Earlier on Monday, Devon Archer, the former business associate of Hunter Biden, provided closed door testimony to the House Oversight Committee about any involvement Joe Biden had with Hunter's business dealings. Such key testimony was a long time coming, as Archer had canceled previous meetings multiple times in the past. Although a transcript has yet to be released, the Committee's Twitter account on Monday night released a thread of takeaways previewing what went down during the meeting.
When Joe Biden was Vice President of the United States, he joined Hunter Biden’s dinners with his foreign business associates in person or by speakerphone over 20 times.
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) July 31, 2023
The Committee's first tweet reads that "Archer’s testimony 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." Such had been a narrative from Biden on the campaign trail and had also come from the White House.
Archer had told the Committee that then Vice President Biden would join in on Hunter's dinners with foreign business associates by speakerphone or even in person over 20 times. Miranda Devine had previewed as much last week as well in an exclusive for the New York Post.
The thread also mentions specific incidents. A major theme of such takeaways is that then Vice President Biden was "the brand" that Hunter sold when he was on the board for Burisma. In fact, being able to use "the brand" and the Bidens' involvement as a form of intimidation is what kept Burisma in business, Archer admitted.
In fact, Devon Archer admitted that “Burisma would have gone out of business if ‘the brand’ had not been attached to it.” Because of the Bidens’ involvement, people would have been intimidated to mess with Burisma legally.
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) July 31, 2023
Archer was asked by many in the media more about this "brand," which also garnered attention over social media, though he remained tight-lipped outside of talking to the committee.
Others who have analyzed what is known thus far about the testimony, including when it comes to talking to sources, have focused on the discussion of then Vice President Biden being "the brand."
As mentioned in coverage earlier on Monday from Katie and our friends at Twitchy, this includes Fox News' Congressional Correspondent Chad Pergram, who referenced his own sources. Such a thread seems to further confirm the narrative about "the brand" that the Bidens have. Pergram's thread came close to two hours before the House Oversight Committee tweeted out their takeaways.
2) The argument was that then-Vice President Joe Biden brought the most value to “the brand.” Archer also stated that Burisma would have gone under if not for “the brand.”
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) July 31, 2023
5) Archer testified that Hunter Biden put then-Vice President Joe Biden on the speakerphone during business meetings, over 20 times. Archer testified that Joe Biden was put on the phone to sell “the brand.”
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) July 31, 2023
Not long after Pergram posted his thread, Devine posted her own, which Twitchy also highlighted. In it, Devine too focused on "the brand."
Devon Archer’s testimony:
— Miranda Devine (@mirandadevine) July 31, 2023
•In December 2015, Mykola Zlochevsky, the owner of Burisma, and Vadym Pozharski, an executive of Burisma, placed constant pressure on Hunter Biden to get help from D.C. regarding the Ukrainian prosecutor, Viktor Shokin. Shokin was investigating Burisma…
•Devon Archer testified that Hunter Biden put then-Vice President Joe Biden on the speakerphone during business meetings, over 20 times. Archer testified that Joe Biden was put on the phone to sell “the brand.” These phone calls include a dinner in Paris with a French energy…
— Miranda Devine (@mirandadevine) July 31, 2023
Law Professor Jonathan Turley weighed in on the idea of what "the brand" means for the Biden family during a Fox News appearance, as our friends at RedState highlighted.
Speaking to John Roberts and Gillian Turner, Turley spoke to how "you have someone who says, 'yes, the president was part of 'moving the brand.'"
"Well, what was the brand? I mean, this was an influence-peddling brand, and the object of that influence peddling was Joe Biden," Turley continued. "He was an essential part of that, and he played that role. So, if this is true, and I’ve no doubt of the reporting of Chad, then the President has lied. He lied during the presidential debate, he’s lied for years, and he’s had staff at the White House lie – that’s always a serious matter. And the next question is: Why did he lie?"
.@JonathanTurley: "The Bidens have always been in the business of influence peddling... and it's insulting to tell the American people this is just a private family matter." pic.twitter.com/GVWdg0Ao89
— Media Research Center (@theMRC) July 31, 2023
Turley appeared on the network later in the day as well, to speak to Neil Cavuto. Speaking to the significance of Biden being linked to his son's phone calls, Turley pointed out that "what we know, quite frankly, is that the president has been lying," which includes during the presidential campaign as well as once he became president, and had his staff repeat those lies that "he had no knowledge, no interactions with these business dealings." Turley emphasized "that's clearly false."
He also reminded how those nearly two dozen calls took place with some of "the most corrupt figures in Europe" during which then Vice President Biden would be part of. "That's the influence peddling," with Turley speaking to "the brand" and how "the brand is influence peddling, and Joe Biden is the object of that influence peddling."
"And so you need to show that you will have access, that he's just a phone call away," Turley continued. "The point is that we have him on speed dial," he said, also mocking how Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) spoke earlier in an attempt to downplay the testimony, offering that Biden talked about casual matters.
Calling the situation "the sort of apex of corruption," Turley said that in the time he's been a critic of influence peddling for over a decade, he's "never seen anything like the Biden family."
Later in the segment, Turley repeated his points to Cavuto and affirmed "they can't" play this differently, given that there were almost two dozen calls with such corrupt business associates, "and the president called to show that he was part of the brand."
Law Professor Jonathan Turley is STUNNED by the Biden family influence peddling scheme following the Devon Archer testimony:
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) July 31, 2023
"What we now know, quite frankly, is that the President has been lying...I think this is shaping up to be one of the greatest corruption scandals in the… pic.twitter.com/Jgx922p4oF
House Republicans, including those there for the testimony, are among those taking note of the Oversight Committee's takeaways. Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is another. He has spoken at length in recent weeks about opening an impeachment inquiry into the president.
In his earlier segment, Turley addressed what's next for McCarthy to do as well. "So we’re back to the question of Speaker McCarthy, when he said a few days ago: 'What do you want me to do about this? I mean, do you want me just to walk away?' We now have one of the closest friends of Hunter Biden saying, 'Yeah, we sold access, essentially – this was our 'brand' – the Vice President, Joe Biden, was directly involved.' Do we walk away from that? Or do you get answers for that? Because nobody outside of Washington is going to view this as a family matter,'" Turley shared.
Perhaps that inquiry looms even closer after Monday's findings. Meanwhile, the president is enjoying yet another vacation in Delaware.
Joe Biden lied about his involvement in his family’s corrupt business deals.
— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) July 31, 2023
The big question is—what else is he trying to hide?
House investigators are getting to the truth about Biden Inc. https://t.co/Y9AQfy1sR5
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