Devon Archer, Hunter Biden's longtime business partner and friend, offered highly-anticipated testimony to the House Oversight Committee on Monday. Following the proceedings, Republicans characterized Archer's assertions as something of a bombshell -- confirming sordid details of a lucrative Biden family enrichment scheme centered on influence peddling, in addition to once again exposing lies told by President Biden himself. Democrats immediately declared that the testimony amounted to nothing of note, sending an unmistakable 'nothing to see here' reminder to their allies in the 'news' media. Whose argument better reflects the reality of what happened? You be the judge. Here are elements of the committee's summary of the interview, as relayed by its GOP majority, starting with a bottom line that it "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." More:
Devon Archer testified that the value of adding Hunter Biden to Burisma’s board was “the brand” and confirmed that then-Vice President Joe Biden was “the brand” and that the 20 phone calls were to sell “the brand.”
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) July 31, 2023
Archer "admitted that 'Burisma would have gone out of business if -- the brand -- had not been attached to it," House Republicans say. "Because of the Bidens’ involvement, people would have been intimidated to mess with Burisma legally." How did that play out? Like this, per Archer:
Hunter Biden, along with Zlochevsky and Pozharski, “called D.C.” to discuss the matter. Biden, Zlochevsky, and Pozharski stepped away to make the call. This raises concerns that Hunter Biden was in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) July 31, 2023
That possible 'FARA' law violation was specifically referenced in last week's court proceedings that caused Hunter Biden's plea deal to fall apart in open court. The judge in the case asked if such crimes would be covered in a vaguely-worded future immunity agreement in the compact. Hunter's lawyers were adamant that they were, but prosecutors (perhaps 'caught' by the specificity of the question) said no. This infuriated the defense team, which clearly thought they'd reached an understanding on this point -- and again, maybe they had, until DOJ lawyers were put on the spot by the judge. Either way, the deal was off. We'll return to the fired Ukrainian prosecutor shortly, but first, a few more details from yesterday's under-oath interview: Archer "confirmed Joe Biden was referred to as 'my guy' by Hunter Biden," and the elder Biden, now president was present at multiple in-person meetings with Hunter's foreign business associates:
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Joe Biden was dialed into a dinner in Paris with a French energy company and in China with Jonathan Li, the CEO of BHR. Then-VP Biden also had coffee with Li in Beijing and even wrote a letter of recommendation for college for Li’s daughter...In 2014, then-VP Biden attended a business dinner with Hunter & his associates at Café Milano in D.C. Elena Baturina, a Russian oligarch who is the widow of the former mayor of Moscow, was an attendee.Notably, the Biden Admin’s public sanctions do not contain Baturina.
That's a lot of meetings and connections with people Joe Biden has said he knew absolutely nothing about. Might the name Baturina ring a bell? Indeed it might:
Asked how Biden is "navigating conflicts of interest when it comes to sanctioning people who have done business with his family," Jen Psaki says she "has no more further details."
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 18, 2022
Hunter Biden received $3.5 million from Russian billionaire Elena Baturina in 2014. pic.twitter.com/tLmCQZRWzC
How curious. Back to the fired Ukrainian prosecutor. Top executives at Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company, were paying Hunter Biden a million dollars a year, despite his dearth of relevant experience. They 'placed constant pressure on Hunter Biden to get help from D.C.' regarding a prosecutor who was investigating the company. Said prosecutor had already seized some of Zlochevsky's assets. Lo and behold, a private phone call was placed to DC to get the help they sought, per Archer. The Obama administration's point person on Ukraine at the time, not coincidentally, was Hunter's father, the Vice President of the United States. Soon after, $1 Billion in US taxpayer aid for the government in Kiev was made contingent upon the 'corrupt' prosecutor being fired. The man, Viktor Shokin, was fired. The aid was then unlocked and flowed to Ukraine as promised. Don't take my word for it. We know all of this, conveniently, because Joe Biden bragged about it publicly:
pic.twitter.com/E84PY2KL85 https://t.co/l0hgZuFDCt
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) July 31, 2023
Crucially, this appears to align with what that FBI confidential informant attested to in the FD-1023 memo we've written about. That individual informed federal investigators about the pressure over the problematic prosecutor, the true purpose of Burisma's employment of Hunter, and the fateful phone call, all of which have now been affirmed by Devon Archer, Hunter's business partner. What that confidential human source (CHS) also alleged was a $10 million bribery payment going to father and son Biden as a result of Shokin's termination. Archer evidently did not or could not confirm this, but the credibility of the anonymous FBI source and the accusations laid out in the FD-1023 document has been further fortified by Archer's testimony (FBI agents in Pittsburgh reportedly already established some corroborating elements). This is a big deal. The FD-1023 allegations must now be considered more serious than ever.
We don't yet have proof of the bribery claim it contains, but please recall that career IRS investigators-turned-whistleblowers just testified under oath that they were forbidden by DOJ higher-ups to ask any questions, or to pursue any lines of inquiry that came anywhere close to Joe Biden. It's a neat trick for Democrats to forbid the gathering of evidence, then cite a lack of evidence as "proof" that the scandal is bogus. As for Joe Biden's repeated and categorical denials that he'd ever discussed overseas business dealings with his son or anyone else, it looks like even Democrats are throwing in the towel on that lie:
…Joe Biden repeatedly said he didn’t talk with or about Hunter’s business associates https://t.co/Yy2oB7gmeR
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) July 31, 2023
Folks, just look at this sentence from the NYT: pic.twitter.com/5INh22nmGB
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) August 1, 2023
Joe Biden told us that he never talked about any of it, not even once. Zero times. He famously bellowed at Peter Doocy to "ask the right questions" when pushed on the issue on the campaign trail. Doocy was asking the right questions, as it turns out. Biden was on the phone many times with Hunter's business associates, partners and clients. He met and dined with them, too. But now it's "preposterous" to expect that Joe Biden wouldn't have done the things he swore he'd never done. Remarkable. One wonders, what were all of those conversations about? The weather, say the Democrats. Seriously:
The weather.
— Will Cain (@willcain) July 31, 2023
Hunter Biden put Joe Biden on the phone with his business partners over 20 times to say hello.
And talk about the weather.
pic.twitter.com/VPL4KLX2J3
The White House is working the media refs hard, crowing that GOP narratives have been "debunked" by their own witness. It's brazen gaslighting. It makes no sense. Pay attention to who goes along with it. Finally, to re-emphasize a point that cuts through the latest spin, if Joe Biden's many interactions with Hunter's business associates (which, again, he lied about, saying they never happened) were all "casual conversations" about "the weather" and other anodyne topics, how is it that the Ukrainian prosecutor whom Hunter's employers desperately wanted fired ended up...getting fired, thanks to the personal, hardball intervention of Hunter's dad, Joe? That's the same Joe who boasted on camera about personally causing that exact intervention, using the levers of US foreign policy power to achieve the precise outcome Hunter's employers had aggressively sought.
And it all happened after that "phone call to DC," the occurrence of which Archer confirmed, even though Hunter and the Ukrainians stepped away to place it, so he didn't know details. Did they just talk about the weather? The FBI's informant, who has apparently been correct about everything else, allegedly does have details. And those claimed details are a $10 million direct bribery scheme. Devon Archer's testimony may not have been a smoking gun, beyond further disproving Joe Biden's lies about his knowledge and involvement in overseas business dealings. It may not be a "bombshell," in that much of the damning breadcrumbs were already publicly reported. But it is quite significant, and Democrats' desperate efforts to spin it as a giant nothing are revealing. More smoke. Keep digging.
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