Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee split along party lines on whether to support Republican Utah Sen. John Curtis’ calls to investigate and subpoena Donald Trump Jr. and Hunter Biden despite not having read his letter.
Curtis urged the committee in a letter to investigate the use of presidential family relationships for private financial benefit, citing Donald Trump Jr.’s and Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings. Some members of the committee appeared interested in supporting Curtis’ requests, though most of them have yet to read the letter.
“I therefore respectfully request that the Senate Judiciary Committee launch an investigation into the use of presidential family relationships for private financial benefit, preferential treatment, or access by domestic and foreign interests,” Curtis wrote. “As part of that investigation, I urge the Committee to subpoena Donald Trump Jr. and Hunter Biden to testify regarding their past business dealings, relationships with foreign individuals and entities, gifts, or other benefits they have received, and any instances in which their relationship to the President was invoked or understood to private value.”
Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley told the Daily Caller News Foundation and other reporters that he had not read the letter hours after its release.
“I can’t answer that question for you, or him, or anybody else because I just told a journalist downstairs I wasn’t going to answer the question until I read the letter,” said Grassley, an Iowa Republican.
When asked why he hadn’t read the letter,” Grassley said, “I just got to town.”
Retiring Republican North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis said he would not oppose an investigation.
“I haven’t [seen the letter]. I hear it’s about an investigation. It’s up to the chair, I would oppose it,” Tillis told the DCNF when asked if he would support an investigation.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he did not know enough about the allegations against Don Jr. and Hunter Biden and said he would defer to Grassley.
Democratic ranking member Dick Durbin said he supported Curtis’ request to open an investigation.
“It was a great letter, I support it,” Durbin told the DCNF. “I think we ought to have an investigation into Donald Trump Jr.”
Durbin said Hunter Biden already agreed to cooperate with any investigation into his business dealings.
Democratic Delaware Sen. Chris Coons praised Curtis for wanting an investigations opened into possible corruption by Donald Trump Jr. He did not mention any possible corruption or wrongdoing committed by Hunter Biden.
“No one is above the law,” Coons said. “I’m glad to see Republican colleagues like John increasingly refusing to turn a blind eye to corruption from this administration and the Trump family. The American people want an equal standard.”
Democratic New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker told the DCNF he had not read the letter.
Democratic Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal supported Curtis’ call for an investigation, though he had not read the letter.
“I haven’t seen his letter, but there should definitely be an investigation,” Blumenthal told the DCNF.
Republican Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy said he would need to read the letter before making a determination.
“I’m gonna read his letter, which I haven’t done,” Kennedy told the DCNF and others.
The DCNF reached out to every member on the Judiciary Committee, though only Durbin’s and Coons’ offices replied.
Donald Trump Jr. reportedly received a lavish afterparty as a wedding gift from a Russian oligarch connected to the Kremlin. His father, President Donald Trump, told reporters Friday that his son “paid” the oligarch back.
Curtis cited Don Jr.’s promotion of his family’s cryptocurrency ventures, his pursuit of international real estate deals, direct meetings with foreign heads of state and his reported investments in defense contracting as evidence to open an investigation.
Hunter Biden earned millions of dollars from business ventures in Ukraine, China, Romania and Kazakhstan while his father, former President Joe Biden, served as vice president. The younger Biden’s former business partner, Devon Archer, testified to the House Oversight Committee in 2023 that Hunter’s father attended dinner with his business partners from Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company, at Cafe Milano in Washington, D.C., in 2015. The then-vice president also attended a lunch in 2014 with Russian billionaire Yelena Baturina, according to Archer’s testimony.
Archer testified that Hunter put his father on speakerphone around 20 times during dinners and meetings with business partners.
(DCNF)
