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Secret Service ‘hid’ info on Hunter Biden travels, GOP senators claim
NY POST,CBy Bruce Golding, January 19, 2022

Sen. Ron Johnson has alleged that the Secret Service hid names and correspondences with Hunter Biden without any legal justification.

The Secret Service improperly redacted hundreds of pages of records related to Hunter Biden’s overseas travel — and apparently withheld information about trips to China, Russia and other countries, two leading Republican senators claim.

In a Tuesday letter to Secret Service Director James Murray, Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) alleged the agency “hid names and other information contained in email conversations regarding Hunter Biden without any proper legal justification.”

The senators specifically noted that documents turned over at their request “do not show whether [Secret Service] personnel or Hunter Biden traveled to Kazakhstan in May or June 2014” during a trip to Paris.

Biden — whose father, President Biden, was vice president at the time — decided to ditch his Secret Service bodyguards before flying to Kazakhstan to pursue a deal on behalf of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma, the Washington Examiner reported last year.

Hunter Biden reportedly planned to meet with then-Kazakhstan Prime Minister Karim Massimov, who was arrested on treason charges Saturday following his ouster as head of the country’s counterintelligence and anti-terror agency.

Hunter Biden (left) and Joe Biden (right) and Kazakhstan’s former prime minister, Karim Massimov (far right).
Hunter Biden and Joe Biden pose with Kazakhstan’s former prime minister, Karim Massimov (far right).
KIAR

PHOTO In 2015, Joe and Hunter Biden were apparently photographed posing with Massimov and Kazakhstani oligarch Kenes Rakishev during a gathering at the Cafe Milano restaurant in Washington, DC.

Critics have accused the younger Biden of influence-peddling and a report last year said the Justice Department was investigating a consulting firm linked to Hunter over its work for Bursima, which paid him as much as $1 million a year.

In 2020, Hunter Biden disclosed that he was under investigation for possible tax fraud, reportedly involving his business dealings in China and other foreign countries.

Sen. Charles Grassley co-signed the letter with Sen. Ron Johnson expressing their wish to see the unredacted files.
Sen. Charles Grassley co-signed the letter with Sen. Ron Johnson expressing their wish to see the unredacted files.
Walsh/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

In Tuesday’s letter, first reported by the Examiner, Grassley and Johnson expressed “serious concerns” over the “extensive Freedom of Information Act redactions, which do not apply to Congress” in the 259 pages they received from the Secret Service.

“These inappropriate redactions impede our offices’ ability to understand the full scope of the interactions between Hunter Biden, his associates, and the USSS,” they wrote.

Grassley and Johnson also said the Secret Service “did not produce any communications regarding Hunter Biden’s travel for the years 2010, 2011, and 2013,” even though its own “travel records show that Hunter Biden made trips to China and other destinations around the world, including, Russia, Italy, Spain and Mexico.”

The lawmakers demanded that the Secret Service provide complete, unredacted copies of the documents it turned over and explain why it didn’t produce records from 2010, 2011 and 2013.

The senators said they wanted a response “as soon as possible” and set a Jan. 26 deadline.

The Secret Service didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Grassley and Johnson have been investigating Hunter Biden’s overseas business dealings and in 2020 released a report that said his job with Burisma created a “potential conflict of interest” for his dad, who was deeply involved in US policy toward Ukraine.

That report also alleged Hunter Biden sent “thousands of dollars” to people who appeared linked to “an Eastern European prostitution or human trafficking ring.”

Hunter Biden, now pursuing a controversial career as a self-taught painter, also owned a 10 percent stake in a Chinese investment firm known as BHR Partners, but his lawyer last month told the New York Times that he “no longer holds any interest” in it.

Hunter Biden reportedly planned to meet with then-Kazakhstan Prime Minister Karim Massimov before was he ousted and arrested for treason.

The White House has refused to say who bought Hunter Biden’s share in the company or how much he was paid for it.