Pelosi blasts Senate GOP subpoenas

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) slammed the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday after the panel voted to subpoena a company as part of its investigation into Hunter Biden, former Vice President Joe Biden’s son.

The Democratic leader issued a statement attacking Republican members of the committee for using taxpayer resources during the coronavirus pandemic to investigate the younger Biden’s past work at Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy company.

“Nearly 100,000 Americans have died from coronavirus, yet the GOP Senate is wasting precious time and taxpayer dollars smearing the President’s political rivals, while telling hungry families and laid-off workers to just ‘take a pause,'” Pelosi said.

“These Republican subpoenas are a clear act of retaliation and political retribution intended to help the President keep his job. It is sad that the GOP Senate has meekly and weakly chosen to be complicit in the President’s desperate and dangerous political tactics instead of passing legislation to save lives and livelihoods,” the Speaker continued, adding that she was calling upon Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) “to ‘take a pause’ in the Senate GOP’s obstruction of meeting the needs of the American people.”

Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security Committee have blasted the panel’s investigation as partisan. Committee members voted along party lines Wednesday to subpoena Blue Star Strategies, a firm tied to Burisma, where Hunter Biden served as a board member before stepping down last year.

“This is not a serious bipartisan investigation in the tradition of this committee, and I do not believe we should be going down this road,” Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) said during Wednesday’s committee meeting.

“You made the decision to force a vote on a purely political matter that will do absolutely nothing for those at risk of contracting COVID-19,” added Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.).

The GOP is seeking records from early 2013 to present from Blue Star Strategies “related to work for or on behalf of Burisma Holdings or individuals associated with Burisma,” according to the subpoena.

Johnson said he is also requesting to speak with top Blue Star officials to discuss the subpoena.

The move is part of wide-ranging investigations launched by Senate Republicans that are tied to the Obama administration.

President Trump has pushed Republicans to use their majority to launch investigations. During a closed-door meeting Tuesday, he called on Republicans to be “tough” while referencing “Obamagate,” his unsubstantiated claim that crimes were committed under the former president.

Republicans are examining a number of related issues as part of their probes, including the Bidens, the Russian interference investigation and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.