By Casey Harper (The Center Square)
House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., laid out a litany of new evidence in the ongoing investigation into an alleged Biden family “bribery scheme” Monday after interviewing one of the Biden family’s business associates.
Comer interviewed Devon Archer, a long-time friend of Hunter Biden who attended Yale with him and has ties to the Ukrainian energy company Burisma. Hunter Biden served on the board of Burisma, which allegedly paid millions of dollars to the Biden family as part of a “bribery scheme.”
“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. Joe Biden was ‘the brand’ that his son sold around the world to enrich the Biden family,” Comer said.
Most notably, Comer said that Archer alleged that President Biden met with Hunter Biden’s business partners more than “20 times,” directly refuting the president’s previous claim that he did not discuss the matter with his son.
“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,” Comer said. “When Burisma’s owner was facing pressure from the Ukrainian prosecutor investigating the company for corruption, Archer testified that Burisma executives asked Hunter to ‘call D.C.’ after a Burisma board meeting in Dubai.”
Biden has repeatedly dismissed questions about his involvement in any overseas deals of this kind and Democrats have downplayed the seriousness of the investigation, including Archer’s contribution.
Comer’s comments come after IRS whistleblowers testified earlier this month that the Biden family and its associates received about $17 million distributed to about 20 shell companies from Chinese, Romanian and Ukrainian entities.
The comments came after a four-hour transcribed interview behind closed doors with Archer, who had previously canceled the interview but finally went through with it Monday. Archer, who faces prison time for conspiracy to defraud a Native American tribe, declined to comment to reporters who questioned him as he arrived on Capitol Hill Monday.
Over the weekend, controversy erupted after the Department of Justice sent a letter to a federal judge saying that Archer report to jail to begin his sentence.
Critics blasted the decision from the DOJ, saying it was politically motivated, though Archer did not echo that sentiment.
The House Oversight Committee released a timeline of events Monday based on Archer’s testimony and version of events.
From the Committee:
- 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.”
- Archer admitted that “Burisma would have gone out of business if ‘the brand’ had not been attached to it.” He believed that Hunter Biden being on the board and the Biden brand contributed to Burisma’s longevity. People would have been intimidated to mess with Burisma legally because of the Biden brand.
- 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 for corruption. 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.
- 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 company and in China with Jonathan Li, the CEO of BHR.
- Archer acknowledged that then-Vice President Biden had coffee with Jonathan Li, the CEO of BHR, in Beijing. Then-Vice President Biden even wrote a letter of recommendation for college for Li’s daughter.
- Archer confirmed Joe Biden was referred to as “my guy” by Hunter Biden.
- In spring of 2014, then-Vice President Biden attended a business dinner with his son, Hunter, and his associates at Café Milano in Washington, D.C. Elena Baturina, a Russian oligarch who is the widow of the former mayor of Moscow, attended the dinner. Notably, the Biden Administration’s public sanctions list for Russian oligarchs does not contain Baturina.
Syndicated with permission from The Center Square.