Top Judiciary Republican Seeking Hunter Biden-Burisma Documents

(Bloomberg) -- Top House Judiciary Republican Jim Jordan on Thursday asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to turn over documents related to the Ukrainian natural-gas company where Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s son served on the board.

The Ohio lawmaker, a close ally of President Donald Trump, is seeking documents specifically linked to Hunter Biden and to Burisma Holdings Ltd. founder Mykola Zlochevsky, along with former Secretary of State John Kerry’s stepson, Christopher Heinz, and Devon Archer, a long-time business partner of Hunter Biden who also was on the Burisma board.

Trump has been using the younger Biden’s work with Burisma to attack the presumptive Democratic nominee, who dealt with Ukraine while serving as vice president in the Obama administration. The president has tried to turn the tables on Democrats, who impeached him on charges he abused his office by asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate whether Biden put pressure on Ukraine to help Burisma.

Jordan’s inquiry is the latest effort to raise issues about Hunter Biden’s work with Burisma. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, has announced the panel will vote May 20 on whether to subpoena Blue Star Strategies, a firm that represented Burisma Holdings when Hunter Biden was on its board.

The Biden campaign has previously dismissed such GOP-led investigations as a political ploy.

Jordan doesn’t detail what precisely he may be investigating. He wrote in a letter to Pompeo that, “Burisma is the notoriously corrupt Ukrainian oil and gas company founded by Zlochevsky, a former Ukrainian minister who allegedly allowed Burisma to receive mineral licenses without public auction.”

In the letter, Jordan said that new information tied to Burisma has surfaced in redacted documents released under the Freedom of Information Act and in news reports. He told Pompeo he wants the documents “in light of this new information, and in order to better understand any previous barriers to our ability to cooperate with international law enforcement efforts related to Burisma.”

Jordan requested that Pompeo and the State Department provide any documents by May 28.

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