Republicans believe they now have further evidence that U.S. President Joe Biden was involved in criminal activities and should therefore be impeached. Democrats, however, say nothing new has come to light after Devon Archer, the former business associate of Biden’s son, Hunter, testified before the House of Representatives’ Oversight Committee on Monday, July 31st, in a five-hour closed-door meeting.
Devon Archer’s statements were not made public, but members of the committee talked to the press about the hearing, with Republicans and Democrats giving varying accounts of what Archer’s words actually prove. “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,” Republican James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said.
Devon Archer apparently spoke to the committee about being at meetings that were attended by Joe Biden either in person or via speakerphone, and said Hunter was selling the “illusion” of access to his father. “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,” said Comer. Archer testified that the executives of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company, asked Hunter, a then-board member of Burisma, to “call D.C.” after a Burisma board meeting in Dubai. Burisma was being investigated for corruption by the then-prosecutor of Ukraine, Viktor Shokin.
The call made by Hunter Biden and Burisma executives to Joe Biden in itself “raises concerns that Hunter Biden was in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act,” according to Republicans. The 1938 law requires special registration with the Justice Department by anyone who works on behalf of a foreign country to influence U.S. policy or public opinion.
Republicans also assert that the above-mentioned phone call may have played a part in the dismissal of Viktor Shokin by the Ukrainian Parliament in 2016. While Joe Biden has always denied claims of corruption, in January 2018, he publicly boasted that he ordered the Ukrainian government to fire Shokin, or the U.S. would withhold $1 billion in aid. Republicans are also looking into claims that Burisma executive Mykola Zlochevsky had paid $5 million to both President Biden and his son, in exchange for shaking off the corruption investigation involving Burisma.
According to Rep. Comer, Devon Archer talked about another mysterious dinner attended by Joe Biden and his son in the spring of 2014 in a café in Washington, D.C. There they met Elena Baturina, a Russian oligarch, who is the widow of the former mayor of Moscow. Baturina allegedly paid $3.5 million to a firm associated with Hunter Biden in February 2014 while his father was vice president.
This year, when the White House drew up its list of sanctions against Russian oligarchs, Baurina was not on it. “Notably, the Biden Administration’s public sanctions list for Russian oligarchs does not contain Baturina,” stressed Comer in his statement. He added that phone calls were made during a range of events, including a dinner in Paris with a French energy company and another in China with the executive of an investment fund. Archer’s testimony reaffirms questions about Joe Biden’s knowledge of his son’s foreign business dealings, Comer said.
Republicans started looking into Hunter Biden’s affairs after gaining a majority in the House of Representatives in the November 2022 midterm elections, and are now considering an impeachment inquiry against President Biden. Republican-led investigations in the House have found that Biden’s family received millions of dollars from individuals connected with Romania and China.
Democrats, however, see no evidence of wrongdoing based on Devon Archer’s testimony. “The witness was very consistent that none of those conversations ever had to do with any business dealings or transactions,” and that these conversations did not further Hunter Biden’s business interests, said Dan Goldman, a Democrat on the committee. White House spokesperson Ian Sams said in a statement,
House Republicans keep promising bombshell evidence to support their ridiculous attacks against the President, but time after time, they keep failing to produce any.
Devon Archer had worked with Hunter Biden on business deals, including in China and Ukraine. Archer has his own legal troubles, stemming from a 2018 felony conviction for his role in a conspiracy to defraud a Native American tribe, reports the AP. His sentencing in the case has been repeatedly delayed by appeals.
As to whose purpose Archer’s testimony serves, Republicans or Democrats, the world will have to wait until the records are made public. The committee is expected to release the full transcript of the interview within a matter of days.
