Hunter Biden investigation: Senators demand Blinken hand over records following 'false testimony' | Washington Examiner

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Two top Republican senators are accusing Secretary of State Antony Blinken of "false testimony" and are demanding records after it was revealed he may have lied under oath when he denied exchanging emails with Hunter Biden.

Blinken wrongly claimed to the Senate in December 2020 that he did not communicate via email with now-President Joe Biden's son during his time as deputy secretary of state under former President Barack Obama, even though he had, according to emails from Hunter Biden's laptop hard drive that were verified by the Washington Examiner.

BLINKEN MAY HAVE LIED UNDER OATH ABOUT HUNTER BIDEN EMAIL DENIALS

Sens. Ron Johnson (R-WI)and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) sent a Monday letter telling Blinken, "You did not provide truthful testimony during the interview when you denied corresponding with Hunter Biden."

Scott Wittmann, a senior professional staff member on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, asked in 2020 if Blinken ever talked with Joe Biden's son on the phone, and the future secretary of state replied, "Not that I recall."

"Did you have any other means of correspondence with him — emails, texts?" Wittmann asked.

Blinken replied simply, "No."

"Based on evidence now available, your above statement is patently false. Emails contained on Hunter Biden's laptop and recent reports have revealed that you did in fact email Hunter Biden on at least two occasions, contradicting what you told congressional investigators," Johnson and Grassley told Blinken in their Monday letter.

On May 22, 2015, Biden emailed then-Deputy Secretary of State Blinken with a request to get together to get his "advice on a couple of things." Blinken set up a meeting using an AOL address instead of his state.gov address.

"Have a few minutes next week to grab a cup of coffee? I know you are impossibly busy, but would like to get your advice on a couple of things. Best, Hunter," Hunter Biden wrote to Blinken.

Blinken responded, "Absolutely. I'm just about to land in Tokyo en route back D.C. from Burma. I'll be in office from Tuesday on. Copying Linda in my office to find a good time. Look forward to seeing you. Tony."

The emails were then forwarded in two different directions, with Hunter Biden sending the exchange to Devon Archer, a fellow member of the board of Ukrainian energy giant Burisma, while Blinken forwarded the emails to Linda Landers, his then-personal assistant.

Landers, using her state.gov address, later reached out to Hunter Biden, telling him to "advise on best times for you next week and we'll try to accommodate."

The lunch between Blinken and Hunter Biden eventually took place on July 22, 2015. Blinken told Senate investigators in December 2020 that all he remembered from the meeting was talking about the then-recent death of Hunter Biden's brother, Beau, who died of brain cancer.

After the July 2015 meeting, Blinken sent Hunter Biden an email that day saying it was "great to see" him and to "catch up."

"You will love this," Blinken added. "After you left, Marjorie, the wonderful african american woman who sits in my outer office (and used to be Colin Powell's assistant) said to me: 'He sure is pleasant on the eyes.' Tell you [sic] wife."

"Your statement that you did not email Hunter Biden is clearly not true and calls into question the veracity of your entire December 22, 2020 testimony," Grassley and Johnson wrote Monday. "Specifically, you denied having any awareness of Hunter Biden's association with the corrupt Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings."

At the time, Hunter Biden had been working for over a year on the Burisma board. Wittmann had asked Blinken in December 2020 if he was aware that Joe Biden's son was serving on the board, and Blinken replied, "I was not."

In July 2010, Hunter Biden emailed Blinken's wife, Evan Ryan, to ask for her husband's personal email. Ryan is now the Cabinet secretary in the Biden White House.

"Can I get Toni's [sic] non-govt email? I wanted to send him something. Thanks," Hunter Biden wrote. In 2010, Blinken was serving as then-Vice President Joe Biden's national security adviser.

Grassley and Johnson told Blinken on Monday that "it seems highly unlikely that you had no idea of Hunter Biden's association with Burisma while your wife was apparently coordinating with Hunter Biden to potentially connect you with Burisma's U.S. representatives" at Blue Star Strategies.

Former Obama acting CIA Director Mike Morell, who helped organize an October 2020 letter of intelligence experts to discredit the New York Post's reporting on Hunter Biden's laptop, testified to Congress last month that he thought Blinken wanted the baseless claims of Russian involvement made public.

Morell told House investigators that, prior to his Oct. 17, 2020, phone call with Blinken, he had no intention to write the Oct. 19 Hunter Biden laptop letter and testified "yes" and "absolutely" when asked if the call with Blinken, who was then a top adviser for Joe Biden's 2020 campaign, was what "triggered that intent in you."

"It wasn't my idea, didn't ask for it, didn't solicit it," Blinken told Fox News of the laptop letter on Monday. But he refused to say whether he believed the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation, saying, "I'm not engaging in politics."

"It is now evident that your apparent willingness to deceive the public continued through December 2020 when you failed to tell the whole truth to congressional investigators about your contacts with Hunter Biden," Grassley and Johnson told Blinken. "Because your testimony is inaccurate, Congress and the public must rely on your records as the source for information about your dealings with Hunter Biden."

The senators told Blinken and his wife to preserve and hand over by mid-May all records related to Hunter Biden and the businesses dealings by him or his family.

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"So we know we've caught him in a bald-faced lie. He lied before Congress. His entire testimony that he gave after the election in December 2020 is now in question in terms of its veracity," Johnson said on Real America's Voice on Monday, adding, "He should resign, or he should be impeached."

The Washington Examiner reached out to the State Department for comment.