Secretary of State Antony Blinken wasn’t straight with Congress about his communications with President Joe Biden’s ne’er-do-well son Hunter, according to emails and a transcript of a 2022 interview first reported by The Star News Network.
Now, U.S. Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Ron Johnson (R-WI), whose committees have long investigated allegations of Biden family corruption, are demanding the Secretary of State “produce and preserve” all records related to his correspondence with Hunter Biden.
This week, Johnson, ranking member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, and Grassley, ranking member of the Budget Committee, sent a demand letter to Blinken seeking the documents.
“These records will help provide the public a complete picture and understanding of the extent of your apparent deceptions,” the lawmakers wrote.
The Star News Network last month obtained a transcript of a December 2022 congressional interview with Blinken, who at the time was Biden’s nominee for the top cabinet position. The interview was conducted by staff members of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, chaired at the time by Johnson, and the Finance Committee, then chaired by Grassley.
In the interview, Blinken claimed he met with Hunter Biden on just one occasion, insisting he had a “friendly acquaintanceship” with the president’s troubled son. As The Star News reported, Blinken claimed that, “to the best of my recollection,” he had just the one meeting with Hunter, at his State Department office, and no calls. They “didn’t discuss business.” Blinken said he had a “friendly acquaintanceship” with Hunter, and that he’d only seen him two other times. Then he said he said he had seen Hunter on a “handful of occasions,” that they were in “overlapping social circles.”
Recent reports based on emails contained on Hunter Biden’s laptop have revealed that Blinken did in fact email Hunter Biden on at least two occasions from his personal email account, contradicting what he told congressional investigators. The emails suggest Hunter and Antony were in communication in 2015 while Blinken was working in President Barack Obama’s Secretary of State Office and the junior Biden was making big bucks on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma.
While he told congressional staff that he did not have any email or phone conversations with Biden, emails now show Blinken used his personal email account instead of his government address to communicate with the president’s son.
“Blinken’s blatant lie to Congress calls into question the veracity of his entire December 22, 2020 testimony, including his denial of having any awareness of Hunter Biden’s association with the corrupt Ukrainian gas company, Burisma Holdings,” Grassley and Johnson said in a press release.
Emails from Hunter Biden’s laptop also revealed that Blinken’s wife, Evan Ryan, corresponded directly with Hunter Biden from her personal email address in an apparent attempt to connect Blinken with representatives of Burisma’s U.S. lobbying firm, Blue Star Strategies.
“Because your testimony is inaccurate, Congress and the public must rely on your records as the source for information about your dealings with Hunter Biden. As such, you must preserve and provide all records, referring or relating to Hunter Biden, his business dealings, or his family’s business dealings, including but not limited to correspondence sent or received from your personal email accounts and phones, to include those of Ms. Ryan,” the senators wrote in their letter to Blinken.
The Secretary of State also has been accused of playing a role in duping the public on the Hunter Biden laptop story. Former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morrell recently testified that Blinken was the “impetus” behind discussions that led to the public statement signed by 51 “former” intelligence officials in October 2020 purporting the laptop belonging to Hunter Biden was a Russian “disinformation campaign.”
Weeks before the 2020 presidential election, the officials endorsed a letter claiming Hunter Biden’s laptop had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.” The list of ex-security officials included then-President Donald Trump haters John Brennan, President Barack Obama’s CIA director, and former Obama Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.
Despite the false assertions by Biden allies, including most members of the legacy media, the laptop has been definitely shown to belong to Hunter Biden.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH-04) and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-OH-10) have some questions for the secretary.
“We are examining that public statement signed by 51 former intelligence officials that falsely discredited a New York Post story regarding Hunter Biden’s laptop as supposed Russian disinformation,” they wrote in a letter last month. “As part of our oversight, we have learned that you played a role in the inception of this statement while serving as a Biden campaign advisor, and we therefore request your assistance with our oversight.”
Blinken this week told Fox News State Department correspondent Benjamin Hall that the 2020 disinformation letter wasn’t his idea.
“But with regard to that letter, I didn’t — it wasn’t my idea, didn’t ask for it, didn’t solicit it. And I think the testimony that former deputy director of the CIA, Mike Morell, put forward confirms that,” he said.
Johnson told The Star News Network that if it is determined Blinken did lead the campaign to discredit the Hunter Biden laptop story, he should resign.
“And if he doesn’t resign, he should be impeached,” the senator said. “Again, so many members of the Biden administration have this level of deceit, dishonesty and corruption. This is a lawless administration.”
Read the full copy of the senators letter to the Secretary of State here.
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
Photo “Chuck Grassley” by Senator Chuck Grassley. Photo “Antony Blinken” by U.S. Department of State. Photo “Ron Johnson” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0. Background Photo “U.S. Capitol” by Sarah MacClellan.
