The House GOP’s star witness in the Oversight Committee’s investigation into Hunter Biden turns out to be connected to a Russian oligarch, The Daily Beast reported Tuesday.
High-profile investor Tony Bobulinski has links to Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, a Ukrainian-born energy magnate who’s been a longtime close ally of Vladimir Putin’s, according to the report.
"In 2017, Vekselberg reportedly funneled $500,000 to an LLC run by Donald Trump’s former attorney and fixer Michael Cohen, supposedly with the intention of influencing the new administration to let Russia illegally occupy parts of Eastern Ukraine," The Beast's report stated.
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Vekselberg has been sanctioned more than once by U.S. law enforcement in regards to Russia's attempts to influence the 2016 election and the nation's aggression towards Ukraine, but Republicans are trying to ignore his links to Bobulinski.
On Tuesday, Bobulinski will appear for a private interview with the House panel looking into impeaching President Joe Biden. The Daily Beast reported that he's expected to say some of the money from a business deal with a Chinese energy project that involved Hunter Biden made its way to the then vice president.
"What Bobulinski seems less inclined to discuss — given his failure to respond to repeated inquiries for this story — are his past connections to Vekselberg, a prominent Russian oligarch who sought repeatedly to influence Trump’s administration, including with payments to promote a proposal that would allow the Kremlin to retain control of the illegally occupied Crimean peninsula," The Beast reported.
Read the full report over at The Daily Beast.
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