Washington: Hunter Biden’s position on the board of a Ukrainian energy company was “awkward” and “problematic” at the time his father, Joe Biden, was serving as vice president, two Republican-led Senate committees say in a new report — but the study does not show that it influenced U.S. government policy, reports NPR.
The long-awaited Republican report appeared six weeks ahead of the presidential election. Democrats have dismissed it as a politically motivated effort to try to hamper Biden’s 2020 campaign in the race against President Trump.
The report’s authors, Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, say the American public has a right to know about what they call any wrongdoing or conflicts of interest during the Obama administration.
The 87-page report they produced focuses on Hunter Biden’s position on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company widely considered corrupt.
Trump’s efforts to get Ukraine to launch an investigation into the Bidens and Burisma were a key part of Trump’s impeachment; the White House froze military assistance authorized by Congress for a time as it tried to extract concessions in Kiev, then ultimately released it.
While Johnson and Grassley’s report raises concerns about a possible conflict of interest arising from Hunter Biden’s position on the Burisma board, it concludes that “the extent to which” his role “affected U.S. policy toward Ukraine is not clear.”
It does argue that the younger Biden’s position made it “awkward” for American officials who were pushing an anti-corruption line in Ukraine.
