Unpacking the Claim that Blinken ‘Lied’ to Congress

On Fox News, Republican Sen. Ron Johnson said he caught Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a lie to Congress about communicating with Hunter Biden via email. Johnson said Blinken ought to resign or be impeached.

It’s significant when a U.S. senator accuses a top Cabinet official of lying, but there is less to the accusation than Johnson suggests.

During a transcribed interview with the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and Finance committees in December 2020, Blinken was asked numerous questions about his relationship and interactions with President Joe Biden’s son Hunter while Blinken was serving as deputy secretary of state under President Barack Obama.

It’s of interest to Republicans on the Senate committees because Hunter Biden at the time was serving on the board of Burisma Holdings Ltd., one of the biggest private oil and gas companies in Ukraine. Johnson and other Republicans have raised questions about whether that represented a conflict of interest for Joe Biden, then vice president, and whether Joe Biden may have altered U.S. policy to accommodate Burisma because his son was on the board. As we have written, there’s no evidence of that.