DOJ tries to jail key Hunter Biden witness Devon Archer on eve of congressional testimony
The Justice Department is pushing for Devon Archer to report to prison — just days ahead of the former Hunter Biden business partner’s hotly anticipated congressional testimony, according to new court documents.
Manhattan federal prosecutors on Saturday filed a letter requesting a judge set a date for Archer, 58, to start his one-year sentence in a fraud case unrelated to the first son’s various scandals.
The request came after the Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Archer’s 2018 conviction last Tuesday on two felony charges for his role in a conspiracy to defraud a Native American tribe.
Archer — who is set to deliver closed-door testimony to the House Oversight Committee on Monday about Biden — had been challenging the conviction.
In light of the appeals court ruling, the DOJ “respectfully requests that the defendant be ordered to surrender, at a date and time determined by the Court, to a facility designated by the Bureau of Prisons to commence his term of imprisonment,” reads the letter to Judge Ronnie Abrams.
Archer’s attorney, Matthew Schwartz, said Sunday his client would still testify on Capitol Hill as planned despite allegations the DOJ letter was an intimidation tactic.
Devan Archer’s testimony before the Oversight Committee could shed light on President Biden’s potential involvement in Hunter’s business affairs. Alec Tabak
Devon Archer is deeply privy to Hunter Biden’s various business machinations. Daniel William McKnight
“We are aware of speculation that the Department of Justice’s weekend request to have Mr. Archer report to prison is an attempt by the Biden administration to intimidate him in advance of his meeting with the House Oversight Committee,” Schwartz said in a statement, per Politico.
“To be clear, Mr. Archer does not agree with that speculation,” Schwartz added. “In any case, Mr. Archer will do what he has planned to do all along, which is to show up on Monday and to honestly answer the questions that are put to him by the Congressional investigators.”
Archer’s attorney is expected to file a formal response to the request from the US Attorney’s Office by Wednesday.
He has previously argued it was “premature” to pick a jail date as Archer mulls potential appeal options, a position the government said it “disagrees” with, according to the court filing.
Back in 2009, Archer, Biden, and Christopher Heinz co-founded investment and advisory firm Rosemont Seneca Partners, which the first son used as a vehicle for many of his overseas business endeavors.
President Biden has been adamant that he was not tangled up in his son’s overseas dealings. Teresa Kroeger
Archer is expected to testify that Hunter Biden would dial-in his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden during various meetings with overseas partners, as The Post exclusively reported.
It could be a key development in the GOP-led inquiries of the Biden family, as it would potentially tie the president to his son’s business affairs.
President Biden has previously said, “I have never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings.”
The White House now says the president “was never in business with his son,” an apparent shift in verbiage downplayed by press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
For months, Biden administration officials have pummeled Republicans over the probe and have sought to drive home the notion that the president hasn’t been directly implicated.
Joe Biden pictured with Hunter and Devon Archer in 2014. FOX News/Tucker Carlson Tonight
“Just last week his fellow GOP colleague on the Oversight Committee said this on camera for all to see: ‘I’ve heard over and over that President Biden has not been implicated or proven for any wrongdoing here, and I acknowledge that,'” White House spokesperson Ian Sams tweeted last Tuesday.
Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), who has been the point-person on the GOP inquiries of the first family, has repeatedly shrugged off the Biden administration’s various defensives.
Comer subpoenaed Archer in June and called the timing of the jail request letter “odd.”
“I don’t want to put words in Devon Archer’s mouth,” Comer said on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” “but I’ll say this: He has an opportunity to come tomorrow to the House Oversight Committee and tell the truth.”
Other Republicans also seized on the DOJ letter.
So far, Republican investigators largely appear to lack damning proof of the president engaging in illegal activity with his son. AP
“The DOJ is now actively committing the crime of obstructing a congressional investigation,” Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz charged in a tweet.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) shared Gaetz’s tweet, adding: “This is getting to be Banana Republic territory. They are moving from indicting their opponents to throwing witnesses in jail on the eve of Congressional testimony.”
Last week, Hunter Biden’s planned plea agreement with federal prosecutors burned down in flames after a Trump-appointed judge raised constitutionality concerns and found daylight between the two parties.
Biden, who had been expected to plead guilty to two tax misdemeanors charges, ultimately entered a not-guilty plea, which attorneys from both sides now expected to head back to the drawing board to iron out their differences.
Source: New York Post
