WASHINGTON — U.S. Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, sent a letter Tuesday to Karen Tramontano, the chief executive officer of Blue Star Strategies (Blue Star), to request information regarding Blue Star’s work for Burisma Holdings (Burisma).
The senators wrote, “The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and the Committee on Finance (committees) are investigating whether certain officials within the Obama administration had actual or apparent conflicts of interest because of Hunter Biden’s role in Rosemont Seneca and related entities, or as a board member of Burisma Holdings (Burisma). In addition, the committees are reviewing whether Hunter Biden or his associates had any role in the formulation of the Obama administration’s policies with respect to Ukraine.
“Recent reports indicate that Blue Star Strategies (Blue Star) sought to leverage Hunter Biden’s membership on the board of directors for Burisma in its communications and meetings with various U.S. government officials at the same time his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, served as the ‘public face of the administration’s handling of Ukraine.’ Accordingly, as part of the committees’ inquiry, we write to request information with regard to Blue Star’s work for Burisma.
“A recent report indicates that, in November or December 2015, Blue Star officials met with Amos Hochstein, then-senior advisor to Vice President Biden on international energy affairs, and invoked Hunter Biden during a discussion of Burisma. The report describes Mr. Hochstein as ‘a vocal proponent of Ukraine cracking down on Burisma,’ and explained that the purpose of the meeting was for ‘Blue Star Strategies [] to convince Hochstein (but [it] did not) that Burisma was on the level and did not warrant further investigation.’”
Additionally, in a February 24, 2016 email recently released through a Freedom of Information Act request, a State Department official wrote that “Karen Tramontano of Blue Star Strategies requested a meeting to discuss with [Under Secretary] Novelli [U.S. Government] remarks alleging Burisma (Ukrainian energy company) of corruption. She noted that two high profile U.S. citizens are affiliated with the company (including Hunter Biden as a board member). Tramontano would like to talk with U/S Novelli about getting a better understanding of how the U.S. came to the determination that the company is corrupt. According to Tramontano, there is no evidence of corruption, has been no hearing or process, and evidence to the contrary has not been considered.”
Full text of the letter is below, and the letter can be viewed here.
December 3, 2019
