Devon Archer Day In Hunter Biden Congressional Hearings

It was Devin Archer testimony day at the House Hunter Biden, er, that is House Oversight Committee for a closed-door session that nevertheless proved all the talking points of everyone involved. Which everyone involved immediately announced to anyone who would listen.

The much more objective Punchbowl News broke it down this way:

There was something for everyone in Devon Archer’s behind-closed-doors appearance before the House Oversight Committee on Monday. Both Republicans and Democrats alike seized on portions of the former Hunter Biden associate’s testimony to back up preexisting claims about the Biden family’s business dealings. Here are our main takeaways.

Republicans secured a major talking point when Archer confirmed then-Vice President Joe Biden spoke with Hunter Biden’s business partners. Biden had been insistent in the past that he had “never spoken” with Hunter about his business dealings. The president has indicated a large degree of separation existed between him and his son’s overseas ventures.

But Archer testified that he witnessed Hunter put his dad on speakerphone with business partners numerous times over a decade. And Oversight Republicans released a list of connections between Biden and Hunter’s business partners.

“Devon Archer’s testimony today confirms Joe Biden lied to the American people when he said he had no knowledge about his son’s business dealings and was not involved,” House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) said in a statement.

For Hunter Biden, access to his powerful father was clearly a big plus for potential clients. Comer signaled that his panel will continue to “determine whether foreign actors targeted the Bidens, President Biden is compromised and corrupt.” Of course, talk of an impeachment inquiry into Biden is growing among House Republicans.

But Biden never discussed business specifics during any of these calls, according to Archer’s testimony. Democrats seized on this in an attempt to argue Biden’s involvement was innocuous.

“Those calls were all about mundane subjects like the weather, geography, and other niceties and pleasantries,” ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said in a statement.

Democrats also pointed out that Biden talked constantly with Hunter in the aftermath of Beau Biden’s death. And Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), who was present for the transcribed interview, argued it was “preposterous” to expect Biden to reject Hunter’s calls.

“[Biden] says hello to someone that he sees his son with. What is he supposed to say? ‘Hi, son. No, I’m not going to say hello to the other people at the table or the other people on the phone,’” Goldman said.

Archer denied any knowledge of an unverified claim that Hunter and Joe Biden received millions of dollars in bribes from the Burisma CEO.

This is notable because Archer served on the board of Burisma alongside Hunter. If the head of Burisma was bribing the Bidens with large sums of money, one would expect Archer to be aware of the plot. Republicans have made an internal FBI tip sheet alleging the bribery payments a central aspect of their investigation into the president and his family.

“Today, Mr. Archer explicitly stated that he is unaware of any $5 million payments to the Bidens and did not believe the allegations of bribery in the FBI Form 1023 were credible, thus debunking the unverified tip sheet Republicans released last week,” Raskin said.

Here’s White House Spokesperson for Oversight and Investigations Ian Sams:

“House Republicans keep promising bombshell evidence to support their ridiculous attacks against the President, but time after time, they keep failing to produce any. In fact, even their own witnesses appear to be debunking their allegations.”

An important note: Archer is a convicted felon. Archer and two others were convicted in June 2018 for defrauding a Native American tribe out of $60 million of bonds.

Last year, Archer was sentenced to a year in prison and required to repay more than $15 million.