Trump Super PAC launched digital ads Wednesday using the Senate investigation to question Biden’s credibility. 

Democrats say that if Republicans want to investigate swampy behavior — such as children of top politicians using their names to influence the government — well, that’s another story.  It might include Hunter Biden, but investigations of potential corruption would almost certainly include the Trump children as well. 

How it’s ramping up: Johnson, as chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, wants to subpoena a former employee of the consulting company Blue Star, which was a representative for Burisma in the United States.  Sen. Gary Peters (Mich.), the ranking Democrat on the panel, opposed that idea. 

AD

AD

So because there’s no agreement, per committee rules, the panel must vote on whether to subpoena Andrii Telizhenko, a political consultant and former Ukrainian diplomat.  Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who is on the committee, hesitated to vote for the subpoena over concerns that it would appear political, but he now says he’ll vote for it.  The subpoena vote, scheduled for Wednesday, was suddenly postponed so senators could have more briefings on it. 

Also, earlier in February, Yahoo News reported that Johnson and other Senate Republicans requested and received sensitive government financial documents related to Hunter Biden.  It’s not clear how, if at all, that’s connected.  Johnson has also requested Secret Service records to see where Hunter Biden traveled while his dad was vice president, The Post’s Mike DeBonis reports. 

2.  Did Ukraine interfere in the 2016 election for Democrats? 

What’s being investigated: Did a Democratic operative work with Ukrainians to hurt Trump in the 2016 campaign? 

AD

AD

This also has roots in impeachment, because Trump alleged something like this, only using a conspiracy theory about a hacked Democratic server.  Senate Republicans have set aside that conspiracy theory for a narrower focus. 

Telizhenko, the person Johnson wants to talk to, has alleged that he worked with former Democratic operative Alexandra Chalupa in 2016 to try to get dirt on top people in Trump’s campaign, such as Paul Manafort, who worked in Ukraine.  Telizhenko is also involved in pushing a debunked theory that Democrats worked with Ukraine to help them win in 2016. 

Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, has been methodically investigating this since Trump entered office in 2017.  He and Johnson and Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) have requested documents and interviews related to Chalupa.  They are trying to get interviews from Obama administration officials, including a senior adviser to Joe Biden.  They say that if there is any question about the security of elections, it should be investigated. 

Why this is potentially troublesome: Republicans maintain that they are focusing on election interference, not potential Democratic wrongdoing. 

AD

AD

But intelligence officials have said Ukraine did not interfere in the U.S. election.  A former official in Trump’s own White House testified in the impeachment inquiry that this is fiction and Russian propaganda.  Raising questions about Ukraine interference risks comparing it to the systematic interference efforts by Russians, playing down what Russia did. 

Although these are offshoots of impeachment, none of the investigations focus on the two original allegations Trump brought up in his phone call with Ukraine’s president:

1.  That the elder Biden intervened in Ukraine affairs to help his son’s business dealings. 

2.  That Ukraine, not Russia, hacked Democrats’ server in 2016. 

AD

That’s telling about how seriously Republicans take (or don’t take) Trump’s debunked accusations that led to his impeachment.  Still, Republicans have found other offshoots to investigate that Trump can and almost certainly will use against Biden. 

3.  The Justice Department has a clearinghouse for Ukraine-Biden allegations

What this is: It’s not an investigation.  But Attorney General William P. Barr said in February that the Justice Department has developed an “intake process” for whatever Trump’s personal attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani finds in Ukraine about the Bidens.