— Comer, James Comer (R-Ky.), chair of the House Oversight Committee, in an interview on Newsmax, Feb. 14
“Our concern is those documents, specifically the documents he mishandled from countries like Ukraine and China. Countries where the Bidens have taken in tens of millions of dollars. We need to know were those documents used as a central part of the Biden influence-peddling scheme, were these documents, documents that Hunter Biden was taking and sending and handing over to our enemies around the world in return for payment because we believe there’s a chance that that in fact happened. If you look at the emails on the laptop, Hunter Biden sent some suspicious emails especially to Ukraine that look like government documents, that meet the criteria of what would be considered a classified document, so this is why we are concerned about receiving the transcripts and the video.”
—Comer, in an interview on Fox Business Network, Feb. 15
In two interviews, Comer has suggested that two Ukraine-related documents referenced in special counsel Robert K. Hur’s report concerning Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents might have ended up informing or been part of emails found on the laptop that the president’s son Hunter left at a computer repair shop in Delaware. Comer, along two other House committee chairs, has demanded the Justice Department provide access to the documents, as well as other materials, by Monday.
Last year, shortly after Hur was appointed to investigate the discovery of classified documents at President Biden’s residence and former office, Republican lawmakers began to speculate that Hunter had gained access to the documents to bolster his importance to the Ukrainian gas company Burisma. Hunter was named to Burisma’s board in 2014, when his father, then vice president, was the top U.S. policymaker on Ukraine — an arrangement that State Department officials worried was a potential conflict of interest that undermined the administration’s efforts to stem corruption in the country.
ADVERTISING
GOP lawmakers especially have focused on two emails found on the laptop. Let’s look at the timeline.
For instance, in one interview, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said a reference in the email to potential new U.S. sanctions on Russia “certainly might have been” classified information. But five days before the email was sent, Secretary of State John F. Kerry told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in widely reported remarks that the U.S. could impose new economic sanctions on Russia because of its actions in Ukraine.
The second email — actually part of an email chain — started in October 2015 and concerned the hiring of a U.S. public relations firm, known as Blue Star, to bolster Burisma’s image. In the email chain, a Ukrainian energy company executive suggested that the “ultimate purpose” of Hunter’s hiring by the company was to shut down investigations of the company’s owner. Paradoxically, the Obama administration had signaled a policy shift, as expressed in a speech by the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine a month earlier, of putting pressure on the country’s top prosecutor because he had failed to pursue “legitimate corruption cases,” including one involving Burisma’s owner.
There’s nothing that appears classified in these email exchanges — just strategizing about how to put Burisma in a better light.
Now let’s turn to the documents requested by the committee, referenced in the report as “A9” and “A10.”
In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Comer and the other two committee chairs noted that these documents refer to “President Biden’s December 11, 2015 call with then-Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk.”
A9 refers to talking points for the call, while A10 was a transcript of the call itself, according to an appendix of the Hur report. Both documents were found amid boxes in the Penn Biden Center, a Washington-based center affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania where Biden maintained an office after his term as vice president ended.
See the problem? The 2014 email — which supposedly contained classified information — was written 20 months before these documents were produced. That doesn’t make much sense. How could the email have been informed by classified information that did not yet exist?
“Our concern is those documents, specifically the documents he mishandled from countries like Ukraine and China. Countries where the Bidens have taken in tens of millions of dollars. We need to know were those documents used as a central part of the Biden influence-peddling scheme, were these documents, documents that Hunter Biden was taking and sending and handing over to our enemies around the world in return for payment because we believe there’s a chance that that in fact happened. If you look at the emails on the laptop, Hunter Biden sent some suspicious emails especially to Ukraine that look like government documents, that meet the criteria of what would be considered a classified document, so this is why we are concerned about receiving the transcripts and the video.”
—Comer, in an interview on Fox Business Network, Feb. 15
In two interviews, Comer has suggested that two Ukraine-related documents referenced in special counsel Robert K. Hur’s report concerning Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents might have ended up informing or been part of emails found on the laptop that the president’s son Hunter left at a computer repair shop in Delaware. Comer, along two other House committee chairs, has demanded the Justice Department provide access to the documents, as well as other materials, by Monday.
Last year, shortly after Hur was appointed to investigate the discovery of classified documents at President Biden’s residence and former office, Republican lawmakers began to speculate that Hunter had gained access to the documents to bolster his importance to the Ukrainian gas company Burisma. Hunter was named to Burisma’s board in 2014, when his father, then vice president, was the top U.S. policymaker on Ukraine — an arrangement that State Department officials worried was a potential conflict of interest that undermined the administration’s efforts to stem corruption in the country.
ADVERTISING
GOP lawmakers especially have focused on two emails found on the laptop. Let’s look at the timeline.
The Facts
The first email is dated April 13, 2014, a month before Hunter joined the Burisma board, and key lawmakers speculated that Hunter wrote it after gaining access to classified documents. A year ago, we examined the email in detail and concluded instead that it appears to be largely the product of diligent reading of contemporary newspaper and magazine articles.For instance, in one interview, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said a reference in the email to potential new U.S. sanctions on Russia “certainly might have been” classified information. But five days before the email was sent, Secretary of State John F. Kerry told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in widely reported remarks that the U.S. could impose new economic sanctions on Russia because of its actions in Ukraine.
The second email — actually part of an email chain — started in October 2015 and concerned the hiring of a U.S. public relations firm, known as Blue Star, to bolster Burisma’s image. In the email chain, a Ukrainian energy company executive suggested that the “ultimate purpose” of Hunter’s hiring by the company was to shut down investigations of the company’s owner. Paradoxically, the Obama administration had signaled a policy shift, as expressed in a speech by the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine a month earlier, of putting pressure on the country’s top prosecutor because he had failed to pursue “legitimate corruption cases,” including one involving Burisma’s owner.
There’s nothing that appears classified in these email exchanges — just strategizing about how to put Burisma in a better light.
Now let’s turn to the documents requested by the committee, referenced in the report as “A9” and “A10.”
In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Comer and the other two committee chairs noted that these documents refer to “President Biden’s December 11, 2015 call with then-Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk.”
A9 refers to talking points for the call, while A10 was a transcript of the call itself, according to an appendix of the Hur report. Both documents were found amid boxes in the Penn Biden Center, a Washington-based center affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania where Biden maintained an office after his term as vice president ended.
See the problem? The 2014 email — which supposedly contained classified information — was written 20 months before these documents were produced. That doesn’t make much sense. How could the email have been informed by classified information that did not yet exist?
