Skip to main content
Global Edition
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Romney to support subpoena in Senate probe of Hunter Biden

Duration: 02:18s 0 shares 1 views

Romney to support subpoena in Senate probe of Hunter Biden
Romney to support subpoena in Senate probe of Hunter Biden

U.S. Senator Mitt Romney will vote to allow a subpoena in a Senate Republican investigation of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden's businessman son, Hunter Biden, his office said on Friday.

A spokesperson for Senator Mitt Romney on Friday said the Utah Republican will vote to issue a subpoena for records in an investigation linked to Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden's son, a day after Romney told reporters the probe appeared to be political.

Romney sits on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, and the committee chairman, Trump ally Ron Johnson, is seeking records and testimony from a Ukrainian lobbyist.

The committee has eight Republicans and six Democrats.

If a Republican - such as Romney - voted against the motion, a 7-7 tie would prevent the panel from issuing the subpoena.

On Thursday, Romney said, "there's no question but that the appearance of looking into Burisma and Hunter Biden appears political.

And I think people are tired of these kind of political investigations." (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S REPUBLICAN SENATOR MITT ROMNEY, SAYING: "The president asked a foreign government to his political rival." Earlier this year, Romney was the sole Republican to vote to convict President Donald Trump for abusing his office after House Democrats accused Trump of trying to pressure Ukraine into launching investigations potentially harmful to Biden.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S REPUBLICAN SENATOR MITT ROMNEY, SAYING: "Accordingly the president is guilty of an appalling abuse of public trust." [FLASH] (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING: "But you know the Republicans stuck together, except Romney, of course.

Low-life.

Low-life." Romney's vote earned him opprobrium from the White House and nearly everyone in the Republican Party.

But as Joe Biden surges in the polls, Trump allies appear to be once again ramping up probes into Biden's son.

Johnson is planning to vote on a subpoena Wednesday.

The chairman claims the Ukrainian lobbyist tried to leverage Biden's son's position on the board of a Ukrainian gas company, Burisma, to make inroads at the U.S. State Department while Hunter's father Joe Biden was vice president.

President Donald Trump, without evidence, has attacked Hunter Biden's role in Burisma as corrupt.

Over the summer, he asked the Ukrainian president to investigate Biden and Burisma.

Democrats voted to impeach Trump, charging him with soliciting foreign election interference.

The Senate voted to acquit him.

Romney was the only lawmaker to break party lines.

In a statement on Friday, Romney's office said the senator had received assurances that any witness interviews would be closed, "without a hearing or public spectacle." Trump this week told Fox News that he would beat the drum over Burisma if he faced Joe Biden in a general election, saying, "that will be a major issue in the campaign.

I will bring that up all the time."

You might like

Related news coverage

Advertisement