Republican Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio told reporters Monday that the House Oversight Committee’s hearing with Devon Archer, a longtime friend of Hunter Biden and fellow Burisma board member, was “very productive.”
Jordan said during a lunch recess that he was looking forward to discussing the revelations of the hearing with GOP Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, the committee’s chairman.
Additionally, the congressman said, “Yep,” when asked if he had heard any new information from Archer.
Devon Archer co-founded Hunter Biden’s now-dissolved Rosemont Seneca Partners investment firm and ignored reporters’ questions upon entering the hearing on Monday morning.
Archer was peppered with several questions while entering the O’Neill House Office Building, where he was expected to sit for an interview in front of the House Oversight Committee on President Joe Biden’s involvement with Hunter Biden’s business deals, including he was present for over two dozen business calls with his son as vice president.
The GOP-led committee invited Archer to attend the interview after he was sentenced last year to one year in prison for his role in a $60 million bond fraud that involved numerous clients. Previously, at least their planned appearances in front of the committee were canceled by Archer for personal reasons.
Testimony readout partially backs up Comer’s prior statements
The testimony readout appears to partially back up GOP House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer’s statement last week to the New York Post that he expected Archer to discuss times he “has witnessed Joe Biden meeting with Hunter Biden’s overseas business partners when he was vice president including on speakerphone.”
When asked last week about allegations that President Biden had directly communicated with his son’s foreign business associates, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre maintained the president “was never in business with his son.”
The interview follows a letter from the Department of Justice (DOJ) over the weekend in regards to Archer’s sentencing for an unrelated matter, adding to the Republican claims of government obstruction of their investigation into the Biden family’s business dealings — amid Archer’s attorney’s denial of the speculation.
In its letter, the DOJ requested that a judge set a date for Archer to start his one-year prison sentence for his conviction for defrauding a Native American tribe. Archer’s counsel said it was “premature” to do so because of an “error” in sentencing and an anticipated appeal. The statement set off alarm bells in the Republican party.
“I don’t know if this is a coincidence or if this is another example of the weaponization of the Department of Justice,” said GOP House Oversight Chairman James Comer.
Other Republicans went further, accusing the Department of Justice of explicit interference in the GOP-led investigation; Republican Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida said lawmakers should return from their August recess for emergency hearings if Archer did not appear.
However, Archer’s lawyer stressed the letter wouldn’t impact his planned interview, which had been rescheduled several times since June when Comer subpoenaed him.
“We are aware of speculation that the Department of Justice’s weekend request to have Mr. Archer report to prison in an attempt by the Biden administration to intimidate him in advance of his meeting with the House Oversight Committee on Monday,” said Matthew Schwartz, Archer’s lawyer, on Sunday. “To be clear, Mr. Archer does not agree with that speculation. In any case, Mr. Archer will do what he has planned to do all along, which is to show up Monday and to honestly answer the questions that are put to him by the Congressional investigators.”
In a subsequent letter, the DOJ said it was not requesting Archer surrender before his expected testimony before Congress.
