Secretary of State Antony Blinken was briefly shocked Monday after a Republican lawmaker in the House asked him if he had been interviewed by the FBI regarding Hunter Biden or about deals related to Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings.
Representative Scott Perry (R-Pa.) Ambushed Blinken near the end of the five-minute question period during a marathon hearing by the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the recent U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“I just have a couple more questions for you,” Perry began. “A little off topic here, but I think it’s interesting. How long was your recent interview with the FBI and it was a deposition? “
“I’m sorry, I don’t know what you mean,” Blinken replied.
“Are you saying you haven’t had a recent interview with the FBI since you were Secretary of State?” Perry asked. Blinken initially responded with three seconds of silence.
“IIII: I’m not sure what you mean and I’m happy to take it offline,” the Secretary of State finally spat.
Perry went on to ask Blinken, “He handed the State Department documents to the FBI related to Hunter Biden, Burisma and / or Blue. [Star] Strategy Corporation? ”
“Uh, you’ll have to ask …” Blinken began before Perry cut him off to ask, “So you’re not aware of it? Are you saying you haven’t had an interview with the FBI since you were Secretary of State?” “
“It would be … It wouldn’t be appropriate for you to comment in a public forum about any court proceedings that the department–” Blinken began before Perry intervened. been interviewed since he was Secretary of State “.
“Again, I’m not going to comment in one way or another on any court proceedings, or not, that may or may not have happened,” Blinken said.
At that time, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Gregory Meeks (D-NY), spoke to remind Perry that “the subject of this hearing is Afghanistan.”
“I’m grateful, Mr. President, but the secretary generally refuses to answer questions about Afghanistan,” Perry snorted. “So I figured we’d talk about something I should know intimately.”
Returning to Blinken, Perry asked, “Have you tried to alter any of your testimonies from last year’s Senate investigation into this matter?”
Then Meeks dropped the hammer, signaling the end of Perry’s time.
Politician reported in June that the FBI was investigating the Blue Star stars, who were hired in 2015 to burn the image of Burisma, who paid Hunter Biden $ 83,000 a month to sit on his board at the time. According to reports, the investigation focuses on whether Blue Star did not disclose work on behalf of foreign officials and political parties in violation of federal law.
Recovered emails from Hunter Biden’s missing laptop detail the business relationship between the now first child and Blue Star co-founder and CEO Karen Tramontano. In an email, written in November 2015, days before Burisma touched Blue Star to respond to the firm’s representative, Hunter Biden wrote: “I trust [Blue Star co-founder] Sally [Painter] and Karen implicitly, so I think we’re all lined up, but I want to have one last conversation with them to confirm it before we continue. “
Last year, Tramontano told Senate investigators he had only met or talked to Hunter Biden on two occasions before 2015 that he would remember. However, emails indicated that the two were in contact with various topics.
In July 2014, after Tramontano passed the Series 79 exam to become a licensed investment banker, Hunter sent him an email with congratulations.
“[T]I wish you so much. [L]We look forward to working together, “Tramontano replied.
That September, Tramontano wrote to Hunter again to thank him for traveling to New York to meet with a Lativan bank owner Valeri Belokon.
“It made a big impact on Valeri that you travel specifically to meet him,” he wrote. “Thank you for your efforts and kind words.”
In February 2015, Tramontano wrote in an email to a Hunter’s partner at consulting firm Rosemont Seneca that “[a]dvocant for him [Hunter] it’s the easiest part of my life. ”
There is no evidence that Hunter Biden, who revealed last year that his “tax matters” were being investigated, was a target of Blue Star’s investigation.
Blinken reportedly met with Hunter Biden in 2015 while Blinken was deputy secretary of state, but has stated that the two did not discuss Burisma.