Daily Beast: “Two key witnesses in Sen. Ron Johnson’s (R-WI) probe into corruption allegations involving presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his son Hunter are unlikely to appear before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee before the 2020 presidential election even if subpoenaed, according to an individual familiar with the matter and another individual with knowledge of the probe. ”

“Johnson, the chair of the Senate committee, is leading two separate but related investigations, one into the origins of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation and one into Joe Biden’s former dealings in Ukraine and Hunter Biden’s financial relationship with Burisma, a gas company in the country. Johnson told The Hill he plans to publish a report on the Biden probe in the coming weeks, possibly by mid-September. Staffers working on that investigation have interviewed numerous witnesses, including David Wade, the former chief of staff to Secretary of State John Kerry, and Liz Zentos, a foreign service officer working at the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan. Zentos formerly served as the Eastern Europe director for the National Security Council, according to three people familiar with the matter. Johnson is expected to move to issue subpoenas for two other witnesses, former Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken and Amos Hochstein, a former energy adviser for then Vice President Biden. If the subpoenas are issued, individuals familiar with the matter say Hochstein and Blinken are unlikely to appear for questioning before the November election, particularly given recent acknowledgment by Democrats and by senior officials in the Trump administration that the probe involves materials from a known disinformation peddler. Those individuals pointed to a recent statement by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence that highlighted ongoing Russian efforts to interfere in the 2020 presidential election, specifically to ‘undermine former Vice President Biden’s candidacy.’ The statement pointed to Andriy Derkach, a Ukrainian lawmaker with close ties to Russia who has previously met with President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani.”