Just after the Senate voted to acquit President Trump on the two articles of impeachment against him, Senate Republicans announced Wednesday that they have requested Hunter Biden’s official travel records from the Secret Service.
Senator Chuck Grassley, chair of the Finance Committee, and Senator Ron Johnson, chair of Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, requested the documents on former vice president Joe Biden’s son as part of their ongoing investigation into his possible conflicts of interest involving his business dealings with China and his lucrative position on the board of a Ukrainian gas company.
The committees are “reviewing potential conflicts of interest posed by the business activities of Hunter Biden and his associates during the Obama administration, particularly with respect to his business activities in Ukraine and China,” the chairmen said in a letter to the director of the Secret Service.
Johnson and Grassley previously requested from the Treasury Department any documents pertaining to the younger Biden and the the Ukrainian gas company, Burisma Holdings.
House Democrats launched the impeachment inquiry after news broke about a July 25 phone call Trump had with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. During that call, Trump repeatedly asked Zelensky to investigate Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, over allegations that Biden leveraged his position as vice president to benefit his son, who held a lucrative position at a Ukrainian gas company. Biden was in charge of addressing corruption in Ukraine as vice president at the time.
Lawmakers subsequently accused Trump of obstructing the congressional inquiry by refusing to provide documents and allow witnesses to testify.
The White House temporarily withheld $391 million in U.S. military aid to Ukraine intended to help the country ward off Russian aggression, prompting suspicion of a quid pro quo scheme in which Trump is said to have finally released the aid in exchange for the promise that Biden’s conduct would be investigated.
The Senate voted Wednesday afternoon to acquit Trump of the two impeachment charges brough by the House, abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.