Report: GOP Senate Intel Chair Worried Biden Investigations Could Backfire

UNITED STATES - MARCH 21: Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., right, and ranking member Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., conduct a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing in Hart Building on Russian Interference in the 2016 election on March 21, 2018. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielson, and former Secretary Jeh Johnson, also testified. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
Chairman Richard Burr (R-NC) and ranking member Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) conduct a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Russian interference in the 2016 election on March 21, 2018. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Richard Burr (R-NC) was reportedly nervous that his fellow Republicans’ investigations into Joe Biden could end up giving Russia exactly what it wants.

According to a Politico report, Burr privately warned Senate Homeland Security Committee Chair Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Senate Finance Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-IA) in early December that their corruption probes into Biden risks undermining the public’s confidence in the U.S.’ political structure and fomenting the kind of mistrust the Kremlin seeks to foment.

There’s no evidence Biden has done anything wrong, despite Republicans’ best efforts to raise questions about the former vice president and his son, who sat on the board of a Ukrainian gas company.

Burr’s warning came two weeks after Johnson and Grassley had requested records on the Obama administration’s contacts with Ukraine from the National Archives, a request the two Republicans just happened to issue one day after the House finished holding its public impeachment hearings into President Donald Trump’s Ukraine scheme.

Grassley denied meeting with Burr on the issue in an interview with Politico on Thursday.

“We talk about things,” Johnson told Politico without providing further details.

All three of the senators’ offices did not immediately respond when TPM asked for confirmation on the meeting.

Latest News

Notable Replies

  1. It’s a little bit too late to be concerned, Senator.

  2. And that’s shaping up to be the understatement of the decade!

  3. Avatar for jtx jtx says:

    He should have thought about it 4 years ago.

  4. Avatar for docd docd says:

    You have to wonder what he knows or suspects that he doesn’t want to become public.

  5. It seems so obvious but it’s an admin that listens only to itself, asks questions of itself and comes up with its conclusion: we’re fine.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

73 more replies

Participants

Avatar for valgalky23 Avatar for zandru Avatar for littlegirlblue Avatar for sysprog Avatar for mattinpa Avatar for cervantes Avatar for krusher Avatar for sickneffintired Avatar for ralph_vonholst Avatar for bonvivant Avatar for midnight_rambler Avatar for gr Avatar for jcblues Avatar for khaaannn Avatar for civik Avatar for birdford Avatar for tiowally Avatar for txlawyer Avatar for rascal_crone Avatar for mmell Avatar for ldcolton Avatar for emiliano4 Avatar for AM_PM Avatar for Kinney

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: