Republicans issue first subpoena in probe of Biden and Burisma — to company that claims it's already cooperating

'At every opportunity we have indicated to the Committee that it is our intention to cooperate,' CEO of company with ties to Hunter Biden tells Homeland Security panel

Senate Republicans escalated their investigations into Donald Trump's political rivals on Wednesday when Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee voted on party lines, 8-6, to subpoena a company that retained Ukrainian energy company Burisma as a client when Hunter Biden was serving on its board.

Hunter Biden is the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive 2020 Democratic presidential nominee.

But the company that was subpoenaed on Wednesday, Blue Star Strategies, wrote in a letter to Homeland Security Chairman Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin, that it has "eagerly cooperated to date" with the panel's probe into whether the former vice president wielded his political influence in Ukraine to help his son's financial position within Burisma, a theory that so far has not been substantiated despite intense media and political scrutiny.

"At every opportunity we have indicated to the Committee that it is our intention to cooperate," Blue Star CEO Karen Tramontano wrote in the letter to the committee on Wednesday.

"At no time have we ever stated or indicated in any way that we would not cooperate. Therefore, we are puzzled, despite our willingness to cooperate, why the Committee is proceeding to vote on a subpoena," Ms Tramontano wrote.

Blue Star – which lobbied on behalf of Burisma in DC while Hunter Biden was on the board – has "every intention" to cooperate with the ongoing investigation moving forward, the CEO wrote.

Mr Johnson pushed back later on Wednesday in an interview with Fox News against Blue Star's contention that it has cooperated with the probe.

The consulting firm has "not complied" with the committee's broad request for information, he said.

"Recently they've given us a few more pieces, but we know it's not even close to being complete," he said.

The Republican theory — which also postulates that it was Ukraine, and not Russia, that interfered in the 2016 presidential election — holds that Joe Biden sought to oust then-Ukrainian prosecutor Victor Shokin to protect his son from an investigation into Burisma by Mr Shokin's office. That anti-corruption investigation into Burisma had previously been shelved and preceded Hunter Biden's appointment to the board.

The intelligence community and former Special Counsel Bob Mueller uniformly concluded in 2017 and 2019, respectively, that Russia interfered extensively in the 2016 election. No evidence has emerged that Mr Biden sought Mr Shokin's ouster to shield Burisma and his son from investigation.

Mr Shokin was removed from his government post in 2016 due to pressure from western governments and politicians — including some of the same Republican senators who are now accusing the Bidens of wrongdoing — over concerns that Mr Shokin's office, which was supposed to be rooting out corruption in the country, was itself corrupt.

Blue Star's letter to the committee on Wednesday outlines the steps it has taken to cooperate with the panel's probe into the Bidens' actions in Ukraine.

On 3 Dec 2019, the committee sent a letter asking Blue Star to assist in its probe into "certain officials within the Obama Administration."

The firm responded "immediately and agreed to cooperate," Ms Tramontano wrote.

On 17 Dec 2019, Blue Star submitted written answers to the committee's questions and sent over documents about its meetings with US officials regarding Burisma.

Months later, on 19 March 2020, the committee asked Blue Star to provide additional information. Wednesday's letter maintains that the Covid-19 pandemic delayed Blue Star's response, but that this past Sunday, 17 May, it provided "answers and additional supporting documents" to all the committee's questions from the initial 3 December 2019 letter.

The committee subsequently requested more information and documents from Blue Star, which the company says it provided on Tuesday, 19 May, just one day before Republicans voted to authorise the subpoena.

Blue Star also offered to be interviewed by the committee, according to Ms Tramontano's letter.

A spokesman for the committee's Republican majority released a statement on Wednesday witha much different narrative of events.

Blue Star "has delayed our efforts for more than five months, and even refused to let our staff speak to their attorney until last week – despite the fact that he was speaking with the Ranking Member's staff," the spokesman said.

"Their only real efforts came after we noticed this markup, and we know even those have been woefully incomplete," the statement continued.

"The American people deserve to know the extent to which the U.S.-based, Democrat-led consulting company leveraged its connections within the Obama administration to try to gain access to and influence U.S. government agencies on behalf of its corrupt client, Burisma," the spokesman said.

The investigation into the Bidens' dealings in Ukraine is one of a pair of Senate investigations aimed at the former vice president that Democrats argue are cynical, political hit jobs.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham has been investigating the origins of the FBI's counterintelligence investigation into Russian election interference in 2016 and whether it was appropriate for the Justice Department to subsequently appoint Mr Mueller as special counsel.

Mr Graham plans to begin issuing subpoenas for more than a dozen former Obama administration officials in early June and release a report on his findings in October, mere weeks before the 2020 presidential election.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer decried the Homeland Security panel's subpoena vote on Wednesday as "yet another attempt to smear Vice President Biden."

"Even more shameful, the company my colleague from Wisconsin wants to subpoena is cooperating with the committee and providing documents. It appears the subpoena is just for show, a way to create the false impression of wrongdoing. It's like in a third world dictatorship, a show trial with no basis in fact, with no due process, with no reality," Mr Schumer said.