Hunter Biden’s former business partner Devon Archer is scheduled to give closed-door testimony on Capitol Hill on Monday,
Archer is a former friend and business partner of Hunter Biden — currently the subject of several federal investigations by both Congress and the Department of Justice — and will be deposed by the committee on Monday. In 2022, he was convicted of defrauding the Wakpamni Lake Community Corporation, a Native American tribe, of over $60 million in fraudulent bond issuances.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) submitted a new request over the weekend asking a judge to schedule a date for Archer to surrender and begin serving his one-year sentence resulting from the fraud conviction.
Many Republican leaders immediately shot back, saying the move was an attempt at obstructing a congressional investigation.
“The DOJ is now actively committing the crime of obstructing a congressional investigation,” said Rep. Matt Gaetz. “If Devin Archer isn’t in the witness chair Monday, we better haul every SOB at the DOJ before Congress EVERY DAY to make them pay for this.”
“Two members of the House Judiciary Committee are now calling for lawmakers to return to Washington for immediate emergency hearings on the DOJ’s interference with Congressional Oversight,” said Gaetz.
But later on Sunday, the DOJ clarified its request, saying Archer should start serving his time after he testifies to Congress.
“The weaponized DOJ now “clarifies” they won’t try to prevent Devon Archer from testifying tomorrow. Witness intimidation & obstruction? Nah, nothing to see here,” tweeted Rep. Mike Johnson.
In a statement to CNN, Archer’s attorney said his client does not believe the DOJ request is connected in any way to the upcoming closed-door interview, despite continuing to fight demands related to scheduling a surrender date.
“We are aware of speculation that the Department of Justice’s weekend request to have Mr. Archer report to prison is an attempt by the Biden administration to intimidate him in advance of his meeting with the House Oversight Committee on Monday,” Matthew Schwartz, an attorney for Archer, said in a statement Sunday to CNN.
“To be clear, Mr. Archer does not agree with that speculation. In any case, Mr. Archer will do what he has planned to do all along, which is to show up on Monday and to honestly answer the questions that are put to him by the Congressional investigators,” Schwartz added.
House Oversight Chairman James Comer called the timing of DOJ’s letter “odd” in an interview with Fox News on Sunday.
Archer, who served with Hunter on the board of Burisma Holdings and was described by him as his “best friend in business” according to National Review, is in a position to answer important questions about Joe Biden’s alleged participation and benefits from Hunter’s business dealings in which he used his father’s political influence.
Archer will testify about business calls between Hunter Biden and Burisma executives in which Joe Biden was a participant while he was serving as vice president of the United States, according to a report by the New York Post. Archer will tell the committee that he observed such calls over two dozen times, reported the Post.
One of those calls, made in 2015, involved Hunter Biden introducing Burisma’s CEO, Mykola Zlochevsky, and chief financial officer, Vadym Pozharskyi, to Joe Biden. Hunter Biden reportedly said that the executives “need our support,” according to the Post.
Zlochevsky, at the time, was under investigation by the Ukrainian Prosecutor-General on corruption charges, with the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine naming him publicly as responsible for corruption in a prior speech, according to a report by the House Homeland Security Committee in 2020.
Joe Biden has repeatedly claimed that he never discussed foreign business with Hunter.
Does Archer have any knowledge of Joe Biden intervening on Burisma’s behalf in order to remove Ukrainian Prosecutor-General Viktor Shokin?
A cornerstone of congressional Republicans’ claim of corruption by Joe Biden regarding his son’s business dealings in Ukraine is that he intervened on Burisma’s behalf to have Ukrainian Prosecutor-General Viktor Shokin — who was investigating Burisma at the time — fired in 2016. Biden publicly threatened to withhold $1 billion of U.S. aid to Ukraine unless then-president Petro Poroshenko dismissed Shokin, claiming that Shokin was himself corrupt.
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Archer was a member of Burisma’s board of directors while he maintained a relationship with Hunter Biden and contact with Joe Biden, potentially placing him in a position to have known what the elder Biden learned about the company.
If Archer testifies under oath that Joe Biden was informed of corruption investigations by Shokin into Burisma, prior to 2016 when Shokin was fired, it could establish that Joe Biden knew that Shokin’s investigation threatened the company, which paid his son $50,000 a month as a member of its board, before he pressured Ukraine to fire Shokin.
Did Archer or any of his business partners ever refer to Joe Biden as “the Big Guy”?
The phrase “the Big Guy” has been invoked by House Republicans frequently. It has been used by multiple associates of Joe Biden and allegedly refers to him.
In a recently published FBI report, a confidential source wrote that Zlochevsky said that he “did not send any funds directly to the Big Guy.” Separately, the term “Big Guy” emerged in an email regarding a proposed venture involving CEFC China Energy, which was sent to both Hunter and James Biden, Joe Biden’s brother, in 2017, according to a report by the House Ways and Means Committee, which is reviewing Hunter Biden’s tax records.
In that email, James Gillar, an associate of both Archer and Hunter Biden, wrote that 10% of the deal would be for the “Big Guy.” In public testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, Internal Revenue Service whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler — who led the criminal tax investigation into Hunter Biden — testified that they believed the term referred to Joe Biden.
Other business associates of Hunter Biden, such as Tony Bobulinski, have publicly said that Joe Biden was the “Big Guy.”
Did Archer or Hunter Biden ever make payments to Joe Biden?
Zlochevsky states that he allegedly “did not send any funds directly” to Joe Biden, according to the FBI report. Hunter Biden, by contrast, had a direct financial relationship with Burisma and frequent dealings with his father, creating an avenue for funds to be transmitted from Burisma and Zlochevsky to Joe Biden.
If Archer admits that payments were made by him or Hunter Biden to his father — such as through their joint ventures — it could lend weight to the allegation that funds sourced from Burisma and other foreign business partners personally benefitted Joe Biden. Establishing that linkage is critical to the committee’s investigation of “foreign nationals [attempting] to target and coerce high-ranking U.S. officials’ family members by providing money or other benefits,” according to its subpoena letter to Archer.
Apart from Hunter, did any members of Joe Biden’s family or personal staff ever communicate with Archer, Zlochevsky or Burisma executives?
Emails released by congressional committees and from Hunter Biden’s laptop refer to Joe Biden’s alleged participation in his son’s business activity only in conjunction with Hunter. Other sources for access to Joe Biden — such as his brother James Biden, who was involved in the CEFC deal — or longtime members of Biden’s personal staff, are not mentioned.
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“I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled,” Hunter Biden wrote in a WhatsApp message to the head of CEFC, IRS investigators testified, according to CNN. In the FBI’s confidential source report, Zlochevsky is described as contacting Hunter to use his father’s influence.
Archer’s role at Burisma places him in a position to potentially highlight other contacts that may have connected Joe Biden to Burisma executives. Any such contact regarding whom Archer may testify will be a new lead for the committee’s investigation.
Archer’s attorney and the White House did not respond to a request for comment.
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