Senator Grassley Demands Biden Answer Questions About Private Emails Shared With Hunter Biden on Ukrainian Government Business

On 11/15/2021, Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa took to the Senate floor to demand transparency from President Biden regarding media reports that then-Vice President Biden had used private email addresses — including accounts under fake names — to conduct government business and had shared government information with his son Hunter Biden. Grassley revealed that the White House had failed to respond to a letter he and Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin sent more than three months earlier asking basic questions about Biden’s email practices.

The Private Email Reports

Grassley laid out the substance of the media reports that prompted his inquiry. “Media reports” showed that then-Vice President Biden used private emails for government business and sent government information to his son Hunter Biden, Grassley said. “The news reports provided details about then-Vice President Biden’s email addresses at that time and the fake names that he used for that email.”

Grassley cited two specific examples from 2016. “An employee of the Office of the Vice President emailed Biden his schedule and copied Hunter Biden,” Grassley said. “In another email in 2016, that same employee reportedly emailed Vice President Biden about early morning preparation for a 9 a.m. phone call with the Ukrainian president. Hunter Biden was again reportedly copied on that email.”

Hunter Biden and Burisma

Grassley connected the emails directly to Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings. “As we all know, Hunter Biden served on the board of a corrupt Ukrainian energy company at the time of these emails,” Grassley said. “Certainly Hunter Biden would have been quite interested in any and all information relating to the United States government’s communication with the Ukrainian government.”

The implication was clear: Hunter Biden, who was being paid by Burisma — a Ukrainian energy company under investigation at the time — was receiving advance notice of official U.S. communications with the Ukrainian president through emails copied from the Vice President’s office.

”Sounds Familiar — Just Ask Hillary Clinton”

Grassley drew a parallel to the controversy over Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server during her time as Secretary of State. “If these reports are accurate, it’s unclear whether Vice President Biden forwarded related emails to a government account to satisfy federal record-keeping requirements,” Grassley said. “Kind of sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Just remember the same issues came up with Hillary Clinton.”

Two Simple Questions, No Response

Grassley and Johnson had sent a letter to the White House Counsel on July 30, 2021, asking two straightforward questions:

First: “What steps did then-Vice President Biden take to ensure that all his government emails and related communications were properly stored and archived?” — in other words, did they follow the law?

Second: “Does President Biden use non-government emails to communicate government business or email his family members government information? If so, what steps have been taken to ensure that those communications satisfy federal record-keeping and archival requirements?”

“These sound like pretty simple questions that President Biden can answer quickly,” Grassley said. “Moreover, it would be quite easy for the president to deny the news reports if they weren’t accurate. Our letter provided President Biden that opportunity.”

Three Months of Silence

As of Grassley’s floor speech, it had been more than three months since the letter was sent, with no response from the White House. “To date, we haven’t received a response,” Grassley said. “The fact that the White House Counsel’s Office and President Biden can’t find the time to answer these threshold questions draws suspicion.”

Grassley noted the obvious inference from the silence. “One would think that the White House would gladly answer that the president isn’t using government email to communicate government business with family members,” he said. “Wouldn’t one think that the White House would very gladly say that it’s properly archiving email records?”

A Matter of Transparency

Grassley framed his inquiry as a basic transparency issue. “This is a matter of transparency,” he said. “Through our government, because transparency brings accountability. And there’s something we’re having a hard time getting answers on.”

He also raised the question of whether the pattern had continued into Biden’s presidency. “Given Vice President Biden’s apparent pattern and practice with government emails, Senator Johnson and I would like to know if this pattern and practice has continued as President of the United States,” Grassley said.

Key Takeaways

Media reports showed then-VP Biden used private email accounts under fake names for government business, and Hunter Biden was copied on emails about the VP’s schedule and a call with the Ukrainian president.
Hunter Biden sat on the board of corrupt Ukrainian energy company Burisma at the time he was being copied on these official government emails.
Grassley and Johnson sent a letter to the White House Counsel on July 30, 2021, asking two basic questions about Biden’s email practices; after three months, they had received no response.
Grassley drew a direct parallel to the Hillary Clinton private email server scandal, saying the situation “sounds familiar.”
Grassley said the White House’s refusal to answer “draws suspicion,” noting it would be easy for Biden to deny the reports if they were inaccurate.

Transcript Highlights

The following is transcribed from the video audio (unverified — AI-generated from audio).

An employee of the Office of the Vice President emailed Biden his schedule and copied Hunter Biden. In another email, that same employee reportedly emailed Vice President Biden about early morning preparation for a 9 a.m. phone call with the Ukrainian president. Hunter Biden was again reportedly copied.
As we all know, Hunter Biden served on the board of a corrupt Ukrainian energy company at the time of these emails.
It would be quite easy for the president to deny the reports if these reports were not accurate. Our letter provided President Biden that opportunity. To date, we haven’t received a response.
The fact that the White House Counsel’s Office and President Biden can’t find the time to answer these threshold questions draws suspicion.
Kind of sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Just remember the same issues came up with Hillary Clinton.

Full transcript: 864 words transcribed via Whisper AI.