BREITBART
Republicans are honing in on the role Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his wife, White House Executive Secretary Evan Ryan, played in alleged influence efforts by Hunter Biden in July 2016 on behalf of the Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma when he sat on its board.
As Breitbart News reported, in a letter released Tuesday by Sens. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Blinken told congressional investigators in December 2020 that when he was deputy secretary of state during the Obama administration, he was not aware of Biden’s association with Burisma.
“It seems highly unlikely that you had no idea of Hunter Biden’s association with Burisma while your wife was apparently coordinating with Hunter Biden to potentially connect you with Burisma’s U.S. representatives,” they wrote to Blinken, asking him and his wife to preserve their records for further investigation
The senators released a transcript of Blinken’s interview in 2020 that showed he was asked, “During your time as Deputy Secretary of State, were you aware of any association that Hunter Biden had with Burisma?” Blinken responded, “I was not.” Blinken also denied having any knowledge of Hunter Biden’s service on the board of Burisma.
However, the senators pointed to emails on the laptop that show that Hunter Biden in July 2016 had urged Blinken, through his wife, to speak with executives of a Democrat consulting firm representing Burisma, and that Blinken had made an effort to talk to them after Hunter Biden’s urging. Burisma had hired the firm, Blue Star Strategies, in November 2015 to improve its image in Washington, D.C., after facing allegations of corruption.
Previous State Department emails obtained by Johnson showed that Sally Painter, Blue Star Strategies chief operating officer, had run into Blinken at an event in June 2016, and that Painter had written to Blinken’s assistant three days later to arrange a coffee meeting with Blinken.
“Per my conversation with Tony at the Truman event, Karen Tramontano and I would like to have a brief coffee with Tony at his earliest convenience regarding some troubling events we are seeing in Ukraine. (He said yes). Karen was President Clinton’s Deputy Chief of Staff and we are just back from Kiev,” Painter said in the email. Karen Tramontano was Blue Star Strategies’ Chief Executive Officer. A call appeared to have been scheduled for the next month, but fell through, according to the DailyMail.com.
At that point, Hunter Biden got involved, emailing Blinken’s wife, according to Johnson and Grassley. Blinken’s wife was then-assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs.
“Time [for] a very quick call?” Hunter Biden wrote to Blinken’s wife on her personal email address on July 14, 2016. Blinken’s wife responded, “He said neither Karen or Sally called this afternoon.”
Hunter Biden then responded, “I don’t know what happened. Talked to S and K and they said they called at 5:30 and left message w/ his Asst. Sorry.” She replied back, “He didn’t get the msg. He said if we can get him their numbers he can call them late afternoon DC time tmrw – let me know if that works.”
Johnson and Grassley said “S” and “K” appeared to be Painter and Tramantano.
Connect with us on our socials: