Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) on Thursday expressed disdain towards the investigation into the Ukraine dealings of White House hopeful Joe Biden and his son Hunter launched by Romney’s fellow Republicans, complaining that the probe appears politically motivated.

“There’s no question but that the appearance of looking into Burisma and Hunter Biden appears political, and I think people are tired of these kinds of political investigations,” Romney told reporters, several news outlets reported Thursday.

At the time, Romney noted that he was “considering” a vote to support a GOP subpoena for records linked to the probe.

Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-WI), who is leading the effort to obtain the subpoena, reportedly convinced Romney to support the investigation.

The Salt Lake Tribune reported:

After getting private assurances that a proposed investigation into Burisma wouldn’t become a public spectacle, Sen. Mitt Romney said Friday he would vote to issue a subpoena to the Ukrainian energy company at the heart of Republican concerns about former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

Romney, who had raised concerns that a Senate probe “appears political,” met with Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican and chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, about the probe that the Utah senator feared would end up another political foray to impact the 2020 presidential election.

“Senator Romney has expressed his concerns to Chairman Johnson, who has confirmed that any interview of the witness would occur in a closed setting without a hearing or public spectacle,” Liz Johnson, a spokesman for Romney, said Friday, according to several news outlets. “He will, therefore, vote to let the chairman proceed to obtain the documents that have been offered.” Joseph Cofer Black, a national security adviser for Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign, reportedly sits on the board of directors of the Ukrainian company Burisma Holdings that employed Hunter.

On Thursday, Politico acknowledged that Romney’s skepticism could have derailed Johnson’s effort to subpoena records in connection to its Ukraine-linked investigation into the Bidens.

Johnson indicated this week that the committee is set to vote next Wednesday on a subpoena for records from a consulting firm — Blue Star Strategies — that represents the U.S.-based interests of the allegedly corrupt Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings.

Given that Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), the top Democrat on the committee, opposes the subpoena, the Republican chairman will need a simple majority to issue it.

The GOP holds a slim 8–6 majority on the panel, meaning that a “no” vote from Romney could result in a 7–7 tie that would kill the subpoena effort.

Senate Republicans have pushed back against the claim that they have launched the Burisma-Biden probe to hurt Joe’s chances to become the next U.S. president.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Johnson have vowed to move forward with their investigations into the Bidens’ dealings in Ukraine despite the criticism.

“This started before … Biden was a candidate,” Grassley told the Hill last month.

“It’s not our fault that Joe Biden, Hunter Biden got wrapped up in the whole Ukrainian story,” Johnson told Fox News this week. “We are not closing our eyes to this.”

While his father was leading the U.S. policy towards Ukraine as vice president, Hunter took a job serving on Burisma’s board of directors for a lucrative $83,000 per month, more money than the average executives who sit on major corporate boards.

Hunter, who had no experience in energy matters, worked for Burisma between 2014 and 2019 despite a conflict of interest and corruption concerns raised by people inside and outside the Obama administration.

In 2015, the office of then-Vice President Joe Biden dismissed those concerns. The Bidens have vehemently denied any wrongdoing.

Johnson indicated this week that there is no evidence that the Bidens did anything wrong in Ukraine because no one has looked into the matter.

On Wednesday, he told reporters that he is planning to release an interim report on his Biden-Ukraine probe within one to two months.

Referring to the Ukraine scandal dogging Joe’s presidential campaign, President Donald Trump told Fox News earlier this week, “That will be a major issue in the campaign. I will bring that up all the time. … I don’t believe they’ll be able to answer those questions. That was purely corrupt.”