Sens. Grassley and Johnson, investigating Hunter Biden, stay mum on Jared and Ivanka

While Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Ron Johnson (R-WI) intensify their investigation into Hunter Biden, they’ve stayed mum on whether to investigate Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, two family members of the former president who, unlike Hunter, served as White House officials.

Hunter Biden, the second son of President Joe Biden, has been the subject of Republican scrutiny since 2018 due to financial and business activities in foreign countries dating back to when his father was vice president. The latest move in the investigation was a 30-minute presentation to the Senate on April 5, in which Grassley and Johnson showed bank statements and financial documents detailing Biden’s transactions with “corrupt actors” in Ukraine, Russia and China. 

“There’s clearly a scheme here,” Grassley said. “Hunter Biden was financially connected to the communist regime.” 

Asked days later on Newsmax whether he could prove any connection to President Biden, Grassley answered “no,” and said he was just “using his Midwestern common sense.”

Despite the fixation on financial dealings with foreign countries to “pursue and uncover the truth,” the senators have shown no interest in giving the same attention to Kushner or Ivanka Trump — both of whom were White House officials, unlike Hunter Biden — around the time of their questionable transactions.

Kushner, former President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and former senior advisor to Trump, received a $2 billion investment from a fund led by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman six months after leaving his position in the White House. The New York Times reported that in return for its investment, the Saudi fund would receive a stake of at least 28% in Kushner’s main investment vehicle, raising concerns among diplomats, investors and ethics watchdogs.

The investments came after Kushner — during his time as senior advisor — personally advised the Saudi Prince on how to handle the outrage over the assassination of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the New York Times reported. Kushner and the Prince were on a first-name basis and texted regularly via WhatsApp, three former White House officials told the Times, despite White House staff trying to reimpose longstanding procedures requiring National Security Council staff members to be present during all calls with foreign leaders.

Grassley and Johnson may not care about Kushner’s involvement with Saudi Arabia, but they do have concerns about China. After the presentation, Grassley told CBS News about his concerns that “we have people with the Biden name dealing with Chinese business people that have a relationship to the Communist Party.”

He didn’t mention Ivanka Trump, Kushner’s wife and Donald Trump’s eldest daughter, being granted a total of 41 trademarks from the Chinese government. After her father’s election, the trademarks she applied for were fast-tracked and approved 40% faster than those she applied for before, Forbes reported in September 2020.

Ivanka Trump’s business also received approval for several new Chinese trademarks in May 2018, just a week before her father announced he wanted to lift the ban on the Chinese company ZTE for violating U.S. sanctions. 

Grassley and Johnson did not respond to requests to clarify why their investigation focuses solely on Hunter Biden. And even though the April 5 meeting was Grassley and Johnson’s third presentation on Hunter Biden’s finances, the senators don’t intend to stop pursuing the case against Hunter. 

“Senator Grassley and I will continue to ask tough questions, review more information and records, and transparently provide that information to the American public,” Johnson said.