OAN’s Brooke Mallory
5:07 PM – Monday, July 31, 2023
Devon Archer, Hunter Biden’s former business partner, told Congress in an explosive, evidence-packed committee hearing that the “Biden brand” saved Ukrainian firm Burisma from bankruptcy and that Joe Biden joined them via phone call on at least 20 different occasions when his son was speaking with foreign colleagues.
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Republicans say Archer’s testimony adds to the accumulating evidence that then-Vice President Joe Biden was involved in Hunter’s international business dealings, which netted millions of dollars from countries such as China and Romania.
Democrats had tried to claim previously that the phone calls were not work-related whatsoever.
Representative Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) said that Archer informed the House Oversight Committee that Joe Biden had joined in on conversations via speakerphone numerous times when his son was discussing business matters with international associates. However, Goldman still tried to argue that the father-son team was discussing “niceties,” like the weather.
Republican Representative Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) then stated that, according to Archer, Hunter was on the board of the Ukrainian energy business due to his family’s “brand,” to which then-VP Joe Biden provided “value.”
In addition, Archer reported that Hunter referred to his father, Joe, as “my guy,” according to an Oversight Republicans statement.
Goldman, the lead counsel on Trump’s first impeachment and the only Democrat in the room during the testimony, doubled down and told reporters that Archer “indicated that Hunter spoke to his father every day, and approximately 20 times over the course of a 10-year relationship, Hunter may have put his father on the phone with any number of different people, and they never once spoke about any business dealings.”
In an attempt to distract from the witness testimony, Goldman continued to deflect and argue in support of the Biden family.
“Remember, this is when Beau got ill,” Goldman said, insinuating that Hunter and Joe only spoke on the phone frequently since it was right before Beau Biden’s death in 2015.
Beau was Biden’s eldest son who died of a glioblastoma brain tumor on May 30th, 2015.
Republicans had a different take on Archer’s story.
“Burisma would have gone out of business sooner if the Biden brand had not been invoked,” according to Archer’s testimony.
According to the internal memo, which recounted a conversation with a secret source who met with Burisma CFO Vadim Pojarski in 2015, Pojarski said Joe and Hunter were given $5 million each when Joe was vice president in exchange for favorable policy outcomes.
Archer claimed in his testimony that in 2015, Pozharskyi and CEO Nikola Zlochevsky exerted “continuous pressure” on Hunter to remove prosecutor Viktor Shokin, who was probing Burisma at the time.
Then-Vice President Joe Biden reportedly threatened to withhold $1 billion in aid to Ukraine if Shokin was not sacked for corruption in March 2016.
Separately, in an email to Hunter in 2017, his uncle Jim and other business associates spoke about a transaction with Chinese energy giant CEFC. Business partner James Gilliar mentioned the “big guy” obtaining a 10% stake in the lucrative contract.
Tony Bobulinski, a former associate of the first son and a U.S. Navy veteran, openly asserted in October 2020 that “big guy” was a reference to current President Biden.
In an interview with press journalists, Oversight Committee member Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (MTG) (R-Ga.) said Archer testified that “the Bidens were in the actual business of influence peddling.”
“It’s really incriminating,” she asserted.
“We have Devon Archer coming out and telling the truth that Hunter Biden and Joe Biden spoke over 20 times about his business deals, not about the weather, not about what was for lunch, about his business deals,” MTG continued.
Goldman claimed that Archer’s phone call testimony was misinformed and deceiving.
He went on to explain that sometimes Hunter would be at dinner with business associates and receive a call from his father, who didn’t know who else was at the table, and would then put it on speaker phone.
“There was no indication that he had any idea who was at dinner with them. It was just to say, ‘Hello, I’m at dinner,’ and there was nothing related to his business dealings.”
Jim Jordan, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee and an Oversight Committee member who was present for the deposition, told reporters that Archer had presented the committee with fresh material and that the discussion had been “very productive.”
Greene, who reportedly speaks often with Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), believes Archer’s testimony might be what “moves the needle” on the prospective Biden impeachment probe.
“We have to have 218 Republicans to vote for it,” Greene said. “And there’s been some that just aren’t there yet, but in my opinion, the information that’s coming out today could really push many of them to get to ‘yes.’”
Archer had served on Burisma’s board with Hunter, and he was paid $50,000 a month while in his position.
In February 2022, Archer was sentenced to one year and one day in jail for allegedly cheating a Native American tribe and financial advising clients out of tens of millions of dollars in connection with the issuing of $60 million in bonds.
The Hunter witness arrived to talk with investigators as they found a laundry list of foreign influence crimes Hunter may face after his plea agreement fell through last week.
Archer’s testimony also follows a back-and-forth with the Department of Justice, which claimed it was not attempting to have Archer imprisoned prior to his deposition for an unrelated fraud conviction.
On July 29th, the DOJ wrote to a New York judge, requesting that Archer’s sentence be accelerated.
Republicans say that the DOJ’s decision to accelerate sentencing was intended to “intimidate” Archer, whom they see as a crucial figure to supply important evidence to their continuing investigation into whether Joe Biden was engaged in his son’s international business ventures.
In a new Sunday filing, the DOJ appears to have now withdrawn its request, informing District Judge Abrams that they do not want Archer imprisoned before he testifies before Congress on Monday about Biden’s financial schemes.
“To be clear, the Government does not request (and has never requested) that the defendant [Archer] surrender before his Congressional testimony,” the new letter said, gaslighting those who remember the department’s prior request.
The department now proposes that any surrender date, if ordered by the Court, take place after the defendant’s Congressional testimony is concluded.
The House Oversight Committee subpoenaed Archer, 48, on June 12th in order to investigate Hunter’s companies and whether he or other members of the Biden family unlawfully traded on their ties.
The rationale for Archer’s decision to testify on Monday is unknown. He had reportedly already canceled at least three times on the committee in recent weeks.
Chairman Comer told Fox News’ Larry Kudlow that Archer is going before his committee now because he “doesn’t have a whole lot of alternatives” after being subpoenaed.
“At the end of the day, I think that Archer wants to do the right thing,” Comer said. “I think he wants to set the record straight, and he is going to have an opportunity to do that.”
“Devon Archer believes strongly in the rule of law and the democratic system, and is prepared to answer the Committee’s questions just as he has already answered similar questions from a federal grand jury, the Department of Justice, and several other government agencies in their investigations concerning the Biden family,” said attorney Matthew Schwartz of Boies Schiller Flexner.
The White House has consistently maintained that the current president was never “in business” with Hunter, however, the GOP has increased its inquiry with whistleblower testimony and a flood of other evidence.
Archer and Hunter, both 48, are also both Yale graduates who have reportedly been friends for decades. Devon, according to Hunter, is his “best friend in business.”
The company Rosemont Seneca Partners was founded in 2009 by the two men and Christopher Heinz, the son-in-law of former Senator John Kerry, who is also a Yale alumni, kicking off an era of worldwide commercial dealings and a jet-setting lifestyle.
Despite Hunter’s lack of competence in the industry, Archer and Hunter Biden both received lucrative seats on the board of Ukrainian energy giant Burisma.
According to documents obtained from Hunter’s notorious laptop, the business earned a whopping $11 million from the deal.
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