By Bethany Blankley
The Center Square
https://www.thecentersquare.com/

The U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the U.S. Committee on Finance Majority Staff released its finding from a year-long investigation into Hunter Biden, the second son of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.

The investigation was launched after Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, publicly raised conflict-of-interest concerns about the sale of a U.S. company to a Chinese firm linked to Hunter Biden one month before Congress was notified about a whistleblower complaint that House Democrats used to impeach President Donald Trump. The Republican-controlled Senate acquitted Trump.

While Democrats were pushing to impeach Trump, Grassley raised concerns about corruption linking Hunter Biden to millions of dollars in transactions taking place between the Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings, Russian oligarch Yelena Baturina, and Chinese businessmen with ties to Beijing's communist government.

Since 2014, government officials had flagged concerns about possible criminal activity linked to Burisma, according to the 87-page report.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, said the committees’ investigation “found millions of dollars in questionable financial transactions between Hunter Biden and his associates and foreign individuals, including the wife of the former mayor of Moscow.”

The U.S. Treasury Department flagged payments collected overseas by Hunter Biden and his business partner, Devon Archer, for possible illicit activities, the report found.

"The Treasury records acquired by the Chairmen show potential criminal activity relating to transactions among and between Hunter Biden, his family, and his associates with Ukrainian, Russian, Kazakh and Chinese nationals," the report states.

The report also raises concerns linking Hunter Biden to sex and human trafficking: "Hunter Biden paid nonresident women who were nationals of Russia or other Eastern European countries and who appear to be linked to an Eastern European prostitution or human trafficking ring.”

In footnotes, the report adds, "There is extensive public reporting concerning Hunter Biden's alleged involvement with prostitution services. Records on file with the Committees do not directly confirm or refute these individual reports," investigators wrote. "However, they do confirm that Hunter Biden sent thousands of dollars to individuals who have either: 1) been involved in transactions consistent with possible human trafficking; 2) an association with the adult entertainment industry; or 3) potential association with prostitution. Some recipients of those funds are Ukrainian and Russian citizens.

"The records note that it is a documented fact that Hunter Biden has sent funds to nonresident alien women in the United States who are citizens of Russia and Ukraine and who have subsequently wired funds they have received from Hunter Biden to individuals located in Russia and Ukraine. The records also note that some of these transactions are linked to what appears to be an Eastern European prostitution or human trafficking ring.”

Johnson told Just the News, “The report raises serious questions that former Vice President Biden needs to answer. There are simply too many potential conflict of interest, counterintelligence and extortion threats to ignore.”

The report highlights testimony given by two U.S. State Department officials, former Acting Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, George Kent, and key impeachment witness against Trump and State Department energy adviser Amos Hochstein. They both testified to the committees about concerns they raised about Hunter Biden's role with Burisma.

Kent canceled a State Department partnership with Burisma, reported an alleged $7 million Burisma bribe to the Justice Department, and tried to communicate his concerns to former Vice President Biden, who brushed him off, according to his testimony. Hochstein also raised concerns about conflicts of interest and potential criminal activity related to Joe and Hunter Biden, records show.

Kent testified that the Bursima bribe occurred in December 2014, seven months after Hunter Biden joined its board. After learning about it, Kent and the State Department’s Resident Legal Advisor reported the allegation to the FBI.

The report cites testimony and U.S. government records to support its claims.

Section V of the report also mentions that former Secretary of State John Kerry was aware of Hunter Biden’s Burisma-related activities, contrary to his claims. When asked about them at a town hall event in Nashua, New Hampshire, on Dec. 8, 2019, Kerry said, “I had no knowledge about any of that. None. No.”

The investigation concludes that the Obama administration “knew that Hunter Biden’s position on Burisma’s board was problematic and did interfere in the efficient execution of policy with respect to Ukraine.

"Moreover, this investigation has illustrated the extent to which officials within the Obama administration ignored the glaring warning signs when the vice president's son joined the board of a company owned by a corrupt Ukrainian oligarch,” it adds.

The report lists the amount of money Hunter Biden and his partner, Archer, received from Burisma and other foreign entities.

Biden and Archer received more than $4 million from Burisma while the company aggressively lobbied the State Department to make the corruption allegations against it disappear.

“Hunter Biden, his family, and Archer received millions of dollars from foreign nationals with questionable backgrounds," the report adds, including:

• On the same day that Vice President Joe Biden appeared with Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and addressed Ukrainian legislators in Kyiv about Russia's actions in Crimea, Archer received $142,300 from Kenges Rakishev of Kazakhstan, reportedly for a car.

• Elena Baturina, the former mayor of Moscow, and Russia's only female oligarch, wired Hunter Biden $3.5 million.

• Chinese national Gongwen Dong opened a bank account with Hunter Biden to fund a $100,000 global shopping spree for the Biden family.

• Ye Jianming, Gongwen, and other Chinese nationals linked to the communist government and the People's Liberation Army, had business associations with Hunter Biden, which “resulted in millions of dollars in cash flow," according to the report.

The report does not accuse Joe or Hunter Biden of a specific crime, and both Bidens deny any wrongdoing.

Hunter Biden did not leave Burisma until 2019.

The report also states that investigations are ongoing because of a lack of cooperation from the FBI and other agencies.