Democratic senator requests State records on Trump activities in Ukraine

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) sent a request to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asking the department to send records on U.S. activities in Ukraine since President Trump took office. 

The letter asks for all State Department records regarding several individuals and their interactions with Ukraine, including the president’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and his former associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman.

The request follows Republican inquiries for State Department documentation on former Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden and the Ukrainian company he sat on the board of, Burisma. Wyden wrote that “a voluminous production of records” from those requests is expected in the coming days. 

“As the ranking Democratic member of the Senate Finance Committee, I am concerned that, in the absence of additional information concerning similar activities during the Trump administration, the Department’s production of information requested by the Senate Committees could create an incomplete and biased record of the State Department’s activities related to Ukraine,” he wrote to Pompeo.

The Oregon Democrat also asked for any documentation, including any ongoing trade negotiations with China, that references Hunter Biden’s activities in China, citing Trump’s October call to the country to investigate the former vice president’s son. The U.S. and China are in the midst of trade negotiations and had signed the first phase of a trade deal last month.

Republican lawmakers have accused Joe Biden of abusing his power to get rid of former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin because he was investigating Burisma. Wyden asked the department to supply any records showing support from Congress and the international community for removing Shokin. 

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, submitted a letter on Nov. 6 asking for records regarding Hunter Biden and Burisma. 

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, also sent a letter on Nov. 21 asking for this information. 

Thus far, there has not been concrete evidence showing the former vice president misused his role to assist his son.

Trump had requested that Ukraine declare an investigation into the Bidens days after withholding military aid from the country, which eventually sparked an impeachment inquiry and trial. Trump was acquitted by the Senate last week.