Devon Archer, former business associate of Hunter Biden, and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have both dismissed conjecture that a DOJ letter sent to a federal judge was intended to prevent Archer from disclosing information about Biden's business interests to the House Oversight Committee.
Archer's attorney, Matthew Schwartz, refuted any link between the request by Manhattan federal prosecutors for Judge Ronnie Abrams to set a date for Archer to begin his year-and-a-day sentence in an unrelated fraud case and the timing of the testimony. Schwartz stated that Archer plans to answer the questions put to him by Congressional investigators honestly.
The DOJ also denied that its letter, which sparked controversy among House Republicans, was seeking Archer's surrender "before his congressional testimony." In the letter to Abrams, Manhattan US Attorney Damian Williams clarified that any surrender date, if ordered by the court, should be scheduled to occur after Archer's Congressional testimony is completed.
Archer is expected to testify that Hunter Biden would have his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, participate via phone in his business meetings. This contradicts Joe Biden's long-standing claim that he had never spoken to his son about his overseas business dealings. The White House recently stated that the president "was never in business with his son."
Archer was convicted in 2018 of securities fraud for defrauding the Oglala Sioux Indian tribe in a bond sale scheme. His conviction was overturned later that year, reinstated in 2020, and his appeal was rejected earlier this year. Hunter Biden was not involved in that venture.
Despite the denials of intimidation from Archer's camp and the DOJ, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) accused federal prosecutors of "obstructing a congressional investigation" and threatened to bring them before the House Judiciary Committee. Other Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee also expressed their disapproval of the DOJ's actions.
Hunter Biden and Archer both served on the board of Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma Holdings and co-founded the investment firm Rosemont Seneca. The Biden family's financial ties to Burisma have been the focus of a months-long investigation by House Republicans.
