GOP senators seek Hunter Biden travel records in conflict-of-interest probe

Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley (Iowa) and Ron Johnson (Wisconsin) earlier this month sent a letter to the Secret Service requesting the travel records of Hunter Biden during the time that his father Joe Biden was Vice President. 

Grassley and Johnson — the chairmen of the Senate Committee on Finance and Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, respectively — asked for information regarding the protective detail Hunter Biden received while his father was in office. They also requested a list of travel dates, locations, and modes of transport used by the VP’s son. The Senators put a two-week deadline on the receipt of the information. 

According to the letter, the information was needed to review “potential conflicts of interest posed by the business activities of Hunter Biden … particularly with respect to his business activities in Ukraine and China.” 

The letter continues: “In April 2014, around the time Hunter Biden joined Burisma, Vice President Biden reportedly became the ‘public face of the administration’s handling of Ukraine.’ It is unclear whether Hunter Biden received government sponsored travel or a protective detail for these endeavors.” 

The letter was delivered just hours after President Trump was acquitted by the Senate following the impeachment trial, during which Hunter Biden’s dealings in Ukraine were scrutinized by Senators from both sides of the aisle. Joe Biden, the former frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, has performed far below expectations in early primaries and caucuses. 

On Feb. 6 — one day after Grassley and Johnson sent their letter — the office of Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) announced that the Treasury Department had complied with a request from Republican senators requesting information about Hunter Biden and the business he conducted with Burisma.